Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Been keeping monitors since late 80's and a new sickness hit me this week! Took pics friday afternoon of a sub adult monitor i'm going to trade (or was), and he was looking great! I accidently left a egg and ground turkey mash in his enclousure for a day on the following tuesday and it got ransid, i came home from work the following day and he was bloted and his spine was crooked like an S, I know he had been eating the mash but i domt know if it had anything to do with his condition (truthfully ive never had sick lizards). Though he is alert and normal acting. I let him try to bask off his meal and he did sit under his hotspot. A day has went by and No improvement, other than less bloted, but his spine is def twisted, ive never experienced this before, and currently i have over 20 healthy monitors in my collection, but then i thought this one was also as he was fine friday! he is 1 of 3 wild caught lizards in my collection! Sorry if i ranted a bit! any diagnoses?? Thanks CaptMark

Without any history of trauma that would explain an injury to the spine, I would say it's contorted due to pain. I wouldn't expect rancid food to be a problem for a monitor as I can't see scavenging out of their natural scope. I've only kept one monitor myself though.

I would consider taking this guy to a herp vet for xrays and other diagnostics. What you are describing isn't common and not something you'd find in the "disease section" of a text book. It might be something like the gastric dilation so common in dogs. Such a condition is extraordinarily common in some dog breeds, but it can technically happen to any animal of a similar gastric system (monitors fall into that catagory).

Please let us know what comes of this.

Ian