Illness/Sickness: UPDATE: On my Tiger sal

[ferret_corner]

for background info you can reference this message: http://caudata.org/forum/showthread.php?t=56965

New symptom? I'm pretty sure he's blind. I thought maybe the frogs in his tank (old mistake that never went bad) were taking all his food before he climbed out of his cave so I've been hand feeding him. But today I was in a hurry so I just dropped in all 50 crickets and started doing dishes (tank is behind my sink so I have something pretty to watch) and I noticed he only snapped at crickets that crawled on him or anything that brushed his mouth.

After watching him viciously attack a leaf fragment and then the papertowel that was in with the crickets for about a minute and a half. I grabbed a stool and started grabbing crickets and handfeeding him again (they aren't gonna condemn my house because I didn't do dishes for two days!)

I'm tired, I've been horridly ill for weeks - anyone got any ideas or do I hand feed him forever? (I WILL!)

Sharon

 

[Jan]

I have one elderly tiger that displays the same behaviors - his eyes are wide open, but he doesn't hunt like he used to and is indiscriminate in his 'snapping'. So, I cater to the 'old man' and only hand feed him, he still has a great appetite...consequently, I hand feed the tankmates. I like this approach as it allows me to know exactly the quantity of food they receive. I also have a concern that if I place alot of crickets in the viv, that the old man may get bitten since he is very slow. Crickets can inflict nastey bites.

I would avoid placing 50 crickets in with your elderly sal for the reason indicated above.

 

[ferret_corner]

Well the two Australian Whites' Tree frogs will make short work of the crickets.

I know better now but 12 years ago (or whatever it was) I believed the lady at the petshop that the two could co-exist blah blah blah. The tank is warmer on one end probably due to plant lights - though not optimal for the Whites, and with the pond at the other end the sal stays quite cool- they live quite well. I used to have therms for the water and land portions and they always stayed at the high side of acceptable for the sal and low side of acceptable for the frogs (I did this after I came here and learned how awful it all could have been!) But they've long since been defunct and I haven't gotten around to replacing them. I am I the only lazy person who does that?

Its my only mixed tank and I won't ever do it again. The tiger may be moving out anyway - I had always planned to do that but I never got another tank of similar size and design until recently. Funny how time gets away from you.

Thanks for the reassurance about his condition. The old soldier will be babied from here on out.

Sharon

 

[Kaysie]

I have the same situation. A blind, old tiger salamander in with a young buck. The young one has to be removed during feeding, so I can hand feed the old man without the young one stealing his food (he's VERY slow at eating). Once he stops freaking out from being uprooted (usually he's buried), he usually eats, slowly. But he can't hunt, even if the worm is just in front of him. I have to repeatedly smack his lips with it.

I prefer hand-feeding as well. Like Jan says, it allows me to monitor who's eating what.

 

[ferret_corner]

lol Oh Goody, someone else has to do the worm-face-smack too!

Sharon