Animal Care
Oct. 2nd, 2019 04:53 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rebeccmeisterYesterday afternoon I trundled over to the local pet store to see what they had by way of tiny crickets and reptile deworming agents. At this very moment, I don't have a huge supply of tiny crickets, and the tiny tree frogs need tiny food! I also got some wingless fruit flies this morning from colleagues. One more type of animal to learn how to care for.
The deworming agent is a hypothesis. By now I've had one too many herp slowly waste away and die. It's impossible to know whether that's a product of age or something else, but it's starting to look like involvement from a parasite or malnutrition, so it's time to take action. For malnutrition, we're going to go back to dusting the crickets with a calcium supplement. I definitely know that it isn't the quality of regular care because I have a student worker who is excellent.
Meanwhile, our current cricket supply appears to have contracted a disease that makes them turn pink when they die, bleah. I've seen it show up in cricket cultures before but I don't know the cause.
It's a lot to manage and learn about. In addition to testing out the deworming hypothesis, I am also going to learn more about how to diagnose different types of parasites.
What I really need is to have a veterinary consultant who is a herp specialist come out to do a site visit. But I don't know if such a person even exists around here, nor whether I can afford such a visit within my (professional) budgetary constraints. I just can't see it being all that useful or productive to bundle up one unwell animal to bring it to a vet when chances are good that the vet would be able to figure out so much more by just coming to look at how things are set up here. Plus you have to factor in that most vets mostly only see dogs and cats, so there just isn't as much that they can do for animals like herps and chickens.
It's not always easy, being a zookeeper. In fact, I bet it's rarely easy.
The deworming agent is a hypothesis. By now I've had one too many herp slowly waste away and die. It's impossible to know whether that's a product of age or something else, but it's starting to look like involvement from a parasite or malnutrition, so it's time to take action. For malnutrition, we're going to go back to dusting the crickets with a calcium supplement. I definitely know that it isn't the quality of regular care because I have a student worker who is excellent.
Meanwhile, our current cricket supply appears to have contracted a disease that makes them turn pink when they die, bleah. I've seen it show up in cricket cultures before but I don't know the cause.
It's a lot to manage and learn about. In addition to testing out the deworming hypothesis, I am also going to learn more about how to diagnose different types of parasites.
What I really need is to have a veterinary consultant who is a herp specialist come out to do a site visit. But I don't know if such a person even exists around here, nor whether I can afford such a visit within my (professional) budgetary constraints. I just can't see it being all that useful or productive to bundle up one unwell animal to bring it to a vet when chances are good that the vet would be able to figure out so much more by just coming to look at how things are set up here. Plus you have to factor in that most vets mostly only see dogs and cats, so there just isn't as much that they can do for animals like herps and chickens.
It's not always easy, being a zookeeper. In fact, I bet it's rarely easy.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-03 03:09 am (UTC)...but it may not be such a bad place to look for somebody with the expertise you need.
It doesn't look like there are any zoos right where you are, but there are some nearby, and if they can't help, they can probably point you at somebody who can. While I get your interest in a site visit, they may be able to give you advice over the phone, and probably for free.
no subject
Date: 2019-10-03 01:44 pm (UTC)But I also have at least one herp friend in NYC. So.