Illness/Sickness: Need to give my Spanish Ribbed Newt .02ml Metronidazole

[Justcat12]

My vet told me I had to give my newt as the title says for 3 days and then once every 14 days.
Yesterday was day one and it was a total disaster. He only eats live black worms or frozen brine shrimp and he will eat black worms from my finger on occasion (if he’s where I can feed him) and in water only.
The vet gave me two tiny syringes both with little catheters.
I tried at first just getting him to take the medication with the syringe, but he refused to open his mouth no matter what I did.
Then I marinated a tiny amount of black worms in the medication, placed them on a dish in a tank that I filled with shallow water for him, but he was still not having it. He wouldn’t eat them unless they were in the water.
I am up for any suggestions on how to get this boy to take his medication. I don’t want to stress him out any more than I have to.

 

[wolfen]

for aquatic species metronidazole can be given as a 24hr bath but the dosage is 50mg/l which is probably more than has been given by vet.

 

[Justcat12]

for aquatic species metronidazole can be given as a 24hr bath but the dosage is 50mg/l which is probably more than has been given by vet.

Yeah, he has been given .02. I don’t know if a bath would work. They suggested injected his food, but I wouldn’t know what else to feed him and if he would it.

 

[wolfen]

there is some information about using brine shrimp to medicate, the metronidazole is added to water containing brine shrimp, the brine shrimp absorb the metronidazole over a period of 24hrs and are then fed to the newt, this method also seems to require a larger dose then you were given although it is a mentioned method in vet books, what is also noted is that "injectable forms of metronidazole is acidic in nature and should be used as baths not applied directly topically unless diluted." source is blackwells five-minute veterinary consort: reptile and ampibian.

 

[Justcat12]

there is some information about using brine shrimp to medicate, the metronidazole is added to water containing brine shrimp, the brine shrimp absorb the metronidazole over a period of 24hrs and are then fed to the newt, this method also seems to require a larger dose then you were given although it is a mentioned method in vet books, what is also noted is that "injectable forms of metronidazole is acidic in nature and should be used as baths not applied directly topically unless diluted." source is blackwells five-minute veterinary consort: reptile and ampibian.

My vet, who I love to death, he mainly does reptiles but did his first year on Amphibians, so I am grateful that he is doing what he can to help me, but I know I am stretching it with him.
Why can’t black worms absorb this medication? My stress would go down a lot, you have no idea. This past November, we lost our 7 year old Bearded Dragon from Egg Yolk Peritonitis. That destroyed my 19 year old, who has Asperger’s and me. Then the week before Christmas, we lost one of our two female newts from whatever this parasite is that this cutie now is showing signs of having. I can’t lose him.
The other two newts, male and female, are not showing any signs of parasites. They aren’t losing weight, their behavior hasn’t changed, in fact, they look great. It’s just him and the other one that became thinner. He’s eating normally, just not maintaining his weight, he’s losing.
I bought driftworms, where I get the black worms, they said they were a type of earthworm. He never had earthworms. I figured I would give them a try.
If the medication needs to be diluted, couldn’t he be technically in the bath for 5 minutes? Since it’s such a low dose and literally one drop. I put him in shallow water.
If orally is dangerous, which it sounds that it is, wouldn’t a short bath be safer? I’m stupid, remember, you are smarter than me, I’m learning, correct me if I am totally off base on my thinking.

 

[wolfen]

0.02ml metronidazole in 400ml water continuous 24hr bath, would mean that the treatment would last 2 days max due to daily water changes.

 

[Justcat12]

0.02ml metronidazole in 400ml water continuous 24hr bath, would mean that the treatment would last 2 days max due to daily water changes.

Thank you so much for taking the time for helping me understand how this medication works. You have no idea what this means to me. I want to do this correctly and not harm him.
So not to drive you crazy, which I probably am, so bear with me, cause like I said I want to do this right and not screw this up, I think my poor guy hates me already, if the one drop lasts 2 days max for 24 hours, could I give him another bath for half the time (12 hours) for the 3rd day, since he needs to be on the medication for 3 days straight or will that be too much?
When I have to give it once every 2 weeks, I can just do the 24 hour bath?

