One of my chameleon rescues, Kiwi, came back to me a couple months ago and I put her immediately into a new foster home. After a month or two, Kiwi stopped eating and I had a vet tech friend take her. The 2nd move stressed her out and she ended up at my Utah vets’ office today where they found her belly and throat filled with fluid. It’s not looking good for her.
Right now I’m waiting on the blood work results to come back.
Kiwi was a spontaneous pet store purchase. She didn’t have a good cage or a good UVB light and had severe Metabolic Bone Disease when I got her. Her bones were so fragile that the moment she started crawling along her new screen tank, her arm & leg bones broke. She spent several months in a flat 10 gallon sick tank while we strengthened her bones. MBD has long lasting consequences on bones and internal organs (like the kidneys & liver).
Let’s talk about females and egg laying. Female Beardies can/will lay infertile eggs. I’ve had females who lived with males who have *never* laid eggs. I’ve had females who have *never* seen a male who laid excessively. I’ve had females who laid 1 egg once and females who laid 20 a month. It is 100% random, all based on genetics.
Every female will make egg follicles from their ovaries. The follicles then drop into their oviduct and come out through their vent as an egg shape. Infertile eggs look like giant yellowish-white Tic Tacs; fertile eggs are tiny egg shapes. Not all egg follicles will drop off the ovaries and if they don’t, they will start to rot inside the female’s belly.
The first pic shows healthy follicles (round, similar size, bright yellow) and the second pic unhealthy follicles (abnormal, dark colored, lots more blood). One of the most common causes of deaths with females is rotted eggs. Which leads to the next question— but how do you know??? You don’t by yourself. Yearly check ups are the only way. Egg follicles can’t be felt by a vet; they can be seen through an ultrasound though. Sadly, a female with rotting eggs will act totally normal until she’s too sick to save. 😩
If you have a female, I highly highly recommend that you get her spayed by an experienced reptile vet. I’ve had most my females spayed before I adopted them out. There are risks to surgery but they are less than the risks of having ovaries and eggs. My vet charges around $500 for a spay surgery. The last pic is Dorothy having her stitches removed a month after her surgery. She is guaranteed to have a longer & healthier life without her ovaries & eggs. See next post for how to tell if your beardie is a boy or girl!
