My sweet leopard gecko baby vatuu dropped his tail last night!! Iāve never had a leopard gecko drop a tail before what should I do??!!! I cleaned and disinfected his tank and everything in it. Then I put paper towels down for a clean sanitary substrate and I plan on replacing them every 1-2 days. What else can I do for him?? Any and all advice is appreciated!!
Reblogging to remind myself to respond when I get home
Basically- keep the wound clean, use paper towel substrate, give them a humid hide using damp paper towels, and feed as you would normally. You should start seeing the tail healing and regrowing relatively soon. If you see any black or necrotic looking tissue definitely go to a vet, otherwise he shouldnāt need any additional treatment. I would recommend not using any sort of anti-bacterial ointment on the wound, but if you do be sure it doesnāt contain painkillers.
One of those days that Human has a brilliant idea. Me and Lily, one of my many housemates.
Hey so, this is the opposite of a brilliant idea. Snakes, and reptiles as a whole, should neverĀ be together with other animals like this. No matter how docile, calm or trained the animal is, you simply canāt know for sure. A cute picture isnāt worth a vet bill, or loss.
Putting animals together where one is clearly capable of killing and consuming the other is justā¦ no.
So now I am just wondering.. What about working cattle dogs? Farmdogs? Herding dogs? One is clearly capable of killing the other, consuming it or not. Please read my other post on this issue. I also take my dog to the horsesā. Never heard that was irresponsible. Also never heard people complaining about a chihuahua together with a big breed. Which is way more likely to go wrong. Or a dog and a cat in one household. And so on.
I think thereās some points in here worth talking about, because the situations you pose arenāt the same as the one that happened for quite a few reasons. Sorry in advance for the text wall!
One: snakes and dogs donāt speak the same language. Dogs and other domesticated mammals were selected for pliable natures and social ability. You take two domesticated mammals and put them together, and odds are good theyāll at least be able to understand each otherās body language to some extent. Dogs usually donāt just attack out of nowhere- thereās behavioural cues that typically preclude a bite or a fight, and these cues let the animals that understand de-escalate the situation, if thatās what they want. Some dogs, of course, are going to be more aggressive than others, but thousands of years of selective breeding have produced a species of animal that, overall, wants to be around other animals.
Ball pythons are exactly not that. Theyāre a shy, solitary species. This sets up a very different situation than a big dog and a small dog, or a dog and a cat, or a farm dog and another mammal. Dogs understand each other- itās why you can do safe introductions between dogs and with other animals- provided that animal has a context for healthy social interaction with dogs (or at least, friendly mammals)ā¦ which ball pythons do not.
Two: snakes and dogs have no temperamental reason to like each other.
You mention dogs and horses, and thatās a great example. When our ancestors bred dogs, they picked the most docile ones compared to their lupine ancestors. As breeds became specialised, other personality traits were selected for- you donāt get a perfect copy every time, but over generations you get certain temperament traits that show up. Like affinity for horses (think dalmatians), sheep (livestock guarding breeds), etc. Certain breeds are bred for certain things, and getting a well-bred animal to go against its natural drive is hard. Try getting a well-bred border collie not to herd!
But āfond of snakesā is not a trait thatās been bred into anything. In most cases ātolerates snakesā isnāt even the default- most dogs, being that they are canines- will go for snakes.
However, dogs are extremely pliable, mentally! With time, I imagine you could get a dog to tolerate snakes. But you are never, ever going to be able to train a snake to tolerate a dog. Thatās not how snakes work, especially ball pythons which are eaten byā¦ pretty much every predator in their home range, including various canids. Snakes arenāt domesticated, and in many cases, docility is easily confused for the third option- if a snake canāt flee or canāt fight, itāll freeze.
Three: yes, there would be outcry if people posted about having a couple of incompatible animals without proper precautions. If you have a small dog and a large dog and the large dog is dog aggressive and you donāt practice good management, then you are actually putting your animalās life in danger. That would absolutely be a situation people would be upset about, and rightfully so!
But does that mean that you canāt have a happy dog aggressive pit bull and a happy chihuahua in the same house safely? Not at all, provided you practice good animal management, like crating and rotating. People very much would call out any of those situations you listed if they were comparable, but thereās a huge difference between managing domesticated animals and putting an exotic prey species in a situation like this.
