Clean potting soil or construction sand mixed with potting soil and vermiculate is one option, or try sphagnum moss, vermiculite and peat. Lack of a suitable area for digging, which stimulates oviposition, is a major reason why many gravid females develop egg-laying problems. In addition to the female lizard retaining her eggs because she does not have a suitable location and substrate for digging, there can be many other causes of dystocia difficulty in laying eggs. Nonobstructive dystocia, where the eggs appear to be of normal size and shape and the female appears to have normal anatomy, are usually the result of poor husbandry, including an inappropriate nesting site.
Other causes of nonobstructive dystocia include malnutrition, improper temperature, dehydration, poor physical condition and possibly oviductal infection. In some cases, a female suffering from malnutrition or poor physical condition will begin oviposition and will lay the majority of the clutch or just an egg or two , but she may end up retaining one or more eggs as a result. Obstructive dystocias occur due to an anatomic inability to pass one or more eggs through the oviduct shell gland and cloaca.
Eggs may be oversized, malformed or have an irregular surface, making expulsion difficult if not impossible. The female may have a misshapen pelvis, oviductal stricture or masses such as abscesses or bladder stones. Other causes of obstructive dystocia can be a malpositioned or damaged egg. In rare cases, the female may develop eggs before she has grown to sufficient size to be able to successfully pass them.
I have seen this more frequently in rock iguanas Cyclura. A normal gravid female iguana will have an extremely swollen abdomen, and it may be possible to view and feel individual eggs. If she stops eating as her belly fills with eggs, this is normal. Some gravid females will continue to eat small amounts of their favorite foods right up until ready to lay.
It takes about eight weeks for a female to go from early production of enlarged follicles to actual egg laying. Most iguanas will go off food approximately 65 days after copulation if she is with a male. Some females will develop large follicles on the ovaries, and then resorb them if the conditions are not favorable for oviposition. This cycle may then repeat in subsequent seasons. It is very important to ascertain if the female is resorbing her eggs.
If the ova in the follicles do not ovulate and do not resorb, the mature follicle membranes will adhere and coalesce, resulting in a large agglomeration of friable yolk. This mass may rupture, and the free yolk mass in the coelom body cavity can cause severe inflammation and peritonitis, resulting in dangerous illness and even death. Post-ovulatory eggs will have albumin, membranes and the shell applied in the oviducts. These are usually visible on radiographs.
If the eggs are visible and the female has been anorexic not eating for four weeks, she should be close to laying her eggs. At this time, she should be maintained at the higher end of her temperature range for green iguanas, this is 94 to 96 degrees Fahrenheit and she should be provided with an appropriate nesting site for digging and oviposition.
This provides her with enough calcium to produce normal egg shells. She should also be provided with full-spectrum fluorescent light, replaced as directed by the manufacturer, in order for her to absorb and metabolize her calcium more efficiently. The challenge for both iguana owners and herp veterinarians alike is to decide: if the female is normal and pre-ovulatory, if she was pre-ovulatory and resorbed her yolks, if she is pre-ovulatory and has follicular stasis, if she is gravid and not yet ready to lay, or if she is gravid with eggs and the eggs are retained past the normal time she should lay them.
This is not always the easiest thing. The owners had to notice when the female stopped eating if she did and her general condition. Blood work can be helpful in assessing the health of the lizard, whether she is dehydrated and how her kidneys are functioning to some extent. Her blood calcium level can help the herp vet determine where she is in her cycle, but this test also has its limitations. Is when she was devouring her food.
Know days she just scratch everywhere , eat very little and poops very little. I still hand feed her and always leave her fresh food on sight and water with a bit of calcium. She has loose a mass on her belly and tail. She was cool but eating way to much.
Gus, I would get her checked by a vet to be sure, but I can't really tell if she's gravid. She looks normal and healthy in the first picture, but inthe last she looks thinner. If they're gravid, they lose body mass all over but you can still see a swollen belly and grape-like bulges along both sides eggs.
I would advise going to a reptile vet and getting an x ray to find out if there are eggs inside and maybe also get some formula to help her eat. Please keep us posted. I want to see her fat again! Yes I agree, the first photos are perfect and she looks healthy and maybe gravid but the photo of today does not look good. She needs to see a vet straight away.
She is showing all the symptoms of being very ill, her bad mood included. You will have to insist and they must take x-rays to see if there is any eggs. I am sorry. You must log in or register to reply here.
Status This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register. By continuing to use this site, you are consenting to our use of cookies. Accept Learn more…. Top Bottom. If a female is to be salvaged for breeding, multiple salpingotomies are usually necessary, because a female green iguana may produce as many as 20 to 30 eggs or more.
