Poor sick skinker :(

[Spindown]

So this whole thing started because Baneling had a big piece of aspen stuck in his eye. I gently removed it. A few days later, his eye started to crust up. I was going to take him to the vet last month, but then on the night before I was going to take him, he shed, and his eye appeared to clear up. Zergling had irritation of her eyelid when she also had a piece of aspen stuck in it, so i didnt think anything of it. (she healed after a few weeks, and has been fine ever since. I have now changed from aspen.)

Then this month, all of a sudden it was in both eyes. They were crusty and a few days ago, he got to the point he couldnt open them. I also notice he was starting to lose a toe!!! I called an emergency vet visit, and we went in today.

I feel awful. Not only did he have a mild case of mouth rot (my unexperienced self thought it was just stuck on food), but his eyes and toes were from some sort of systemic infection. The vet managed to get his poor little eyes cleared, and proscribed 100mg of orally injected Baytril 1x a day for 10 days until we get the results from the blood work, and for his poor eyes Gentocin Ophthtalmic Solution eye drops 3x a day.

I'm glad he will be ok, but I just dont understand how this could have happened. I lost my first skink toe today. It was disturbing, and depressing. His temps are fine, his humidity is fine, his food is fine...the vet did say its possible that he could have had this since I got him and it just showed up now that winter has come upon us...I just dont know. I'm reevaluating my temp monitors, and will purchase a temp gun, since i know those are quite accurate...

Sorry for the rant, but I wanted to share, even though its an unfortunate situation.

I guess a little humor about today was he is definitely well hydrated.....He peed all over me in the vets office, and then i had to go grocery shopping in a sopping wet urine soaked t-shirt. *sigh*
He also got man-handled by the vet assistant, while she was putting eyedrops in his eyes and then made to eat the nasty tasting baytril...that skink face was PRICELESS!

[El Lobo]

The vet managed to get his poor little eyes cleared, and proscribed 100mg of orally injected Baytril 1x a day for 10 days until we get the results from the blood work, and for his poor eyes Gentocin Ophthtalmic Solution eye drops 3x a day.

Are you sure of the dosage of Baytril?

100mg is 10-20 times the dose I would expect to be prescribed.

I assume it is administered orally so what is the dose in mls and do you know the approximate weight of Baneling? Abx dosage should be calculated by body weight.

[Katrina]

Oral baytril is usually mixed with something to make it taste better, at least in my experience, so the amount to administer may be correct but that won't be the dosage.

I don't think this all started with a piece of aspen in the eye. Some BTS, typically Merauke / IJ species, have health issues like this. Toe / eye issues have been seen in quite a few skinks. Can you post pictures?

Good luck, I really hope the meds work. If it is the same issue seen in other gigas skinks then it wasn't your husbandry that caused this.

[El Lobo]

I don't think anything is capable of disguising the taste of Baytril.

I am a member of the Baytril tasters club.

[Fatal_S]

My Baytril is strawberry flavoured. Or so I'm told. The skinks don't seem to hate it.

[El Lobo]

My Baytril is strawberry flavoured. Or so I'm told. The skinks don't seem to hate it.

Where do you get that?

It or banana flavoured has been on my wish list for years.

Re. dosage. Baytril 25 package label:

http://www.bayeranimal.com.au/PDFViewer ... Mk1g%3d%3d

In case that won't display it is 25mg per ml. Dog and cat dosage is 5mg/kg per day or 1 ml. Baytril 25 per 5kgs of body weight.

[Katrina]

I used to get strawberry flavored, but I found the more volume, the more the skinks could spit out. Now I prefer the unflavored stuff because it is much less to get them to swallow, so if a skink is used to abs and hates it they can't really spit out a small dose of unflavored. I haven't tasted it, maybe I am a cruel skink owner for asking for unflavored!

[Fatal_S]

My doses are 0.15ml for Skids (~410g), 0.15ml for Cyrus (~404g), 0.12ml for Mizu (~384g) & 0.10ml for Clue (~290g).

I have no issues getting these doses into them (open mouth - squirt in, over very quick). When I've had to give large doses I often split it into a couple smaller doses and give time to swallow and lick-lips in between. Today only Mizu fought the meds, and Clue actually opened his mouth on his own to take his meds. I have a lot of experience with giving oral medication so I find it quite easy.

[Katrina]

My doses are 0.15ml for Skids (~410g), 0.15ml for Cyrus (~404g), 0.12ml for Mizu (~384g) & 0.10ml for Clue (~290g).

I have no issues getting these doses into them (open mouth - squirt in, over very quick). When I've had to give large doses I often split it into a couple smaller doses and give time to swallow and lick-lips in between. Today only Mizu fought the meds, and Clue actually opened his mouth on his own to take his meds. I have a lot of experience with giving oral medication so I find it quite easy.

I find that once the skinks are better and fighting it a bit, it is easy for them to spit some out. I don't have any issues giving the meds I just found that the very small amounts of undiluted baytril was easier to give than larger doses of flavored stuff. Nemo especially was a pro at spitting meds out, probably because he was on so many. Jaxi and Simon were over 400 grams so their doses were a bit bigger. Nemo was over 400 grams after the first two courses. I have always preferred undiluted or else injectible abs, although I haven't given injectible baytril.

[Fatal_S]

I've never given an injectable either, I don't think I could. My skinks obviously aren't as smart as yours

Alyy, did Baneling's temperatures change recently? I'm pretty sure it was the temp drop that kicked my infections into overdrive on poor Skids. It's great you seem to have caught it early and it's getting treated Good luck with him.

