Bloated juvenile (O.ophryticus)

Azhael · Oct 7, 2007

So the headaches start ....
One of my new banded juveniles which i thought had been eating well, seems to be bloated. I picked it up to see him well, and noticed that with a light coming behind it i could see it´s belly was completely clear, empty, like filled with water. What can be done? I´m pretty sure it´s fluid retention, and it may be my fault...i think i´ve been misting the humid side too much. They only use a small piece of moss and when it dries i mist it....not heavily...but maybe it´s too much for them. They never use the dryer parts though. So what can i do? I´ll try and get some pics later.

Jennewt · Oct 7, 2007

Bloat can strike for a variety of reasons, it's not necessarily caused by the misting. Can you explain their setup in more detail? I'm not an expert on Ommatriton (I just obtained some CB juveniles, so I'm just learning). But maybe there's a better setup that wouldn't require any misting.

Azhael · Oct 8, 2007

Their setup is a 4cm thick layer of soil, there´s a plastic pot for covering and two pieces of cork...a small water dish(very very shallow) and some moss. Now i´ve changed the cork and put it in the humid part, and the moss in the middle of the tank. They are now using the cork, so i guess what they are seeking is humidity. The supossedly bloated juvenile now looks a bit slimmer, so my guess is that the moss was retaining too much water??Since it looks less "fat" i´ll just keep on eye on it for now and see if it changes in any way.

Jennewt · Oct 8, 2007

For my own juvenile O.vittatus, I do not plan to mist them at all. I was told to keep them as dry as possible (short of total dessication!). Do they have plenty of hiding places on the drier side? And what kind of lid does the enclosure have (i.e., how humid is the air inside)?

Azhael · Oct 8, 2007

They have the pot and the moss in the drier part. I read about keeping them really dry too, but thought i would make a gradient of totally dry to slightly humid...and they seem to go for the humid side. The tank is the kind of plastic exo-terra type. So the lid is a plastic net-like cover, which provides of very good ventilation. I think i´ll stop misting the tank as i´ve done since i noticed the situation. I´ll see if i can find more cork bark to add more hiding places too.

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Bloated juvenile (O.ophryticus)

Azhael

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Azhael

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