Trip to vet today and need tips?

[CarlyM]

This morning I found a large blood clot in my IJ Dil’s terrarium. The blood came from her left ear and luckily the vet was able to get her right in. Turns out she has an ear infection! Not sure if this is common or what things could cause it? He gave us pain meds and antibiotic injections to give her for the next several weeks. He was also not happy that we don’t have a uvb light and that we feed her mostly dog food so they took some blood work to check on everything. He said she is way over weight and wants her to eat more greens and veggies. My question is has anyone else’s skink ever have a ear infection? Also how do I get her to loose weight? She won’t eat greens or veggies unless they are hidden inside dog good. She eats twice a week with the occasional fruit treats.

[mb606587]

Cut back feeding to once per week. Post a picture of your supposedly overweight skink also. My one and only vet visit for my IJ, the vet also advised that I immediately alter my skink's dog food diet and provide UVB as well. I did neither and my skink has done just fine for 2 decades.
Not saying that providing UVB isn't beneficial, although it's been proven that with the correct diet and nutrition, it isn't necessary. Some skinks tend to pack on the weight with bi-weekly feedings. I recently cut back my feedings to once per week after noticing some of mine getting a bit thick. The diet nor the lack of uvb contributed to the ear infection and in most cases obesity is linked to over feeding captive animals, which consume far more in captivity than their wild counterparts, where food is not as plentiful or readily available.

[Janella]

Poor skink. I wonder what could have caused the infection? Did the vet say? Definitely not diet or uvb. I hope it feels better soon.

[CarlyM]

No, he didn't say what could have caused it. Im thinking my temps are not right. I have AP cages with RHP and since its getting hot here I have noticed my cages are getting to warm. Not enough temperature gradient. I bought some bulbs and am going to use that to make the hot spot and use the rhp to keep the overall temps right but my husband hasn't installed them yet. Im constantly checking with the temp gun and adjusting throughout the day. I must have let it get to cold! The vet called me today with Dil's blood test results and he said everything looks pretty good and hes not to concerned with anything. He did say she has high cholesterol and doesn't know why but hes not worried about it and wants me to keep working on including more greens in the diet. I will start to feed her just once a week. She is a pig and eats way more at time than my others. I just ordered everyone arcadia uvb T5 lights and fixtures today. Looking at her right now I can see she now has some clear fluid coming out of one nostril. Im so scared! I am going to call the vet tomorrow and let him know. Will the meds he gave for the ear infection also help if she gets a respiratory infection? She has Ceftazidime injectable 0.3cc every 72 hours. What else can I do to make sure any infection clears up and shes okay. Im so worried.

[kingofnobbys]

No, he didn't say what could have caused it. Im thinking my temps are not right. I have AP cages with RHP and since its getting hot here I have noticed my cages are getting to warm. Not enough temperature gradient. I bought some bulbs and am going to use that to make the hot spot and use the rhp to keep the overall temps right but my husband hasn't installed them yet. Im constantly checking with the temp gun and adjusting throughout the day. I must have let it get to cold! The vet called me today with Dil's blood test results and he said everything looks pretty good and hes not to concerned with anything. He did say she has high cholesterol and doesn't know why but hes not worried about it and wants me to keep working on including more greens in the diet. I will start to feed her just once a week. She is a pig and eats way more at time than my others. I just ordered everyone arcadia uvb T5 lights and fixtures today. Looking at her right now I can see she now has some clear fluid coming out of one nostril. Im so scared! I am going to call the vet tomorrow and let him know. Will the meds he gave for the ear infection also help if she gets a respiratory infection? She has Ceftazidime injectable 0.3cc every 72 hours. What else can I do to make sure any infection clears up and shes okay. Im so worried.

I'd let the vet know about the discharge from the nostril.

The ears and nose share "plumbing" , and this discharge may indicate what ever caused the infection in ear has become systemic or is now causing a secondary URI , you need get ontop of that quick to stop it becoming a more difficult infection to deal with and treat.

Trouble with dog food is it's NOT designed for reptiles but for dogs who have very different dietary needs and much faster metabolisms. Has the tested for fatty live desease ?

The fats in live insects are different to those in the junk that goes into dog food , so IMO are a much healthier choice for a protein source for a pet skink & and if you gut load the live insects with high quality vegs , even better.

[mb606587]

Yes the Ceftazidine injections will also help clear up a respiratory infection assuming your skink has one. Ensuring your basking temperatures are high enough will aid your skink's recovery. Keep it over 100 degrees. Also maintaining proper humidity levels for an Indonesian based Irian Jaya is key to preventing further recurrences.

[CarlyM]

Hi guys thank you so much for all the great information. I was freaking out! Dil is doing so much better. I haven’t seen anymore discharge from her nose and her ear looks so much better already and she is much more active. I have fixed her humidity to more of a IJ level and bumped up and dialed in on her temps. She still has a lot more injections to go but I’m hopeful that she will be okay! Do you guys think she is IJ only or IJ x northern? Also here is some pictures of her, do you guys think she does look obese? She is definitely bigger than my northern but she’s always been larger. Thank you!!

[mb606587]

Glad to hear she's improving. Hybrids can be tricky to tell as sometimes the signs are subtle but I'd guess this one to be an IJ x Northern. And yes, your skink does appear overweight so cutting down feedings as was discussed would be advised.

[splashy07]

If you didn't mention IJ cross, I would have assumed this was a Northern. Looks almost identical to one of mine, who is most certainly not crossed with anything. Another reason for not hybridizing, the humidity requirements of the two species do not coincide. I don't understand why this is done, people just want to breed two skinks? Certainly not a monetary issue here, as the IJ crossing would bring down the value of a Northern. Who knows how people think, I guess that's why I like reptiles. She's a beauty though, glad she's getting the care she deserves. And yes, a bit pudgy as females are more prone to this than males.

[Janella]

So glad to hear that Dil is doing much better. That is wonderful news. I agree, why breed two different species...ugh.

[CarlyM]

Well the person I got her from purchased her from a breeder in Florida as a baby and was supposed to be a northern but after posting pictures here she was told not a northern and most likely a northern x IJ so we just went by that and we kept her more like our northern. The aspen was really to dry for both of them and they look so much better being on the cypress mulch! We have animal plastic cages and the cypress comes pretty moist so the humidity has been a bit too high fogging up the glass so we have been keeping the doors open a bit. I’m hoping it dries out a bit soon. Next time I change the bedding I might have to open the bags and let dry for a week or so first. I don’t want them to get too much humidity now.

[splashy07]

Well, if that's the case I say she is one hundred percent northern. My one entire litter this year looked practically identical.