Hi Joe, I'm not a large scale keeper, I only have Peanut and 4 girls (all cb), so the animal room is just the spare bedroom and has no separate controls. As I mentioned we are moving to a new house tonight where the room temperatures should stay in the 77-80 degree range. The lights aren't on timers. I'd like to switch to under tank heat strips on thermostats but that's just not in the budget at this point. The girls are in two separate tanks, and all of their cage furniture/ bowls are kept separated and cleaned regularly.
When I spoke to the vet yesterday he said he thought crypto was pretty low in the list of possibilities. Peanut's still in his water dish and hasn't eaten; the vet gave him fluids. Unfortunately when I checked on the girls today I found several little piles of regurgitated worms. They all seem pretty freaked out, which is possibly the stress of a move happening around them (I've tried to keep this to a minimum). I really hope this is just because they made little pigs of themselves yesterday but we are all going back to the vet first thing in the morning. Each gecko is now in her own plastic tub on paper towels with just a hide box and water dish until this is figured out. Fingers and toes are crossed that all of my babies come through this ok. I would be devastated to lose them. Thanks everyone, -Jessica, Peanut, Rocky, Ellipsis, Carrots, and Smiley Jessica - > > I just checked my email today. Following the thread, it sounds like you're > doing everything you can, and are following a lot of good advice. Here's my > two cents. > > My first thought was that the tank was too hot. I think I read that the cage > is in your animal room - is this room climate controlled separate from the > house (i.e., heated for the animals)? I think I also read that you have a > heat lamp on the cage? I think I would put the light on a timer, only coming > on from like midnight til 7-8 AM, at least through the rest of the summer. > If DC is anything like Cleveland, it is extemely hot and miserable, and if > the ambient room temps is that high, you really don't need an additional > hotspot. I propose a timer because here, the nights are still a bit chilly. > If the room is climate controlled, I wouldn't use a light at all (in the > summer, at least), especially on a male (a producing female, I'd definitely > try to work an additional hot spot in somehow). > > If you do disinfect with ammonia, contact time is extremely important to be > effective in the treatment of crypto. I don't recall what it is, but you > want to make sure you allow adequate contact time. I think I remember > something about complete drying also being important. > > You also want to keep in mind the order of feeding/care. You don't want to > spread anything further along, and you also want to rule out anyone else > having anything. While crypto can be dormant for along time, and may just > now showing its ugly face (assuming it is crypto), you want to rule out that > it wasn't spread to this animal through common husbandry maintenance. For > example, I found that I would get into a routine and always work the animals > in the same order. You want to be cognizant of the animals you typically > work before and after this one in trying to find "patient zero". This > paragraph holds true for mites, too. > > I knew a guy who actually washed his hands between every cage. I never took > it to that extreme, except between wc and cb cages (cb always first). > > Also, I would probably stop using "cage carpet". It is a real pain to > disinfect. I'd go with either newspaper or paper towel. Not nearly as > aesthetically pleasing, but a heck of a lot more sanitary. > > If it turns out to be nothing, consider it a "wake-up call". If it is > something, I hope it all works out for the best, but you still want to nip it > early to prevent an epidemic (of whatever it might be). > > Good luck, > > Joe > > > Joe > "of these things that walk upon the earth you shall not touch > ...the gecko" Leviticus 11:30 > >
