Hey folks,
Thanks in advance for reading this rather lengthy post and providing any help/advice you may have on the matter.
I've been noticing a slow degradation of the health of one of my females. Although it doesn't appear to be life threatening at the moment, I want to make sure it doesn't get there. Here's the situation:
Over the past couples months of so I've been noticing her skin get a bit pale and slightly blotchy, generally not as healthy looking. Although her behavior has not been lethargic - on the contrary, she seems a bit more alert and on edge. The past couple days, I've noticed some missing nails, which is not a result of a bad shed - I've been careful to remove any left over skin on the toes. It even appears as if the skin of one of the digits of her front right foot is receding/has come off for some reason, exposing more of the nail than normal. Picture follows:
She lost a nail last night and another one tonight. Both were bleeding at the time and were obviously fresh. I have not seen her biting at her toes, does not appear as if she is doing it herself:
A picture of her terrarium:
Specifically, she lives in a 20 gallon tank with 2 warm hides (Redundant I know, there was an extra) and a cool, moist hide. Flooring is stone slabs with very light dusting of sand and coco fibre (not nearly enough that impaction would be an issue). The warm side is heated with a heating mat under the cage and a heat lamp. It's winter here in MA so the temps and humidity are on the lower side but I'd say they don't drop below 68 degrees and 20%, respectively, in her cage. I spray down her cage once to twice a day to bring the humidity back up. Currently her diet consists of 5-6 gut loaded and dusted mealworms every other day, occasionally a waxworm as well. 10 Crickets once a week or once every two weeks.
Tonight I did notice one of her recent stools had bubbles on it, which could be a cause for concern:
Lastly, she's around 4 or 5 years so old age isn't a factor. I just changed the flooring to paper towels and cleaned her cage/everything in it just to eliminate any potential hazards in her environment. Are these symptoms familiar to anybody? Might they be of a certain illness or condition? Will be taking her to a herp soon but wanted to get some insight from the community.
Thanks again!
Thanks in advance for reading this rather lengthy post and providing any help/advice you may have on the matter.
I've been noticing a slow degradation of the health of one of my females. Although it doesn't appear to be life threatening at the moment, I want to make sure it doesn't get there. Here's the situation:
Over the past couples months of so I've been noticing her skin get a bit pale and slightly blotchy, generally not as healthy looking. Although her behavior has not been lethargic - on the contrary, she seems a bit more alert and on edge. The past couple days, I've noticed some missing nails, which is not a result of a bad shed - I've been careful to remove any left over skin on the toes. It even appears as if the skin of one of the digits of her front right foot is receding/has come off for some reason, exposing more of the nail than normal. Picture follows:
She lost a nail last night and another one tonight. Both were bleeding at the time and were obviously fresh. I have not seen her biting at her toes, does not appear as if she is doing it herself:
A picture of her terrarium:
Specifically, she lives in a 20 gallon tank with 2 warm hides (Redundant I know, there was an extra) and a cool, moist hide. Flooring is stone slabs with very light dusting of sand and coco fibre (not nearly enough that impaction would be an issue). The warm side is heated with a heating mat under the cage and a heat lamp. It's winter here in MA so the temps and humidity are on the lower side but I'd say they don't drop below 68 degrees and 20%, respectively, in her cage. I spray down her cage once to twice a day to bring the humidity back up. Currently her diet consists of 5-6 gut loaded and dusted mealworms every other day, occasionally a waxworm as well. 10 Crickets once a week or once every two weeks.
Tonight I did notice one of her recent stools had bubbles on it, which could be a cause for concern:
Lastly, she's around 4 or 5 years so old age isn't a factor. I just changed the flooring to paper towels and cleaned her cage/everything in it just to eliminate any potential hazards in her environment. Are these symptoms familiar to anybody? Might they be of a certain illness or condition? Will be taking her to a herp soon but wanted to get some insight from the community.
Thanks again!