obese ribbed newt?

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donia

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Donia
I've had my ribbed newts for some time now, and my female has always been big. But recently she has appears to have put on loads of weight and developed small dark patches on her skin (do newts get stretch marks??).

So what's wrong with her? At first I thought she was just producing eggs, but she looks really fat (though doesn't eat much at all). Anyone have any ideas? Or is it just that she's producing eggs and I'm panicking over nothing!

:confused::confused:
 

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That looks like a pretty severe case of bloat.

This usually needs to be treated by a vet.
 
yeah, i thought it might be that, but her throat has only become swollen in the last week and in all other respects she is fine - eating, swimming etc. i'll get her to a vets today and see what they say, but i'd be surprised if there was a vet around here that knows what to do!

i've read the bloat article, but it seems to suggests there's nothing that can be done - really?
 
There are some courses of action. First, the vet should try to drain as much fluid as possible, and culture it for bacteria, protozoa, etc. Then they'll probably put her on a round of baytril, an injectable antibiotic.
 
Have you had this problem yourself? you seem to know a lot about it! found a reptile vet locally that treats amphibians too, so we are off there tomorrow :happy:

thanks for the info - i'll chat to the vet about it tomorrow and in the meantime have a read up.

Thanks again!!
 
I had a Taricha with slow-developing bloat. She ended up passing, but slow-developing bloat seems to be indicative of organ failure, where fast-developing bloat (over a few days or so) can be bacterial.
 
oh no! thats really horrible! it's possibly the slow developing bloat my newt has, as she has always been huge, but was told when i got her that it was normal........its only recently that her throat has swollen up.............:(

well, lets see what the vet says in the morn. fingers crossed its good news, but im not getting my hopes up.........
 
I'd also recommend you get rid of that gravel, your newt could ingest it and get impacted. Good substrates are either bare bottom or sand, children's play sand or pool filter sand seems to be the most recommended by forum members.
 
ok, she's on a course of antibiotics, but the vet said she looked fine in all other respects - no reddening of her cloaca, good colouration in her mouth, and no visible blockages. I'm keeping her isolated for the next few weeks to see if anything changes. fingers crossed!! :happy:

as for the gravel, I've kept a close eye on the newts when they are feeding and have never seen them take up any of the stones - thats not to say they dont swallow them when im not looking! :D i have considered getting rid of it, but doesnt it make a good substrate for plants and house nitrifying bacteria?
 
donia said:
i have considered getting rid of it, but doesnt it make a good substrate for plants and house nitrifying bacteria?
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Sand works just as well and is much easier to keep clean. ;)
 
yeah, i suppose sand is easy to clean and to see waste on. i dont suppose you can use an undergravel filter with it tho............but ive got a couple of internal filters anyway, so one of them should be fine.

anyway, my little fig doesnt seem any better - shes only just started her antibiotics, and i think being in a separate tank is stressing her :( ill update on her progress, but to be honest im not hopeful :(
 
ok, ive fed fig a small worm and some frozen tubifex since our visit to the vet and she still hasn't pooped. does anyone know how often these guys poop? anyway, it's made me think that she has swallowed a stone, as i gave her a feel and there's a sort of hard bit just before her cloaca. is there anything i can do to get it out?

there's loads of posts on axies doing the same and being put in the fridge and success (!) they poop, so i dont suppose fridging would work on ribbed newts, will it?

by the way, swapped the gravel with sand :happy: and its pretty cool seeing foot and tail prints in it! Plus, i noticed my 2 youngest have changed colour to match the sand - is that usual?
 
just a quick update: its been about a week and a half that fig has been on antibiotics and there's still no change, tho she's not finished the antibiotics yet, so there's still a little hope. she's pooped 3 times since the visit to the vet beginning of last week, so no stone ingestion. still eating well and moves around her tank, so what can it be? if it's not infectious (the other newts are fine, tho separate at the mo') and its not gravel, i suppose it's kidney damage (as per bloat literature), but how would this have happened?
 
donia said:
i suppose it's kidney damage (as per bloat literature), but how would this have happened?
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You will probably never know the answer to this. It could be due to genetics, viral or bacterial infections, the list is endless.
 
another quick update: she finished the course of antibiotics, but seemed to be getting bigger, so i researched euthanasia methods. i found almost all benzocaine products (as recommended on caudata culture) to have additional nasty extras in them, so called the vet who recommended clove oil as he apparently couldnt perscribe benzocaine for me to euthanise my newt myself (that seems ridiculous!). anyway, i did what he said - 20 drops of clove oil in 1 litre water (i put 25 as she's a big newt) and instead of the 2 minutes he said it would take it took nearly 10 minutes and a lot of tears. she didnt writh a lot, more just trying to get out of the smallish container, as i think the anethetising effects were pretty instant.

anyway, an unhappy ending with no closure :sad:
 
That's really too bad, Donia. I wish there was something else you could have done. But like Justin said, it may have been organ damage, which unfortunately, there's no medication for. For what it's worth, I think you made the right choice.
 
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