Please help ASAP! Long Toed Salamander is sick & unsure what to do.

[nelso229]

Hello, I have a young long toed salamander who has something wrong with him. His tail seems to be very stiff and kind of stuck in this wavy shape, and he just seems in bad shape. This happened pretty suddenly, within the week, and he has gradually been getting weaker. Not sure, but there may be a weird bump on his chest. He is not very responsive or eager to eat. I will have pictures up in a few minutes.

He is set up in a 10 gallon with a good, inescapable top, that is misted daily and filled with moss, pots, and sticks. He is fed 3x a week a diet of crickets. He is in this tank with another long toed salamander of slightly larger size, but when fed I make sure they each get enough.
It would be good to note that these are salamanders I raised from eggs found in a nearby pond. He was one of the smaller ones, and has always been kind of slow.

I'm just not sure where to start at all, should I fridge him? Thank you so much for your help!

 

[nelso229]

Here are the pictures. You can see the bump on his body well now, not sure if thats just from feeding or if it's something else.
Anything helps, thank you!

 

[nelso229]

I hate to be that person, but I'm going to bump this. I don't know if I have much time. If you even have a vague idea what to do, please help. I'm not sure where to start, I just want him to make it. ):

 

[Kaysie]

Do you gutload or dust your crickets? The stiffness makes me think possibly MBD.

 

[Jennewt]

I've seen metamorphs that had a kink like this, but it was obvious at the time they morphed. I don't know if it's genetic or environmental, but I can't think of any kind of therapy that would be likely to help.

 

[jasper408]

Like Kaysie said, the pictures look like a case of MBD. This is further reinforced by the fact that the diet was solely crickets. They have a notoriously poor Ca to P ratio when not supplemented.

If it is indeed MBD, there are various liquid calcium + vitamin D emergency supplements available. However, In the reptile world at least, the damage caused by a severe case of MBD cannot be reversed, and the disfigurement will hamper him for the rest of his life.

 

[nelso229]

I'm very sad to say the little guy passed away this afternoon. He will be missed.

Unfortunately I have not been dusting crickets, but I can absolutely start to now. I didn't realize that was something that could happen... I'd done so much research on the set up and diet, not sure how I missed that.

Thank you for all your help, it is very very appreciated. I won't make the same mistake with my remaining salamander.