Bloated ophryticus

[Azhael]

I just put one of my juvies in a separate tank because i noticed it´s thoat and lower jaw are swollen. The body is normal or so it seems. I touched the "buble" to see if it was just air or something but itçs dense, and it won´t go. Also the colours have faded a bit. It´s completely terrestrial, so how should i look after it?

 

[Jennewt]

What kind of substrate are you using for them? Keep it terrestrial, on a substrate where you can give a moisture gradient (damp on one side, drier on the other). I would recommend plain soil. I can't think of anything else.

 

[Azhael]

I keep them on paper towels. They kept having trouble with eating and soil so i changed them to towels. They had been doing great til now...
It´s got a gradient.
It doesn´t seem to be getting any worse...just the same...

 

[coendeurloo]

I must say I have some troubles with my group too. Some are doing great and growing fine, others seem to prefer the moist side and die eventually. Even though the moist side is absolutely not 'soggy'. I think I would force to keep them even more dry in the future, it seems that some of them choose the moist side, but can't handle it. Maybe a totally dry environment with only a small waterbowl.

 

[Azhael]

You may be right...the bloated newt used to spend all of it´s time on the damp paper towels, while the others usually moved around spending time over the dry stones too.
I don´t really know how to keep them dryer...if i use soil, dry soil, it sticks to food and creates problems, and to avoid that the soil must be moist....so i don´t really know what to do.
The rest are doing fine though...
The bloated one is just the same...doesn´t eat but doesn´t seem to get any worse at all either...should i try putting it in a completely dry setup with just a small dish for safety? It really looks like it´s absorving too much water but the towels are almost dry....

 

[Azhael]

Since i didn´t really know what to do i decided to put it in a colder place by the window. Since then the throat bloat has reduced a lot.
The thing now is it seems to have trouble walking. It´s front toes are all "glued" together and it´s walking is rather erratic.
Help please...

 

[coendeurloo]

That could be true, the cold reduces the bacterial activity. I would like to give advice but I have a lot of troubles with ophryticus myself, so I hope someone else with experience will step in....

For me, I'm going to try a dry fine gravel substrate with a small waterbowl in it, and some stacks of corkbark. I'm thinking the cocopeat I use now might be part of the problem...it is so sad to gain experience over the death of these animals. I hope to breed them in the future to compensate my losses.

 

[Azhael]

This has been a rather tough kick for me...after a rather difficult start i now thought i had everything under control.....but then this happens.
I´m also having trouble with two of my vulgaris, one is dying for sure and the other one eats so little i don´t know if it´s enough to maintain itself...
It´s hard when things turn bad...But then again, the others look so healthy that i just don´t know what to expect any more...
Anyway i´m rather deceived with myself...it´s obviously not their fault...

 

[coendeurloo]

Don't feel all too bad about it. I know that I have tried nearly all possible ways to keep them succesfully and read the caresheets, breeding reports and discussed with other experienced keepers. If it still doesn't work than there is nothing more you can do, other than try to learn from it and share your findings with others.

So, for me a pretty dry environment with cocopeat as a substrate and stacks of corkbark and on the moist side some turf and moss did NOT work. The ones that did survive spent most of their time in the totally dry corkbark, which is what makes me think about keeping them in a totally dry environment next time (with ofcourse a waterbowl!).

 

[BILLY JAMES]

Hello azhael my O.vittatus seem to be doing fine on damp papper towels have you changed the make of your papper towels recently because i know some makes contain bleach as do most till receipts just some thing to look in to hope it helps

 

[Azhael]

It died
Same paper towels as always Billy...

 

[Jennewt]

I am feeding my vittatus fruit flies and pinhead crickets, so there is no problem with soil sticking to the food. I also put small worms into the setup - if those are eaten, I'm sure some soil sticks to them, but I really don't see this as a problem. Ingestion of small amounts of soil shouldn't hurt them. I would continue to vote for keeping them on soil, damp on one side, almost dry on the other. If you are using something like bloodworms to feed them, you could use a piece of paper towel or a flat dish under the food.

Sorry about the one that bloated, but good luck with the others Rodrigo!

 

[Azhael]

Mine had trouble with the soil...it wasn´t just eating small amounts of soil which wouldn´t have worried me...it´s that they usually regurgitated due to the soil stuck on the food, even with crickets...
And that was a problem....