ember ermine
How much rapashy is enough? The bottle doesn’t say. I’m looking at getting some small molds to make little gel shapes.
She currently weighs 13 grams. Down from 15.
Should I do it by weight? Or just let her eat what she wants? Vet says it’s ok to give it but didn’t say how much. Little miss is getting a vet made liquid diet tomorrow but I want to have rapashy made up for when it’s time to transition back to solids.
(Pic cuz otherwise it feels empty)
true lynx
I’m not sure if there really is like. A specific amount. The bottle should have a ratio to mix but I think it’s up to you.
I just follow the bottle ratio for my grub pie when I make it
Did the vet say what they’re gonna give her?
ember ermine
They didn’t say. Gonna find out when I pick it up.
I did see the ratio but I don’t know how much to feed. I like the look of this mold as it would be about the same as two wormies by volume https://a.co/d/6gCjHoo
true lynx
I honestly haven’t ever made the mix into a gel! I’ve only used it as a liquid so I’m not sure. I’d get a mold that’s food grade silicone though. Like a gummy bear mold.
Also no guarantee the gecko will like it.
Was wondering if they’re gonna give you reptiboost / critical care since that’s the two diets I know of :0
ember ermine
Fair! I’ve done it as a liquid before and she did eat it, or lick it off her nose when I dabbed it there.
I’m trying to have as many food options on hand for when she’s off the liquid. I’m probably gonna have to put it down her throat rather than leting her lick it. She doesn’t want anything to do with food right now
Gonna get some roaches if I can tomorrow. Do I need to put in a post in #1365875464903852153 for care for them?
true lynx
You don’t have to force feed / shove it down her throat. You can get them to open their mouth and then put the syringe in and squirt it in 
force feeding / shoving things down the throat can make things worse and is dangerous so
And yeh you’d post roach questions there
ember ermine
The vet told me not to just squirt it in cuz of how their airway is? Like you have to make sure to go past the airway with the syringe
true lynx
I’d ask for a demonstration tomorrow.
When I had to give medication I was told to just get their mouth open enough the syringe can fit in and then squirt the medication in so :0
Last thing you want is shoving a syringe down her throat and her choking
ember ermine
Maybe I’m exaggerating…
The way she showed me was to get the end of syringe into the back of her mouth then squirt so it doesn’t go down her airway. I can’t seem to find a diagram of their mouth that shows the separation of the tubes that the vet said was theee
*there
Also I’m just picking up the meds. Not taking her in. The vet can’t see her till the 30th at the earliest…
true lynx
Interesting. I haven’t heard anything about the airway thing before. Not saying it’s wrong just interesting.
ember ermine
Found a pic!! It’s from an article on proper sedation. The circle is their airway.
So the vet showed me how to give the med without squirting into her lungs. It looked like puting it down her throat but I’m sure it’s not actually that. Little miss just wasnt happy
true lynx
I’ll have to ask Aly about that in the morning 
cus now i’m curious.
ember ermine
Unfortunately the stupid paper is behind a payday but google images was able to yonk the image https://www.vetexotic.theclinics.com/article/S1094-9194(21)00046-3/abstract
Basically the vet said to just get the end of the syringe far enough in to be past the tube. Then squirt. I’ll ask if it’s different for the lager amout for the liquid diet. The other med is a whooping 0.01mg lol
true lynx
Oh yeh no my meds were .02mg
That’s why I’m curious and am gonna see if Aly knows anything about it
ember ermine
I’m hoping I can get her to eat it like a child licking a bug popsicle
true lynx
If she is sick and stuff she may not be feeling well enough to eat especially if it’s parasites and such.
ember ermine
Yeah… that’s why I’m mentally preparing for force feeding. She needs nutrients… her little tail looks thinner.
The vets hope is that with some forceful nutrition and deworming, she will feel better
true lynx
If she’s visibly losing weight then see if you can just bring in a fecal next time you get a sample
Since they’ve seen her before they may just be able to run tests for you
Generally visibly losing weight is when it gets concerning.
ember ermine
I can’t, her most recent poo was dry by the time I got to it. The test is also $90 while the med is more like 30 if I remember correctly. I’d rather give her the med and not need it than get the test and have to give the med.
Or get the test and not have to give the med…
true lynx
There’s one you can order for 25ish bucks and send it in.
But a fecal is really important
Deworming may not work and having the fecal and narrow down what is wrong and you can treat properly.
ember ermine
If you have a link for that test, I’ll send it in when I can.
true lynx
I can grab it yeh.
ember ermine
At the moment I’m working within the unfortunate conditions of “middle of nowhere” and “broke”. Trying to make the best of it for my now $500+ lizard…/nm
true lynx
https://www.vetdna.com/products
the reptile / amphib fecal collection kit!
Then there’s a form on the website you fill out on what exactly you’re wanting to test for
ember ermine
Thank you!
true lynx
At the moment I’m working within the unfortunate conditions of “middle of nowher...
I understand!
Just don’t want you to spend money on a medication and it be something more serious that the medication cannot fix ya know?