I wish he was like my Beardie, when she was 15 weeks old, when I saved her, she was full of Coccidia and pinworms, I just put her medicine on her salad ( see, I had no clue what I was doing back then) and she ate it. All of it! Then when she got older, I just took the syringe placed it at the side of her mouth at the corner and though she hated it, she took her medicine. I know she was a rare and one of a kind sweet girl. That’s why I’m so dedicated to learning on how to get medication into this stubborn boy, because I’m so used to easy.

 

[wolfen]

the main problem is that the medication was given to you with the intention of it being given orally only which is causing difficulty due to the small amount of medication.
because your newt should be semi aquatic it might be possible to place him in a container with 100ml water rather than 400ml (thought you had received two syringes of 0.02ml each, re-read and adjusted for a smaller dose), this should allow the medication to be spread over 4 days.
would it be possible for your vet to increase the amount so that a bath is possible to ensure full coverage.

 

[Justcat12]

the main problem is that the medication was given to you with the intention of it being given orally only which is causing difficulty due to the small amount of medication.
because your newt should be semi aquatic it might be possible to place him in a container with 100ml water rather than 400ml (thought you had received two syringes of 0.02ml each, re-read and adjusted for a smaller dose), this should allow the medication to be spread over 4 days.
would it be possible for your vet to increase the amount so that a bath is possible to ensure full coverage.

I can definitely ask him. He weighed him at his visit, he weighed 14 grams, I think that’s why he gave him such a low dose.
With the higher dose, I can leave him in the bath for 2 days instead of the 24 hour that includes water changes?
How does the bath work with water changes? Doesn’t that interfere with the medication working, because I would be exchanging the medicated water for new water? Again, don’t mean to sound stupid.
I just wish I knew how they got this parasite.

 

[wolfen]

the bath cannot be longer than 24hrs because of ammonia build up (after 24hrs the water and meds are changed for fresh), the dose for bath is 50mg per litre which is 0.05ml per litre, it can be found in the same formulary that he used for the medication per weight ie.. 50mg per kg.

 

[Justcat12]

the bath cannot be longer than 24hrs because of ammonia build up (after 24hrs the water and meds are changed for fresh), the dose for bath is 50mg per litre which is 0.05ml per litre, it can be found in the same formulary that he used for the medication per weight ie.. 50mg per kg.

Oh! Got it. Seriously, thank you so much! You have made my feeling of hopelessness go away, I mean it. I really felt I was going to fail at getting my sick stubborn one better.

On the bottle it says 33mg/l. I’m giving him a call now. Thank you so much again.

 

[Salamander_Mummy]

Oh! Got it. Seriously, thank you so much! You have made my feeling of hopelessness go away, I mean it. I really felt I was going to fail at getting my sick stubborn one better.

On the bottle it says 33mg/l. I’m giving him a call now. Thank you so much again.

Unhealthy newt ? Run this by your vet

I breed blue spotted salamanders and know quite a bit about most aquatic reptiles..

As one of the replies said on your post, I would separate any of the sick newt(s) into a cleaned small separate 'hospital' enclosures, with little to no other items(decorations) around, maybe a just a clean towel, eg. flannel, or jersey knit cotton,(t-shirt/old pillow case/etc) that has been washed/rinsed/damped with clean healthy safe water (I buy Smart pH balanced Water in and around the major cities and collect rain water in countryside) as that's also how I move my salamanders around, I find wrapping mine like a baby/covering their whole head/body with some sort of cloth settles them down and makes for easy transport ..

Once my sick salamander is in their quertine tank (I mix 1/8th of a tablespoon of Zoo Med's Reptivite Vitamins without D3 to a one 1-litre bottle of room temperature Smart pH Water and slowly incorporate the mixed water into their tank [not directly on them])

I don't offer my salamanders any food during their vitamin bath or 6 week long quertine, until I see the signs that they are healing, healthy, have molted, and have their appetite back, I also check on them often, as the water mixture provides them with a lot of extra vitamins.

if you add too much of the vitamin powder into the water it could cause a rapid heart rate 6-12 hours later, if this does happens dump the vitamin water out and just pure pH Water, as the mixture is like reptile steroids for your pet (This is where I add extra fresh water and make my salamanders go for a little swim-until their are tired and floating on the top of the water) i also only use room temperature water

Afterwards, a healing reptile should molt with two or three days.

Also, salamanders and newts do need some time outside of water, like a turtle dock, or little to no water, as long as their feet or tail are/is touching water and their skin remains moist they can breathe.

