R.I.P. Hopper

[cwebster]

Am sorry to hear Hopper is not doing well. Have you tried force feeding or giving Repta-Boost?Have used Repta-Boost with our toad while he was recovering from MBD. If Hopper has been hibernating maybe he just needs some food and energy. Will hope for the best for him.

[red green hawk]

Just put her in a bowl of water with some calcium. Her heart is beating harder. Moving her head a bit. We'll see.

[red green hawk]

Am sorry to hear Hopper is not doing well. Have you tried force feeding or giving Repta-Boost?Have used Repta-Boost with our toad while he was recovering from MBD. If Hopper has been hibernating maybe he just needs some food and energy. Will hope for the best for him.

All right so how do I get her mouth open? She is doing a little better, even crawled out of the water dish. I got something like reptoboost but I cant get her to open her mouth. Suggestions please.

[cwebster]

I have to force feed our four month old western toad who is recovering from MBD. I hold him in my left hand and VERY gently use my well filed index right fingernail to gently open his mouth. It is important to be VERY gentle and feel for the mouth opening and not harm his mouth skin. When he opens his mouth, if i can, i stuff in a small cricket or calciworm. If he tries to close his mouth i quickly use my left thumb to gently prop his mouth slightly open until he gets the feeder. I let go of his mouth and he swallows the feeder and we are both happy. I only do this a few times per day. Some people uee a credit card or tiny q tip or teflon spatula to open an amphibians mouth. Usually i let him soak right afterwards in a VERY shallow dish of bottled mineral water because he loves that. It is always a little scary. I keep hoping he will start eating by himself or at least open his mouth to grab the feeder. Hope your toad is all better soon. If you give something like reptaboost just offer a tiny bit in a syringe, just a few drops at a time. Let him rest and recover. Mr Toad just lets liquids drool out if i give him too much (then he really needs a bath!). Hope your toad is all better soon.

[red green hawk]

Opened her mouth with a guitar pick and gave her about 1cc of Jump-start. Made by Zillo, according to local pet supply store it's the same stuff as Reptoboost. It comes in a gel form. Shes moving a little more. Only has 1 eye open. Holding out hope but still not confident she will make it. Should've taken a before and after pic from when I found her after soaking in a bath all day. Toads are amazing little animals.

[cwebster]

1cc is a lot for a small toad. Generally i only give a few drops at a time of reptaboost to our toad. Hope Hopper improves soon. Would make sure she gets to rest too. How warm is their tank? Vet insusted we keep Mr Toad at 80 degrees when he was really ill with MBD ( now we make sure he is at least 75). Hibernation or brumation seems hard on amphibians. Hope Hopper is ok. Mr Toad occasionally ends up on his back while he is moving around a lot because the MBD left him with limb difficulties. I hope Hopper doesnt go upside down again. After i found Mr Toad dried out and seemingly dead, i soaked him but too long at first and he had edema. Soaking all day is too long possibly for a debilitated toad...we had to soak Mr Toad for just brief periods after that (vet said no more than 20 minutes at first a few times per day until he peed out the extra fluid). Hope Hopper improves soon with rest and TLC. Would let her rest after the reptile feeding and see if she will defecate after a very brief soak later. How is she moving around? Any TLC like feedings, soaks etc need to be gradual so she can rest and get her energy back. You mentioned that the soak had calcium in it. Is it possible she may be going through MBD again? Mr Toad needed weeks of calcium gluconate 1 drop 2x per day to really improve after i found him stiff. Do the toads get regular calcium and D3! and vitamins and mineral dustings ( alternate days)?

[red green hawk]

My toads will be 3 in May. I dust once per week plus gut load the insects and I feed every other day. I use a UVB light and turn it on at sun up and off at sun down. The nutrition I have is in paste form, not quite like Reptoboost and they reccomend giving it 3x per day. I'll do it once per day. She is moving around a lot more. She crawled the length of the terrarium to go back under a plastic cave I have in there for her. I have just dissolved some of the insect dust in the water I am soaking her in. I work at a hospital so will get some calcium gluconate tomorrow.

[cwebster]

Glad to hear Hopper is moving around. The calcium gluconate i got from the vet is 23% normally injectable liquid but per the vets instructions i just gave Mr Tosd one tiny drop twice per day orally while he was really messed up with the MBD and gradually decreased it. Would be careful not to use full strength human calcium gluconate as that could be really toxic to a toad. Giving one tiny drop 23% once per day might help Hopper but i am not a vet. The vet also said it was ok to put a drop of calcium gluconate 23% in his shalliw water dish. The paste sounds like it gave her some energy. Hopefully with the energy she may recover soon. Hope she starts eating again soon. Is she warm enough? It took Mr Toad two days to defecate after i started force feeding him and giving him the extepra calcium but when he did and lost the edema i practically kissed him. When you dust do you alternate between calcium/D3 and vitamins/minerals? I used to just gut load the crickets but know now that just wasnt enough to keep Mr Toad healthy. I hate dusting crickets but do it religiously now. Sounds like you are taking great care of your toads and i hope Hopper is hopping again very soon. Your toads are lovely.