A new rescue.

[Julia]

My husband and I decided to name the basilisk Orion after the blind hunter from Greek mythology. Today Orion went to the vet. Turns out his eye infections are from an abscess in the lymph node behind his eyes. Although the polysporin we were putting in the eyes helped a great deal, it only treated the surface. While at the vet Orion decided to poop...so we had a fecal done too. Turns out he is loaded with parasites. Ring worms and something that the vet could not identify. They were so big that he showed us! They looked like fly larva, but because Orion pooped on site there was no way they were not flies. He was going to look through some books to identify it.

Long story short he is being treated with Baytril, and Panachur. He is for sure blind in his left eye, the right eye is a mystery. With this treatment Orinon will survive, but he will never be normal.

[Jace]

Orion is a great name. I must say, he has great timing for a bowel movement!! Hopefully he can be successfully treated for the parasites. So..with him being for sure 50% blind (at least), what does that mean for his future?

[Kurt]

How does he eat if he can't see?

[Julia]

For the past two weeks I have been using a syringe to tap him on the nose (gently) and he obediently opens his mouth. Once open I put the insects part way in and he bites down and eats them. This has successfully put weight on him so now the vet said to stop feeding him in this manner. Now we will start leaving bugs in his tank. He is strong enough to hunt now but the question is...can he?

[Jace]

I'll keep my fingers crossed. I think he might surprise us yet!!

[Julia]

An update: Orion has been on the Baytril for 2 weeks now, and only has one week left. His eyes are 100percent clear of puss but they do not seem to work very well. If I wave a finger close to his eye he will close it. When I took him to see the vet 2 weeks ago he would not react so this is an improvement.

He still refuses to hunt on his own. I have been working on teaching him to hand feed because I don't think his eyes will ever be good enough to hunt. Hand feeding is going well. I have him to the point now where if i touch his nose with a cricket he will open he mouth. Then I place the cricket part way in and he chomps down and eats it. Here are some pictures I took this morning! Notice the deformed pupils.

[Jace]

Well, he really looks much better. And learning to hand feed is better than nothing. Godo job Julie!!