Hi guys
I wanted to post an update about Monty and what has been going on and was hoping some of you could provide some opinions / advice.
Some background:
I got Monty just slightly over a month and a half ago, he is a 2 and a half year old Enchi male, currently weighing 780g as of last week. Substrate in use was a 50/50 mix of zoomed eco earth & zoomed forest floor bedding. Pictures of my set-up are below.
- he had shed at the beginning of May and had eaten twice before I picked him up on the 12th of May.
- He did not eat in the first week during the adjustment period.
- He gradually adjusted and has eaten 3 times every Saturday (2 large f/t mice, one per week and then last last meal 2 weeks ago- successfully switched to f/t weaner rat. Also had a couple of good handling sessions. Basically all was going really well he was getting more confident/curious etc
- things started going a bit downhill since 2 weeks ago; we noticed him blow a bubble and I also noticed some mites. After observing him for a day we decided to take him to our local vet who had experience. She confirmed that he has a slight RI and that the best option would be to do a culture to find out exactly what type of infection it is. We were told to take him home, clean out everything / wipe down everything and then keep him on paper towel. We also let Monty soak in some warm water for a while.
I feel this has happened because of an oversight of mine in relation to my husbandry. I had everything spot on but the mistake I was making was that I would regularly mist / spray water around the terrarium to get the humidity up- not so much that it was getting wet, but enough to just soak in a little. I would also have a damp towel on top- humidy would read around 75 and decrease over a couple of days.
Further to this, I also had not fully cleaned out the terrarium because I wanted Monty to adjust and he only recently started exploring his terrarium, however I was spot cleaning as best as possible.
I guess the above caused RI and created conditions for mites.
Current status:
His is back in his terrarium and has been now for a week- it is drier now and he seems comfortable on the paper towel with humidity in the range of 60 - 65%.
The terrarium and all its contents were wiped down thoroughly with F10, hides soaked in F10 and everything else then rinsed and reinserted. I have ordered a safe reptile mite spray which can be used on both the enclosure as well as Monty which arrives in a few days.
Monty refused food last Saturday (as the trip to the vet was the day before) and has been quite lethargic since then. From observing him I can't hear any wheezing and his Mouth and nose are dry. I haven't spotted any mites on him / can't see any on the white paper towel except a couple that seem to be dead.
My question is about my next steps; it seems that he is also going into shed- as it seems this way based on the timing. It's been over 1 and half month and he's had 5 meals. He colour seems dull and he only wants to sleep in the warm hide (regulated via thermostat). I also updated the vet about the current status.
The vet suggested I put some moss or sponges in his warm hide to help if he's shedding and that she felt it wasn't necessary right now to bring him in for the culture etc. I didn't want to cause more stress by removing his hide, inserting sponges, maybe handling etc so he can rest. Thoughts?
Shall I just leave him to rest / wait for him to shed before treating him and the terrarium with the mite spray. Am I right to be worried that causing extra stress now could lead to a bad shed?
Thank you!
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