Toothless's first vet visit

[JMiller24]

So I took my 9 month old Merauke to the vet for the first time a couple of weeks ago (I've only owned him for about 2 months).
The vet told me some stuff that I wanted to run by you guys. I'd like to strongly impress that I am dumbing all of this down a lot. Everything I am typing here made more sense when he explained it. I don't want to sound like I was going to some total quack job. He seemed like a really intelligent guy, and just by the way he handled toothless, I know he's been around reptiles plenty.

1. He does not seem to like the calcium supplements. He told me people are starting to move away from that and he explained it like this. (This is not verbatim but it made sense at the time) Basically he said if someone came in and their dog just had puppies there might be a problem so he'd tell them to give the dog xxx mgs of calcium (forget the numbers) and then he used a similar example with humans i believe. Then he said, but how much do you give a reptile? He asked me if I knew how much I was giving him. I took this, basically, to mean that people don't really know the correct amounts to give to reptiles and that I personally don't know how much I am giving him (which is true, i just put a tiny bit in his food but I couldn't tell u how many mgs or whatever). Again, when he explained it it made much more sense, I'm just having trouble remembering exactly how he put it. He also told me that if I really wanted to I should only give it to him once a week and not every other feeding like I have been. What is your guys' take on this?


2. Before I even told him that I feed TL dog food he told me they should not get dog food all the time. He, basically, pushed for a balanced diet (which makes sense). He said if he is going to get dog food it should be senior and that they really shouldn't have cat food at all. I've been feeding TL premium canned dog food, mixed with a little arugula or kale =, with the occasional fruit mixed in. I also put some crickets in now and then, but he ignores them because he loves the dog food so much. Any suggestions of other things to try? I mean, I know to check the food chart, but I'm talking more about ratios to balance it out.

3. He also strongly strongly got on me about making sure he has the correct uva/uvb (printed me out handouts and everything). He said most of the problems he sees with BTS are caused by the owners. Anyway, this is the UV light I am currently using http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.j ... lmdn=Brand Have you any of you guy's used this/ understand the specs of it? Obviously, I am going to do my own research, but I post here first because I'm realizing more and more that a lot of you really know what you are talking about when it comes to BTS.


Anyway, the vet visit went well (everything looked good)! I got a call a couple of days later though, and found out that TL has pin worms. I now have to give him Panacur once a week for 6 weeks, which is always an adventure (He's not a fan of having that stuff shot in his mouth). TL currently doesn't like me very much =(

I apologize for the rambling nature of this post. It's kind of late (I work early in the morning), but I just thought about hopping on here and posting.

[WanderingChai]

Was he a qualified reptile vet?
I do not agree with the calcium at all. I don't know how it could hurt at all. I do agree that it is ideal to have a balanced diet, but at the same time, that is not available to most skink keepers and they all seem to do just fine on greens and dog food.
ALL problems caused with BTS is caused by their owners That light looks just fine. If you are using both D3 and a UVB light, you have nothing to worry about.

Sorry to hear about worms. I hope he gets better soon!

[JMiller24]

Was he a qualified reptile vet?
I do not agree with the calcium at all. I don't know how it could hurt at all. I do agree that it is ideal to have a balanced diet, but at the same time, that is not available to most skink keepers and they all seem to do just fine on greens and dog food.
ALL problems caused with BTS is caused by their owners That light looks just fine. If you are using both D3 and a UVB light, you have nothing to worry about.

Sorry to hear about worms. I hope he gets better soon!

I believe so, he's been around for a long time and I've heard nothing but good things about him. Thanks Chai, yea I 've been looking at some threads on here and it seems like UVB/ Calcium D3 is the way to go. Only 4 more weeks of the medicine! I think he'll be fine =)

On another note. The vet gave me an awesome idea for a way to keep him mentally stimulated in the terrarium. It falls along the lines of the puzzle toys that people give to birds. I'll write it up later today in a new thread and see what you guy's think.

[Katrina]

I would agree - it sounds like your vet is very good!! Hmm, some comments... remember that your vet has much, much more education on reptiles and is likely more up to date on the latest research and trends. The people on this forum will have much more experience with BTS specifically (your vet will have a general knowledge of all reptiles, and I would bet that a lot of his information on BTS comes from a good understanding of other omnivorous lizards like beardies). So your vet might have some advice that is slightly different than what people on here would recommend... both are correct and both have your blueys best interest in mind. You'll just have to figure out why the advice differs and determine which you want to follow and why. But neither one is right or wrong, and your vet certainly isn't incorrect because he recommends something that we might not.

1. That is interesting - I'd like to learn more about why he doesn't like them. What are the risks of over supplementing that he has seen? I know it can lead to certain crystal compounds, but I don't understand enough of it. Has he seen a lot of problems with over supplementing? From what I've seen, there is a much larger risk to not supplementing - I know large breeders supplement a lot of calcium (one described the meals like powdered donuts) and they haven't seen any problems in a couple decades as a result of this. If you can remember more of what your vet said, or chat with him further, than I'd love to know what this is based on. There is some risk of toxicity with oversupplementing vitamin D3, was that what your vet mentioned? Or just calcium?

2. I would agree with variety and balanced diet. I don't feed dog food all the time. The only reason people recommend it, is because many owners get lazy or don't put the time and effort into figuring a balanced diet out. Basically, for the lowest common denominator, if they do no research and put no effort into it and just feed dog food plus some greens or veggies of sorts, then the bluey will still get all it needs. There is no other single, convenient food that they can feed large amounts of and have the same, good results. So I would agree with your vet - variety is best, but based on what people who have been keeping them for decades have seen a diet based on dog food is very effective. As for idea on variety... I was thinking of starting another food thread, so I'll probably do that this afternoon.

3. If you aren't supplementing calcium with D3, then UVB is essential. I would also agree 110% that most of the problems are caused by the owners. That is absolutely true! That is why we tend to recommend dog food plus supplementing calcium and D3 - because no matter what else you do, if you can get those two things right your bluey should be healthy. That isn't to say that doing a lot of research, providing UVB and changing it according to the manufacturers recommendations and providing a complete, varied diet isn't best. It is just acknowledging that many people won't do that but will still get a bluey. People have had success both ways - just supplementing calcium plus D3 with no UVB, or providing a good diet and UVB. The first option is more fool proof, but both ways have proven successful if done right / consistently.

If you remember more of what your vet said regarding calcium, I'd love to hear it!

[JMiller24]

Hey Katrina, he really didn't say =( From what I understood he was basically saying we don't know how much to give them. Next time I'm in there I'll make sure to ask. There was so much going on in there that I was off my game.