I'll start from the beginning.. early October we got our sweet lil buddy, Dexter, from (I know) PetSmart. He was healthy, friendly and super sweet. We truly loved him, then wanted to get him a friend. Because they were a couple weeks apart from being together we just kept them in the same tank together. They were both healthy, eating normal and striking at their food very quickly. The last time Dexter ate was Halloween night.
I tried weekly after that to feed him and he just wouldn't take it. He always looked interested in his food but would just want to get out of his feeding tank instead. He was still friendly and loving, also pooping normal. Then one evening, knowing he hadn't eaten in about 3.5 weeks, I passed his tank and he was fat as ever so I grabbed him out.
If you were to envision their bodies into 3rds, the first part felt normal and stiff.. the 2nd where he was fat was puffed up like a balloon! Then his tail end was completely limp. We started reading up on what it could be, at first i thought he was blocked up, even though I saw him pooping a lot over time. So, I gave him a warm bath, he would float so I had to really help him. Once I took him out and put him in a towel, I snuggled him. My husband started reading about IBD and started thinking that's what was happening. I cried and cried and told him I was so sorry I didn't know he was sick, I didn't want him to suffer anymore, and 3 seconds later he died in my hands. He returned to his normal size. (He was still a juvenile, about 1.5ft, his thickest was a little over an inch in diameter.)
We sent him to the state lab, they did the physical exam on him, they called and said he looked completely healthy so they were gonna send him off to the big lab in a big city... This is where it gets weird and sorry so long, but where my question begins....
They called me back 2 weeks later (just the other day) and told me his cultures came back all normal. There was absolutely no sign of IBD. Wth killed my buddy??? Their husbandry was a lil more humid because Vega went through a shed but Dexter stayed in the drier part and I specifically asked the vet who did the physical exam if he showed any signs of a RI... nothing.
Vega is alone, I had to take all their 'furniture' out until I got his results back but kept her warm and cozy.. we moved, she just went through a shed. Now she's not wanting to eat. It is the starts of cold weather so it could be a number of things. My bps are and were very social, nothing has changed with Vega's want for love but I'm worried about her because she's not eating and that's how it began with Dexter! Any thoughts? Please someone tell me they had some kinda problem like this! Thank you!!