Injuries

[ArborealsAnonymous]

Has anyone had serious injuries with chahoua before? I havent had that many pairs, but I have never had a fight with any of them. Well this morning when I was doing my rounds, I noticed Hazel had her mouth ajar and when I looked closer, she has a split lip. I know these guys can heal pretty well but its still sad, I know it has to hurt. I split the pair and put her into a "hospital" tank which is really just a sterile setup for healing, and rinsed her lips with clorihexidine. I was in the room with them until about 12:30 last night and there were no signs of fighting or any sort of ruckus.

 

[Michael]

Ugh, I'm sorry to hear about this and hope she makes a speedy recovery

The worst fighting I've seen was between two females in a trio situation. The end result looked like one of the females getting scalped with a huge tuff of skin pulled off the top of her head. After several months of rehab and time to heal, she was just fine... but they really can do some serious damage to each other.

Let us know how she's doing!

 

[Rufus]

So sorry to hear about this! I am sure she will be fine . I cleaned the feeding ledges today and had to extra careful with one of the female vivariums (she has just laid dud eggs) and she's a bit aggressive! I must admit I saw the title of the thread and assumed human injuries!

 

[Rufus]

 

[ArborealsAnonymous]

So, this poor girl has been separated in a hospital tank for weeks now. Well she just dropped another set of eggs, which puts her at 10 eggs for this season and 8 for last. She lays big eggs, 6.5g on average and so has laid her body weight in eggs this year. She calcium crashed HARD after she laid them. I took her to the vet, along with bringing all my records for her (weights, clutches, etc) the diets that I am feeding and all my supplements and he went over everything with me, and things that she just laid so many eggs that no amount of oral calcium supplementation would have been adequate. He has me giving her calcium gluconate injections twice a day for a few weeks and recommended that I do that preemptively for any of my girls who drop 4 clutches. Has anyone else had this experience? Does anyone else have a vet that they trust with their collection info? My vet doesn't work with chahouas but he has a pretty extensive collection of delicate reptiles and seems very capable.

 

[Michael]

So, this poor girl has been separated in a hospital tank for weeks now. Well she just dropped another set of eggs, which puts her at 10 eggs for this season and 8 for last. She lays big eggs, 6.5g on average and so has laid her body weight in eggs this year. She calcium crashed HARD after she laid them. I took her to the vet, along with bringing all my records for her (weights, clutches, etc) the diets that I am feeding and all my supplements and he went over everything with me, and things that she just laid so many eggs that no amount of oral calcium supplementation would have been adequate. He has me giving her calcium gluconate injections twice a day for a few weeks and recommended that I do that preemptively for any of my girls who drop 4 clutches. Has anyone else had this experience? Does anyone else have a vet that they trust with their collection info? My vet doesn't work with chahouas but he has a pretty extensive collection of delicate reptiles and seems very capable.

So sorry to hear this

I have a decent local exotics vet, but he is definitely not a New Caledonian species expert. A few years ago, I had a female who crashed so hard that I got concerned and took her to him for help. I received the same outcome that you did with injections for a week or so.

Question about this female: How is her appetite, and what does she like to eat? I've found that my females who are better eaters are also better layers. The ones with picky appetites seem to also be the ones who struggle more with laying.

Hoping she pulls through!

 

[ArborealsAnonymous]

She is normally a great eater, but this is the same girl who got her lip torn by her mate a month or so ago. I had separated them, I thought she was done for the year and I wanted to give her time to heal. She went mostly off food after I separated them and I thought she would be ok when her mouth was done healing and she went back on food, but then she dropped a stupid extra set of eggs and crashed. Her jaw is weak still and I've been giving injections since monday. She's a really sweet gecko and I just want her to be ok. My vet isn't exactly local, hes almost two hours away, but hes the only one within 4 hours that is even worth going to so when I have a problem I make the trip. Also i like hanging out with his beastly reptile collection since he has earless monitors and a colony of sun gazers that are fun to watch. The first time i took a reptile to him, i had only heard of him by reputation as being a good reptile vet and so i was hesitant and talking to the secretary at the front about it, she told me "don't worry, all his friends are reptiles" lol and he is that kinda guy.

 

[MelissaSR]

Have you tried decreasing her temps and light cycle a big to try and trick her into thinking it is time to stop laying?

 

[ArborealsAnonymous]

Have you tried decreasing her temps and light cycle a big to try and trick her into thinking it is time to stop laying?

Yes, I have. I have also been giving her the injections twice a day for 8 days now and she doesn't seem to be improving. She is eating better but she still seems lethargic, weak, and has an overall "loose" feel to her body. The vet originally told me to bring her back in three weeks but im trying to get her in tomorrow.

 

[MelissaSR]

Have you tried emerald care? They dont exactly like the flavor, but its nutrient dense

 

[ArborealsAnonymous]

Have you tried emerald care? They dont exactly like the flavor, but its nutrient dense

Ive never heard of that, and a quick google search didnt set me in the right direction. What is it?

 

[MelissaSR]

Oh it looks like they changed the name of it.

EmerAid Intensive Care Carnivore 100 g pouch - Lafeber Co.

High protein, semi-elemental diet. For critically ill carnivores and insectivores like ferrets, many reptiles and amphibians, as well as birds of prey.

lafeber.com

They also have an omnivour diet, however since these guys need more insects I would recommend the carnivore diet. It used to be only for birds, Lafabers started out as an avian product company. My exotics vet is actually a consultant for Lafabers, and I have used this product many of times back in my early days of working for pet stores. It isnt exactly palatable, so I usually mix it with some honey to help sweeten it up. It is also syringe fed. It is basically high protein and fat to give them the energy they need to get up and do things themselves. Once they start feeding well on their own, I have mixed it into some CGD blended with a good amount of baby food, I then wean off the emeraid and baby food to get back to my normal ratio of feeding.

 

[ArborealsAnonymous]

I am using a different rescue food, but ill try to track some of this down locally right now, if i cant find it by this afternoon ill order some, thank you!