During the natural migrating for mating in the wild some would travel on land between ponds to get to different mating grounds.


I am not a vet, I do this as a hobby and I love every walk of life this planet has to offer, especially the 'slimmy' ones.

I hope this information helps you heal your unhealthy newt, as I said in the beginning, run this by your vet as I am not entirely sure if mixing the medication from the vet and the reptile vitamins will help or hinder, maybe less vitamin powder, maybe more(depending on the size of the aquatic reptile)

Please keep me posted, on updates

I wish I found this site sooner, Sally, Sully and mainly I have been so bored..

My salamanders are in winter hibernation and I haven't seen them since beginning of November..

I have less than an inch of that green moss which I found on a friends private land, and they love their travel tank*first photo pictured here*, and the black cloth(left side of photo) is what I use to pick them up with(dampened with water that is cleanest) this photo was taken end of July.

The second photo is when Sally was sick (May/June) ... Just half a day in a the small tank with only Reptivite reptile vitamins without D3 Water, however the hospital tub was her home for a few weeks.

 

[Justcat12]

Unhealthy newt ? Run this by your vet

I breed blue spotted salamanders and know quite a bit about most aquatic reptiles..

As one of the replies said on your post, I would separate any of the sick newt(s) into a cleaned small separate 'hospital' enclosures, with little to no other items(decorations) around, maybe a just a clean towel, eg. flannel, or jersey knit cotton,(t-shirt/old pillow case/etc) that has been washed/rinsed/damped with clean healthy safe water (I buy Smart pH balanced Water in and around the major cities and collect rain water in countryside) as that's also how I move my salamanders around, I find wrapping mine like a baby/covering their whole head/body with some sort of cloth settles them down and makes for easy transport ..

Once my sick salamander is in their quertine tank (I mix 1/8th of a tablespoon of Zoo Med's Reptivite Vitamins without D3 to a one 1-litre bottle of room temperature Smart pH Water and slowly incorporate the mixed water into their tank [not directly on them])

I don't offer my salamanders any food during their vitamin bath or 6 week long quertine, until I see the signs that they are healing, healthy, have molted, and have their appetite back, I also check on them often, as the water mixture provides them with a lot of extra vitamins.

if you add too much of the vitamin powder into the water it could cause a rapid heart rate 6-12 hours later, if this does happens dump the vitamin water out and just pure pH Water, as the mixture is like reptile steroids for your pet (This is where I add extra fresh water and make my salamanders go for a little swim-until their are tired and floating on the top of the water) i also only use room temperature water

Afterwards, a healing reptile should molt with two or three days.

Also, salamanders and newts do need some time outside of water, like a turtle dock, or little to no water, as long as their feet or tail are/is touching water and their skin remains moist they can breathe.

During the natural migrating for mating in the wild some would travel on land between ponds to get to different mating grounds.


I am not a vet, I do this as a hobby and I love every walk of life this planet has to offer, especially the 'slimmy' ones.

I hope this information helps you heal your unhealthy newt, as I said in the beginning, run this by your vet as I am not entirely sure if mixing the medication from the vet and the reptile vitamins will help or hinder, maybe less vitamin powder, maybe more(depending on the size of the aquatic reptile)

Please keep me posted, on updates

I wish I found this site sooner, Sally, Sully and mainly I have been so bored..

My salamanders are in winter hibernation and I haven't seen them since beginning of November..

I have less than an inch of that green moss which I found on a friends private land, and they love their travel tank*first photo pictured here*, and the black cloth(left side of photo) is what I use to pick them up with(dampened with water that is cleanest) this photo was taken end of July.

The second photo is when Sally was sick (May/June) ... Just half a day in a the small tank with only Reptivite reptile vitamins without D3 Water, however the hospital tub was her home for a few weeks.

Thank you so much!!! I truly appreciate this. My vet is still on vacation and will be back on Monday, I left a message for him to talk to me. My newt is eating, he’s just not eating the worms with his medicine that are outside of the water. I have a turtle dock, he doesn’t use it. None of them do. They like the tip of wood pressed up against the side of the glass as their time out from swimming. How can I get them interested in it?

