Hi All,
We adopted a baby Sulcata in August and named it Veggie. It came from a teenager who got it the previous December as a hatchling and wasn't able to care for it anymore. I am not sure how well he cared for Veggie, but it had some pyramiding, so I guess not great. However, we've been trying to take great care of it since and in the last 4 months Veggie has doubled its weight, has been curious and active and its scutes have been growing out horizontal. We soak it in a warm (95deg +) bath everyday, spray the enclosure down, have fresh water available, keep it warm, have UV light, heatlight and a ceramic heater. We feed grasses, Mizuri and some escarole and other store greens and keep it low oxalate. Basically everything was great until about two weeks ago when we started to notice he was less active, then he started to eat less and leave his hide less. Yesterday he ate a few bites of food after being placed right in front of the food, today he isn't eating at all. He had a deep drink of water in his bath yesterday. No discharge, hissing and Veggies eyes remain clear.
The only thing that has changed is that we switched up his coco coir for orchid bark a few weeks back and we haven't seen him pass any urates in a few weeks, right before he was passing them pretty regularly, sometimes they were a bit gritty. He is still pooping normally, though he used to only go in the bath, but during this period of decline he has been going in his enclosure as well.
We're thinking of taking him to the vet, but wanted to get some input from experienced keepers on here 1st. Ask me anything that may help. We're in Brooklyn, NY if anyone knows a good vet with Sulcata experience -- we'd appreciate a recommendation.
Attached is a photo
We adopted a baby Sulcata in August and named it Veggie. It came from a teenager who got it the previous December as a hatchling and wasn't able to care for it anymore. I am not sure how well he cared for Veggie, but it had some pyramiding, so I guess not great. However, we've been trying to take great care of it since and in the last 4 months Veggie has doubled its weight, has been curious and active and its scutes have been growing out horizontal. We soak it in a warm (95deg +) bath everyday, spray the enclosure down, have fresh water available, keep it warm, have UV light, heatlight and a ceramic heater. We feed grasses, Mizuri and some escarole and other store greens and keep it low oxalate. Basically everything was great until about two weeks ago when we started to notice he was less active, then he started to eat less and leave his hide less. Yesterday he ate a few bites of food after being placed right in front of the food, today he isn't eating at all. He had a deep drink of water in his bath yesterday. No discharge, hissing and Veggies eyes remain clear.
The only thing that has changed is that we switched up his coco coir for orchid bark a few weeks back and we haven't seen him pass any urates in a few weeks, right before he was passing them pretty regularly, sometimes they were a bit gritty. He is still pooping normally, though he used to only go in the bath, but during this period of decline he has been going in his enclosure as well.
We're thinking of taking him to the vet, but wanted to get some input from experienced keepers on here 1st. Ask me anything that may help. We're in Brooklyn, NY if anyone knows a good vet with Sulcata experience -- we'd appreciate a recommendation.
Attached is a photo