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Illness/Sickness: Mysterious illness? Please help!

Nioa

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Jan 9, 2014
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So, last month I was having some problems getting one of my salamanders to eat. Since then he had eaten only twice (voluntarily), and two days ago I found him severely bloated and he eventually died. Up until the point I found him bloated (presumably from starvation) I thought he was doing alright. His bloating, I now realize, began shortly after I decided to try force feeding him. It all seemed to be working out well enough, once the worm was actually in his mouth he willingly swallowed it. I assumed the increase in his size was a result of him finally eating, so I left him in the same tank as his tank mate. I regret this now, it never even occurred to me that he might have been ill. I thought it was a result of stress, or him just being young and finicky.
His tank mate is now showing the same behavior that he was showing about two months ago. He'll pursue the worms for about a minute, until he seems to get fed up with it and give up. His tank mate hasn't eaten since I found the poor fellow bloated two days ago. :(
I'm very concerned about him, has anyone dealt with this before? Is this a disease or just coincidence? He's definitely become less enthusiastic about eating in the last few weeks. He used to violently snatch worms the second I dropped one near him, sometimes he'd even run across the tank to steal one that wasn't even for him. Now he only gets interested for a moment, and then ignores them. The last time he did eat it took him a while to pay attention long enough to strike.
 

Nioa

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
74
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Location
Wisconsin
He's a fire salamander. The temperature is generally around 60-67 degrees (F) and I can't post a picture of the setup at the moment because I'm not at the house. The substrate is a shallow layer of dirt and there's a few dried oak leaves in there, along with this hide.

s-l225.jpg

He's misted every other day and there's a small water dish in the tank for him. The tank is a basic 10 gallon. Thanks for the link!
 

Nioa

Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2014
Messages
74
Reaction score
2
Location
Wisconsin
UPDATE: He is refusing food entirely and appears to be more lethargic than usual.
 
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