Cus it’ll be more money if you have to do more
ember ermine
Yeahhh I get that. She’s been wormed before and it did seem to help. Of course every situation is different.
I think the worming is a precaution for the vet, kind of a “let’s try this first along with liquid diet”.
I’m willing to try a lot of things. There aren’t any rescues in the state so if I give up on her she would be put down
true lynx
Also have to take into consideration that depending on QOL euthing isn’t necessarily a negative thing.
Not saying euth her by any means
Just that it’s not something that necessarily should be looked at in a negative light depending on the situation!
If people use it as a way to not take care of an animal. Yeh that’s shitty and a negative thing.
But if the animal’s QOL isn’t improving or getting worse then it’s may be more ethical and fair to the animal ya know what I mean
ember ermine
I know. And it’s always in the back of my mind “is she still having a good QOL”
At the moment she seems to have a good qol. She has sass and will explore new things. To me that’s good. If she was lethargic and had no spark in her, I’d probably make the choice to say goodbye.
Until that day I’m gonna keep trying. My statement earlier was that if I don’t keep trying, there isn’t anyone else to take her.
true lynx
ember ermine
Looks like the test kits are $25 and the test is $25. I’m going to hold off on testing for another week or so. See if she perks up with the liquid diet. It’s not like she has any fecal left in her to test rn
true lynx
That’s fine! Just something I’d do asap just to be safe that it’s not a case of crypto or anything
ember ermine
I’ve heard crypto said before but haven’t looked into it…
true lynx
Yeee it’s… essentially fatal since there’s no cure for it. But it also can spread to other reptiles if you have more than one
ember ermine
Thankfully I keep the two separate in handling and rooms.
Corn is opposite side of the apartment from the gecko
true lynx
That’s good atleast!
ember ermine
Yup! Little miss likes the quiet of the spare bedroom and Tini (corn) likes to watch me
I’m regularly observed
true lynx
Heem
ember ermine
Thank you so much for all the advice and reassurance I’ve gotten in these past few days. This server is very nice
true lynx
we’re all here for you
ember ermine
ember ermine
Update time…
They did bring up crypto.
Pic of little miss is from today
true lynx
Update time…
They did bring up crypto.
Pic of little miss is from today
Hello little miss… and yeh essentially they have to be on the medication their whole life otherwise it just comes back. It’s not… really a full proof thing or non stressful thing.
Crypto can be asymptomatic and such. I’m not sure how long the incubation period is though.
The other thing that popped my mind. She’s not a subadult anymore she’s a full on adult if you’ve had her for over a year.- has she grown at all since you got her or has she stayed the same size?
ember ermine
She definitely has. This was when we got her
I don’t have a recent pic with a card but this was in April
true lynx
I’m wondering if she may be a failure to thrive case given her health issues and possible just poopy genetics because she’s a petstore baby yeh?
Something you could bring up to the vet as well is stunting / failure to thrive and see if they’ve seen any cases.
true lynx
I don’t have a recent pic with a card but this was in April
Like April of this year?
ember ermine
2024…
true lynx
Okay I was about to be hella concerned fidjfjdn
ember ermine
I’m wondering if she may be a failure to thrive case given her health issues and...
What would this mean for her care?
true lynx
I think it depends on the case iirc? She’s very tiny looking for a gecko who’s an adult so that’s why I bring it up.
Not weight wise just overall size
ember ermine
Right
true lynx
But it could explain some things if it’s not crypto and such.
ember ermine
So she would just be small? Plus the care for her mbd
true lynx
We have geckos here who are stunted and live fine lives. Just thought I’d bring it up so you could also have that talking point
ember ermine
Ok, the “living a fine life” was what I needed lol
true lynx
Essentially yeh from what I know. I’ve only seen a few failure to thrive babies in the server and one was a traumatizing experience for me and the owner because she ultimately did pass away cus her little body just gave up BUT. Not saying that would happen at all. Geckos just being a year old and that tiny scares me cus of that instance
sage linden
I've had rescue geckos that were very undersized for their ages become normally sized adults but you really need to rule out any potential issues (crypto being one I would be concerned about) before proceeding.
true lynx
Yeee they’re gonna get a fecal when they can from ral
I was worried about crypto too so I sent them that website 
sage linden
I've hatched a few geckos that grew abnormally slow, but I kept them until they were normally sized and sold as pet only. Sometimes things just go wrong very early in development.
Yeah I was about to mention self-testing since the vet quote was a bit high
She also does also look a bit MBD-y to me but that would need to be professionally diagnosed. Likely caused by whatever underlying issue is causing her not to feed and poop consistently
ember ermine
Yeah there will be testing done once I can. Rn she’s barely pooping (or having huge ones) and when I find it it’s dry.
We have been treating her as MBD for months. It’s why she doesn’t have anything she can climb
sage linden
I would also recommend testing your corn for crypto when you order the test for the leo
ember ermine
Tiny baby side view. She definitely has something if it’s not mbd
