Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my boyfriends monitor became sick over the last 24hrs. She is very lethargic and isn't moving very much. He said he thought she might be egg bound but couldn't feel anything. He doesn't have the money to take her to the vet.. I'm just wondering if anyone has ideas as to what else might be going on.. She is usually very active and is now just lying around not doing anything... please help

I would try and give her a box of dirt that is slightly moist, not wet, pack the dirt tight and she may dig a burrow and pass some infertile eggs, the only other hope is reabsobing them which I do not know that much about. I have had females lay infertile eggs due to lack of keeping them housed with males. Try to keep the dirt between 80-90F so she has an acceptable temp. range for egg laying. You can always take her to a vet and get her spayed and have the eggs removed if there are any? If she is only a pet it wont matter. They do spaying of female green iguanas all the time as they go eggbound when kept as pets as they still cycle eggs without a male.
Good luck, Bob

>>You can always take her to a vet and get her spayed and have the eggs removed if there are any?>

I had no idea monitors could be spayed. If this is the case, could it possibly help save a lot of lives, as I hear many captive females kept solitarily, die early due to conditions that don't allow them to lay their eggs.

Susan.

A good friend of mine in northern Ohio Dr. Robert Nathan has routinely spayed and removed eggs from gravid female iguanas and a monitor shouldnt be any different, Years ago I had an eggbound gila monster, Dr. Nathan removed the egg from the one side and spayed her. I later sold her as a pet about 1 year after the procedure was done. It was not to expensive either. The name of his clinic is The Sharon Center 1-330-239-1115, maybe your vet can speak with him if he has any questions in regaurds to doing it.
Cheers, Bob
Maxians Collection

But you need a vet that knows how to do it.
In fact I once had that problem, my giant albig was a year and a half old, she had cycled a few times before, during a switch of caging I interupted the cycle and she became eggbound. I didnt want to risk going beyond 5 weeks (I know of another that did, and the female needed a much longer recovery time), she had over 5lbs of eggs removed and her ovaries.
These things dont happen overnight, they dont just happen or show up in 24 hours time.
Somehow I think this monitor in question has been kept in subpar conditions for a long time and is now dieing from it. By nature they show no or little symptoms until its almost too late for them.
If the owner cannot afford the vet they cannot afford to keep the monitor, they needed to hear that. Its is an expected expense of any living thing, medical expenses.
The problem with these creatures is that most monitor keepers get them when they should not have in the first place, proper caging, proper diets, proper environments, and vet bills are all normal expected expenses.
There is noone here or on any forum that can diagnose the monitor, none that can tell whats actually wrong with it, especially with what was posted for details.
Take the monitor to a vet.

I hate to sound insensitive, but if someone has no money to take their supposedly beloved pet to the vet, then they have no business owning such animal.

My vet for my herps charges $25. Not that bad at all, don't assume it's expensive, call around first.

That $25 is the intial visit for the vet to take a look at it, not to do anything else, no ultrasounds, no blood tests, no xrays, no meds, nothing more than an opinion from a vet from a 1-4 minute look at the animal. Also exotics specialists usually charge more.
Blood tests cost about $45, xrays can cost $50-$100 each, ultrasounds can be far more, longer more detailed exams can cost 2-3 times that $25. If the animal possibly need antibiotics, or other meds you will look at about $15-$60 per med.
I recently can verify an expense just to diagnose a sick monitorlizard, nothing beyond that, it was a friend who had a 5.5ft albig male that got sick in the last month or 2, it was $450 for a full exam, work up on blood and bodily fluids, xrays, etc etc etc. This price was from a vet that charges $25 for a normal exam for a single reptile with nothing obviously wrong.

thanks for some of your ideas... we did take her to the vet.. he took and xray.. no eggs, no broken bones, but she is not moving her legs at all.. he said she seems to be partially paralyzed... he gave her a shot and gave us some meds, but it's not helping. we are taking her back to get blood tests now... has anyone had this happen to their monitor and can maybe help figure this mystery out???

Any chance it could be mbd?

i have no idea what that is, but i took her to get her blood drawn today

MBD= metabolic bone disease. Common in captive reptiles. Hope your vet visit was productive?