 

[Salamander_Mummy]

Thank you so much!!! I truly appreciate this. My vet is still on vacation and will be back on Monday, I left a message for him to talk to me. My newt is eating, he’s just not eating the worms with his medicine that are outside of the water. I have a turtle dock, he doesn’t use it. None of them do. They like the tip of wood pressed up against the side of the glass as their time out from swimming. How can I get them interested in it?

Have you tried putting them right on the dock ?

Mine won't eat medicine infused meals either ... I think they can sense that something is different with the meal

Is it a powder or liquid medicine the vet gave you ?

 

[Salamander_Mummy]

Have you tried putting them right on the dock ?

Mine won't eat medicine infused meals either ... I think they can sense that something is different with the meal

Is it a powder or liquid medicine the vet gave you ?

Thank you so much!!! I truly appreciate this. My vet is still on vacation and will be back on Monday, I left a message for him to talk to me. My newt is eating, he’s just not eating the worms with his medicine that are outside of the water. I have a turtle dock, he doesn’t use it. None of them do. They like the tip of wood pressed up against the side of the glass as their time out from swimming. How can I get them interested in it?

You can try adding his next live meal/crickets/worm into a little bag/container with a small amount of the medicine, like dusting or coating the outside of the worm with either the powder or liquid medicine right before you offer it too him. The live meal will 'freakout a bit' because of the added medicine but it should infuse to it's body and ideally be ingested by your sick pet.. only offer him the meal coating... Reptiles can go a while without eating and when he is hungry enough he'll eat whatever is moving in front of him...

Mine haven't ate since mid-November but they are happily hibernating

 

[Justcat12]

Have you tried putting them right on the dock ?

Mine won't eat medicine infused meals either ... I think they can sense that something is different with the meal

Is it a powder or liquid medicine the vet gave you ?

I placed him on the dock and he wigged out. He couldn’t zoomie off it fast enough.

My vet gave me liquid, 0.02mg/l. Literally just a drop and my boy is being like my kids, being uncooperative, when it doesn’t have to be.

 

[Justcat12]

I placed him on the dock and he wigged out. He couldn’t zoomie off it fast enough.

My vet gave me liquid, 0.02mg/l. Literally just a drop and my boy is being like my kids, being uncooperative, when it doesn’t have to be. View attachment 97228View attachment 97229

But, through all of this, he is still my sweet Chill. I just am stumped as to what can be causing him to starve when he’s eating?

 

[Salamander_Mummy]

Thank you so much!!! I truly appreciate this. My vet is still on vacation and will be back on Monday, I left a message for him to talk to me. My newt is eating, he’s just not eating the worms with his medicine that are outside of the water. I have a turtle dock, he doesn’t use it. None of them do. They like the tip of wood pressed up against the side of the glass as their time out from swimming. How can I get them interested in it?

Have any of your newts hibernated ? How many do you have ?

I placed him on the dock and he wigged out. He couldn’t zoomie off it fast enough.

My vet gave me liquid, 0.02mg/l. Literally just a drop and my boy is being like my kids, being uncooperative, when it doesn’t have to be. View attachment 97228View attachment 97229

Yes they can be stubborn, just like kids and each has a unique personality on their own..

 

[Justcat12]

Have any of your newts hibernated ? How many do you have ?

Yes they can be stubborn, just like kids and each has a unique personality on their own..

It’s weird how one day, he looks like he’s gaining weight, his ribs are showing less, but then the next day he looks lighter and his ribs are showing like before. I wish he could have given a sample, he couldn’t.

 

[Justcat12]

It’s weird how one day, he looks like he’s gaining weight, his ribs are showing less, but then the next day he looks lighter and his ribs are showing like before. I wish he could have given a sample, he couldn’t.

No, none have hibernated. I used to have 4, 2 girls and 2 boys, but now I have my 2 boys and 1 huge girl. My other boy keeps trying to mate with her and it keeps turning into a suicide mission. I have had to save them at least 3 times. He can’t latch properly, gets frustrated and drags her into this positions that they get stuck. This last time, he finally latched on right, but got sideways in a corner and that was the end of the mating.

The giant pinky is the girl, her name is Suzie.
The one who wants to be her man is Escape Artist. The reason we named him that was after I thoroughly cleaned their tank, I place the lid back on, but apparently one of the corners wasn’t down flat and at 6am the next morning, my oldest son comes to me in a panic with the newt wishing he didn’t escape from his tank, but thankful my son is an early riser.