Naughty Northwestern

[guidofatherof5]

Good to hear they are doing better.

[kibakiba]

I forgot to do Squirts medicine today at 8 like I normally have, just did it now and the red spot is gone... But not in a good way. After getting bit about 6 times before I could restrain him, he opened his mouth, like he knew that putting up a fight wouldn't get me to stop... His whole mouth is a purpley colour again. I feel kind of like I've failed the little guy.

[ConcinusMan]

How long has it been now? the treatment I mean. If things are looking a lot better you could back off and maybe just do it once a day in the evening after feeding time. I'd still keep them on paper towels for a while and keep a very close eye on it. If it seems to flare up again, you know what to do.

[kibakiba]

About a week. For Thumbelina her mouth is perfectly pink, it's just Squirt I'm worried about. He had a deep red spot on his gums this morning when I put it on, I checked on them and put the medicine on it, his mouth still had that red spot and the purple colour. I put a couple extra drops of the medicine in the water for Squirt.
One thing good about that is, he seems eager to get it over with... Aside from all the biting, he just opened his mouth and let me put it on his gums. Usually he puts up a fight with getting the medicine in there.

[ConcinusMan]

I was saying that in another post somewhere about their intelligence. The one's I was treating learned to just go limp and accept it. It was over in seconds that way instead of all the fuss and I think they figured that out after a while.

I would keep it up for a while but they probably don't need the pink stuff but once a day now. Just keep them on clean paper towels still, use the pink stuff after they eat, and follow up with the ointment maybe twice a day.

Even if the worst of it heals, their mouths might still be vulnerable to stuff getting crammed in there so keep a close eye on it and try to keep them clean. Eventually you may be able to put them back on regular substrate but you'll have to watch and make sure stuff isn't sticking to the wounded areas.

[kibakiba]

Alright. I'll probably feed them tomorrow since I just put the medicine on their mouths. I feel kind of bad having the food thawing in my room and having them know it's there, but they'll have some treats tomorrow. Especially Squirt for being a good boy.

[ConcinusMan]

Keep them nice and warm, even at night. Helps with the healing. I think you'll find they do most of their healing on a warm night while they sleep.

[kibakiba]

I keep my room at 70-75 and rarely above that. Since they're in the one gallon plastic enclosure I cant use a lamp. I also don't trust the heating pad meant for humans to warm them or not burn them. The damn thing is so iffy. "high" on the settings is literally life fire... "low" is cold and "medium"... Well, you just never know with that setting.

[ConcinusMan]

Hmmm... not sure what you should do about that but being injured they should be kept warm. At least part of their enclosure at 85-90 degrees.

[kibakiba]

Well, I suppose I can try the heating pad and monitor it when I'm awake. I don't trust keeping it on while I'm asleep though so that might pose a problem. Maybe at night I can just take Squirt to bed with me and let him sleep under my multitude of blankets. I'm sure he'd stop biting then... Knowing what it feels like to be a king... Haha.