Worried about Tokay - Shaking?

[paul112]

I found my female Tokay near the floor of her tank last night. Upon trying to pick her up, she began shaking (as if she was shivering) and biting as usual. She couldn't seem to get a grip on anything, and her toes were shaking the most.

She was back on the glass of her tank this morning, where I assumed she was fine until just now when I tried to move her. She is still shaking and her grip did not seem so good.

I've had her for a year now, and she has always seemed healthy, very plump and the tank is kept well misted so I have ruled out hunger and dehydration.

Could she be egg-bound? Or lacking some kind of vitamin? Or is she going through shed or what?

Please help,
Paul

 

[coura]

Hummmmmmm...Shaking in reptiles is often related to calcium and other needed elements deficiency specialy vit B. Lets start by that before thinking about more serious stuff. What do you feed your tokay, how often and what temps do you keep him? Just to start the prognosis

 

[paul112]

There's a gradient of around 35-25'C in the tank as they can get within a few inches of the heat bulb. I've had the same setup for a year or so now so I don't think that's the issue.

Diet wise could be the problem. I've been trying to establish a breeding pair, but my latest male is very small, and I've been trying to fatten him up with waxworms. This has become the primary diet, as the female eats most of them as soon as they go in the tank.

I bought some pinkies today, so I may go to town tomorrow and get some multivitamin powder to load them with, then feed her those to see how she does. Not sure if she's still eating or not, we'll see tomorrow. What vitamins should I focus on getting into her?

Thanks,
Paul

 

[Horiyoshi III]

Does it receive UVB?

 

[coura]

That may be the problem, her diet, its too poor. Do that with the pinkies, they are rich in vit B and you should see a fast inprovement. Also do you "shake and bake" your insects? If not its time to do it with zoomeds reptivite or another good brand. As for uv it really inst needed but you can provide it and its good for the healing process, just make shure she can go away if she wants.

 

[paul112]

She does not recieve UVB. I have my own reasoning for not using UVB, aswell as the fact they are nocturnal, but I will not turn this thread into a discussion on that.

Coura, I "force fed" her some Crested Gecko diet yesterday (I mixed it up and waited til she snapped at me, and slipped some into her mouth with a needleless syringe). This diet has vitamin A and D in it, so hopefully that will help. I also supplemented the water with some Vetark BSP vitamin drops (Vitamins A, C, E, D, B1, B2, B6) so hopefully that will help.

I tried offering her a pinkie before, but she just snapped at it. I was worried that her throat may be blocked or something, or maybe she is impacted, so I slipped the pinkie behind her tongue to force her to try and swallow it. She did so, and projectile pooed on me at the time so I'm pretty sure both are ruled out.

I know it was stressful to forcefeed her, and possibly harmful but I'm really worried. I handled her a lot when I got her (over a year ago, and she was adult then), so she has some tolerance I guess. Atleast shes got a pinkie in her now, aswell as some gecko diet, so aslong as she doesn't regurgitate, she should get some energy from it.

Wish her luck and thankyou for your help so far,
Paul

 

[coura]

First of you dont need to force feed her, let her take her time. Second you need to include much more feeder insects like locusts, roaches, crickets ,etc, gut loaded and suplement full. Also why would you use a human suplement when there are more then our fair share of good animal ones in the market? Also you should at least give her some minutes of a good uv lamp or even expose her to a litle morning sun to make some natural D3, remenbar only a few minutes is enough and only wille she is recuperanting

 

[paul112]

Thankyou for the prompt response Coura.

I have locusts on hand and there are 3 in the tank, I just wanted to make sure that she had something with vitamin B in, so that's why I used the pinkie. I will not force feed her again unless I really think necessary.

The supplements I am using are for reptiles. The vitamin drops are from Vetark and are for supplementing the water supply of reptiles. Since she still laps water from the sides of the tank, I figured this was a good plan.

If I lived in a warm climate where the sun actually shone, I'd take her outside, but at the moment Northern England is pretty cold and dull. I'm aware UV exposure is still prety good even on cloudy days but I'm afraid the temperature decrease outside will shock her further.

Merci,
Paul