[Spindown]

pff sorry the bottle says 100ml but the dose is .07ml. I forgot to ask his weight while we were there, but i know they weighed him.
Its supposed to be chicken flavored, but the vet assistant said she accidentally got some in her mouth once and that it tastes HORRIFYING no matter what

I got a different thermometer in there, and sure enough, i guess my other one was on the fritz...its only 60 in the cold side
i guess it was the temp drop that started this.

I can post pics tomorrow, although he looks (eyes at least) considerably better than they did before now they are open, poor thing.
His poor feet still look awful though. And they were supposed to trim his nails while he was in, but we missed our appt because the building was so hard to find and so they could only squeeze us in in between others. So he needs a nail trim too.

I figure he got enough harassment for one day. He looked like he felt so violated O.o

The vet is one of the top reptile vets in washington state, and was recommended to me from my local herp society, and she really seemed to know what she was doing...her secretary was AWFUL and kept telling me almost outright lies about correct bluey husbandry though. O.o

I think my favorite "what is your pet care" quiz question was, do you keep a water bowl? um, duh? and the caresheet she handed out says the hotspot for bts was 87?? This chick had NO clue. And she was rude. *sigh* At least the important part is the vet was good.

I'm just glad i dont have to inject the baytril. It was really hard doing it on my tiny squirmy sand boas, i cant imagine trying to get it through a blueys hide. X_X

[Alioop]

I hate going to the vet and getting care/medical information from EVERYONE else that works there. The receptionist... vet techs... vet assistants... they've alllll got to get their two cents in.

[Karen]

Injecting really made me nervous, especially since it was on my first BTS and first reptile period, but after a few times it seemed to move a lot smoother. Only problem was that I had to inject on the front legs, which coupled with the bluey dislike of legs even being touched, much less poked with a sharp needle and injected with something that burns, made things difficult. I definitely had to have help holding her down. She was an awful good sport about it all though. I was expecting her to try and bite me or my dad who was holding her still, but she never did.

I hope everything goes well for Baneling and he rebounds quickly with the temps up and Baytril in him.

[Spindown]

does anyone have any suggestions for clearing crusted eyes? I have to eyedrop him and I dont want to hurt him getting his little eyes open.

[Fatal_S]

How I would do it:
Put him in a warm bath. Take a small piece of paper towel and drape it over his head (not covering nose) so it touches the water. It soaks up the water and hydrates the crusts without being heavy enough to weigh down the head. After 5-10 min remove skink from the bath and gently clear away the crusts (if you use nails/tweezers be careful to hold the head very still). Once the crusts are removed gently dry the eyes with another paper towel or cloth (dry the mouth too since there's mouth-rot). Then put in the eyedrops. Keep the eyes clear of crust as much as possible (making sure to keep stress in mind) so they can dry and heal.

This is the method I use with my Monkey Tail Skink:

[Katrina]

Interesting about the temp drop. Good observation.

For the eyes - my vet recommended a product called tear gel, it is just a saline get available at any pharmacy. That worked to get the eyes open and lubricated and then I would really carefully wipe them with a damp cloth. Tear gel worked great and is cheap, I'd try that. Once they are moistened with that I could usually clean away some of the build up and then they were open and clean for meds.

I've never given an injectable either, I don't think I could. My skinks obviously aren't as smart as yours

Most of them don't even notice the injection - you just slip it under a scale and it is done before they even realize, so we found it super easy. That is with two people though, and I'm the official skink holder and don't do the needle part. I don't think I would want to do it on my own, but because they can't see it coming like they can with the oral meds they really don't seem to notice.

Thinking back on it, I think part of the reason I didn't like the diluted oral meds was because Nemo was such a fighter after so many courses of abs and with Simon, because his mouth was the problem and already painful, oral meds were that much worse and he probably fought more than skinks that weren't in pain. So my experience was probably not the norm.

[Fatal_S]

I just medicated my 4 for the day and the Strawberry flavor seems to be a huge hit. 2/4 willingly went after the syringe (super easy to medicate, didn't even have to touch the skinks). The other 2 were a bit more shy, but took the meds right away when they were offered while being held. Obviously the flavor is hiding the Baytril taste.

Kat, were both sides of Nemo's mouth bad? Skids has one good side so I'm being careful to give the meds on that side right now. I'm assuming the other side would probably hurt quite a lot. I keep meaning to get that tear gel too to try, I just have a terrible memory. Will write it down.

[Spindown]

thanks for the quick input guys, fatal s, i used your paper towel technique first, and it worked like a charm. Got those cute little eyes right open.
And then shut fast because i eye dropped him (I actually think its a her now though, i just saw a huge poo and no hemis) lol.

I took some pictures, so that you can see whats happening to my poor baby. I feel guilty taking pics of her sick, but at least shes not pregnant?

[Katrina]

Nemo's mouth wasn't bad - he was just a little brat who fought the meds and fought doing anything that he didn't want to do at that minute. Simon only had the one bad side of the mouth but was very sensitive to anything near or around the mouth. We did put the meds on the "good" side of his mouth. I'm amazing that your skinks seem to like the baytril. Your kids are much better behaved, must be better parenting.

Good pics Sapphire. The eyes look the same as Nemo's, weird how gigas skinks get these problems. Hope he is feeling better soon!

[Spindown]

So the eyes are getting worse! I cant tell about anything else, except my skink HATES me now...and now the vet wants to add another antibiotic, this one injectable. X_X
I'm glad blueys dont have sharp teeth! I am missing some skin on my fingers and lots of bruises though lol...just makes me sad because i know she feels even worse than me

It also sucks because the vet is not open at the times we need her to be open, and I'm trying to figure out how to get there so they can show me how to inject Baneling. Gotta call in some favors i suppose.