Also, I read your other post, and I think you might have missed something. Your other post kind of focuses a lot more on your boy and his behaviour- and he really does seem like a well-trained dog! But reptiles stress easily, especially young ones. There are other health risks, such as from a bite or scratch (certain bacteria that thrive in mammal saliva and under mammal claws are almost always fatal to reptiles), but thereās the stress and psychological well-being of two animals to consider. In the long run, will this incident be deeply traumatic to either of them? My guess is no. But why expose either of them to unnecessary stress with little to no foreseeable benefit?
Also regarding herding dogs- thereās a reason thereās such a thing as testing them as pups. I took my English shepherd/cattle dog mix to get instinct tested. Heād met a sheep at my school through a fence and licked it, so I was fairly confident. We go to the test and heās content in the middle of the pen watching the confined sheep. He doesnāt want to run at all. The tester told me to send him to the sheep and I did.
Well, as English shepherds are a breed that guards and *hunts* in addition to herding or flock guarding, Kumo may have assumed that I wanted him to get a sheep me for and he ran over AND BIT ONE ON THE NECK. They were fully wooled still so he didnāt hurt the sheep thank the gods. I immediately recalled him and he came right back with some apologetic body language and sat beside and was once again content to just watch the sheep.
If this had been Ye Olden Times, a farmer would never have used him or bred him. Mostly this behavior is bred out. But it was present in my dog. I never let him near the snakes, and I was always very aware of him when the cats were in the same room because he would chase them, but only if they ran first.
dogs are omnivore and IF YOUR VET APPROVES your pooch MAY be able to go on an APPROVED(!!!!!) commercial vegan dog food like the brand āv-dogā which has all the essential vitamins, protein, etc. (the oldest record winning dogs have been vegan)
cats are CARNIVORE and cannot fucking live on a vegan diet. a vet would laugh in your face and probably find some way to have your pet taken away from you because youāre obviously not fit to have an animal if you think you can feed a cat a diet based on your own ethics
iām vegan but this is so fucking harmful.
itās about minimizing your harm, not putting your animals on risky diets in an attempt to be perfect.
DONāT FUCKING DO THIS TO YOUR PETS
Idiot people
If you see someone you know doing this, report them for animal cruelty and neglect.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
This posts, and many of the notes on it, are bothering me. Ladies, gentlemen, esteemed colleagues from outside the confines of the gender binary; gatherĀ āround. Letās throw some science in this joint.
1. Humans. Humans are not cats. Humans are not dogs. One would think this obvious, but people have a tendency to attempt such interspecies comparisons when discussing diet. Humans are order omnivora; we have essentially evolved in a manner that attempts to give us as much dietary flexibility as possible. We do, however, require a substance called B12 (or cobalamin), which is extremely important for brain and nervous system functions, as well as the synthesis of DNA and the construction of red blood cells.Ā We cannot produce this vitamin ourselvesāno animal, plant, or fungus can. The enzymes used in cobalamin production are essentially unique to bacteria and archaeaāsome species of which hang out in the digestive tracks of other animals. We get cobalamin in a roundabout way from fish, shellfish, meat, eggs, milk, and dairy products. While there is no naturally-occurring, vegan source of the vitamin that has been demonstrated effective in a human study of statistically significant sample size, effective synthetic forms do exist and can be used as a substitute. Ā CyanocobalaminĀ is one of the most common and is frequently found in fortified foods and vitamins. In short: Humans are omnivores. Humans have evolved for dietary flexibility, including viable vegetarianism. Humans did not evolve for veganism (be extremely suspicious of people who tell you that we did, as they are lying), but due to modern technologies, veganism is also a viable diet that humans can thrive on, should they so choose.
Now, I did manage to find two veterinarians who disagree with every other study I dug up and the American Veterinary Medical Association. Their articles are here and here. They donāt really have sources, and are essentially wholly dependent on anecdotal evidence (āmy dog is a vegetarian and hasnāt died!ā), but for those of you data cherry-pickers reading this, there you go.Ā
As a rule, dogs and cats need meat. If that makes you uncomfortable, that is your problem, not theirs. If you try to implement a vegan or vegetarian diet for your pets because you implemented one for yourself, you shouldnāt have those pets. That is animal abuse. (By the way, those of you not feeding your cats and non-allergic dogs the food they need to survive and thrive? What the fuck is wrong with you? Do you not love your pets?)
TL;DR If you do not want a pet that must be fed meat, you should under no circumstances acquire a cat or a dog. Thank you for your time.
Rebloobing for the more detailed info on B12 and obligate carnivore vs true omnivores
ifesbob 