However, often a female that has had one dystocia is predisposed to having it happen again. With retained follicles, the cluster of ovulated ova and the ovary should be surgically removed. In the case of an owner wanting to preserve reproductive capabilities, it might be possible to salvage the ovary, however, I usually urge the owner to consider spaying the female. If the female is a pet, it is best to remove both ovaries and oviducts to prevent future problems. Never leave an ovary and remove the oviduct; with future ovulations, coelomitis—often fatal—can occur.
Surgery is usually performed under isoflurane anesthesia. Clear drapes are advantageous for assessing the patient intraoperatively. Keeping the patient warm during and after surgery is important for the immune system. Fluid support via intraosseous, subcutaneous or rarely intravenous routes helps maintain hydration. There is a large single abdominal vein located on the midline just under the skin that must be avoided.
The ventral abdominal vein is suspended from the linea alba by a short mesovasorum. Some veterinarians prefer to make a midline incision, through the linea alba, being cautious to carefully dissect around the central vein. Others prefer to make an incision just off the midline to one side or the other.
The disadvantage to this approach is muscle is being transected, which may result in more bleeding than cutting through the linea alba. Iguanas lack an obvious coelomic membrane, and one must be careful to not mistake the thin bladder wall for the coelomic membrane. In chameleons, a paralumbar incision provides excellent exposure for ovariosalpingectomy.
Once the coelomic cavity is entered, if there are eggs in the oviducts, the oviduct is exteriorized, and the mesovarium vessels are ligated with two absorbable sutures or vascular clamps. It must be noted that the shell gland and oviduct are richly supplied with large blood vessels that are most easily ligated with hemostatic clips, transecting between two closely applied clips. Begin at the infundibulum, ligating and transecting vessels, progressing caudally towards the junction of the shell gland and the cloaca.
Two clips are used to ligate the shell gland, which is then transected and removed. Any diagnostic sampling can be performed on the excised tissue. If the procedure is to be a C-section, salpingotomy incisions are repaired using an inverting suture pattern of an absorbable synthetic suture material.
It may be necessary to perform several incisions into the oviduct to remove all of the eggs. The ovaries are located under the oviducts full of eggs, so removal of the oviduct and shell gland will make removal of the ovaries simpler.
The right ovary is in close proximity to the vena cava. The right ovary is elevated and clips are applied between the ovary and the vena cava. The ovary is removed after transection between the ovary and the clips. The artery and vein that supply the left ovary are adhered to the left adrenal gland, so take extra care not to injure the gland during removal. Clips are applied between the ovary and the underlying tissue and vessels, and then the tissue is transected between the clips.
If pre-ovulatory follicles are present, the ovaries are removed using the same technique for ovariectomies in dystocia surgery. Depending on the wishes of the owner and the condition of the lizard the oviducts and shell glands may also be removed or left intact.
Once the procedure has been completed, the muscle layer is closed with or absorbable suture in a simple interrupted pattern. The skin must be closed using an everting suture pattern, the horizontal mattress, with appropriate size nonabsorbable suture, or with skin staples, also in an everting pattern. Sealing the incision site with surgical tissue glue helps prevent postoperative infection. Sutures should remain for approximately six weeks before removal. For at least 10 to 14 days postop, the lizard should remain in a warm and dry environment, with no swimming.
Fluid therapy may be necessary to prevent dehydration after surgery. If the patient is anorectic, it may require force-feeding to prevent weight loss and nutritional deficiencies.
The actual surgical procedures for a C-section, ovariosalpingectomy and pre-ovulatory ovariectomy are straightforward, as long as you take into account the unique anatomical differences found in the many lizard species. However, performing the diagnostics necessary to ascertain whether the reproductive problem is pre-ovulatory or post-ovulatory is very important, as the medical and surgical treatment varies according to which condition the lizard is suffering from.
The rewards gained by successfully treating a female lizard with reproductive problems are well worth the challenges involved in correctly diagnosing a case. The ripple effect of heartworm disease on your mental health. You must be logged in to post a comment. Tell allergic itch to hit the road. Learn more to provide relief. By Margaret A. Wissman, DVM, Dipl. ABVP With the continued popularity of green iguanas Iguana iguana , bearded dragons Pogona vitticeps and water dragons Physignathus cocincinus , as well as interest in the smaller lizards, such as geckos and anoles, veterinarians are being called upon more often to provide accurate husbandry, nutrition and behavioral information to clients.
Reptile Sexual Maturity Lizards reach sexual maturity based on size, more than chronological age.
0コメント