Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I'm taking my gravid panther to the vet this week. Tomorrow will be day 40. Around day 19 she was digging and had stopped eating and looked like she was going to lay, then decided to start eating again and basking without laying first.
She's still eating, basking and being lazy. She doesn't look like she's going to "pop" yet, but I am worried nonetheless. She has a slight edema on her throat/chest.
so, I want to get her checked out. I'm going to ask for x-rays, and see what we find. *If* the vet suggests that shot that induces labour how would that work? Where is the shot givin? I hear stories of chams getting baytril in the wrong spot, so I figured I'd ask before, so if he goes to do it wrong I can stop him.
Also, any other advice as far as what I should ask/have checked and what my vet should and should not suggest would be appreciated. I trust my vet and everything, he was great when Orion had her URI, but I just want to make sure *I* know what's going on so that I *know* that he is doing the best things for her.
Thanks guys!
~Lindsay and a very prego Orion

Write down a list of questions you have to ask the vet. Every time I go I get home and think of all these things I should have asked. As expensive as it is to even show up at the vet, you need to get as much out of it as you can. Usually, the initial exam is a certain amount ($38 for mine) and anything else you get is more and more. Shots of Oxytocin are $40 at my vet, and the egg-binding removal surgery (C-Section) was $475. I've had mixed results with Oxytocin (the labor inducing shot). I had it work like a charm on a leopard lizard about 8 years ago (I was only 14) and I've had it work perfectly on a female panther once. One other time the female only dropped 3 eggs over the next 24 hours, and another time she didn't drop any at all. My vet gives the shot in the front wrist just above the hand and with my panther she started dropping eggs about 45 minutes after the shot, so get home quick. I just had her in the normal egg-laying container with a moist surface. I used a branch and she would crawl up on the branch and drop eggs like she was pooping. She would also crawl around on the bottom sometimes and drop them as she walked, with the whole "dropping" process taking about 4 hours. When I thought she was done, she got her light turned out and slept. Then the next morning, she dropped one more at about 9AM and it was yellowish and long and narrow, and died a week later. I think it was just stuck in the "chamber" overnight causing it to be shaped funny and it killed it. Even though Oxyticin might or might not work, I think it's worth a try. I'd hate to jump into a surgery and find out the eggs aren't developed enough yet, you jumped the gun, and they die anyways, and possibly her. The surgery has got to be hard on them and I'd do whatever you could before that. As the female was dropping them, I pulled them out, about every 5 she dropped and put them in the vermiculite. It didn't seem to bother her, and I didn't want her to crawl over them or for them to get dry. Good luck and let us know what happens.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV

Thankyou Tyler! You're always so much help!
I'm HOPING they just aren't big enough yet... she didn't eat a lot when she was first gravid (as I'm sure you know, I've been going on about her forever).
So far here's my list of things to bring up:
bred sept 17, only ate 1-2 supers and mealies (no crix), at 17 days stopped eating and started to dig, at 23 days started eating stopped digging - only sat and basked all day long - still only eating supers, 30 fed some liquid diet w/liquid calcium, 33 started eating silkies as well as supers - eating a LOT more than before, 35 noticed slight edema, 40 will be monday
X-rays to be done?
Oxytocin?
Is there anything else I am missing, and should bring up?
Thankyou once again!!!!!

It is good to bring all that information with you, but to an extent, it kinda depends on your vet. A vet that specializes in chameleons specifically will find lots of good information in that, but an average dog/cat/reptile/bird vet might not know the differences in veiled, panther, etc. chameleons and probably wouldn't know the exact timing of everything. Like.... The whole day 23, day 30 thing. They will probably know that the chameleon will generally stop eating a few days before laying, since most other lizards do that, but the exact days things should happen might not mean much to them. I had excellent notes with when I went to my vet and after the appointment, she read through the notes of several other of my chameleons and was telling me how interesting the notes were. I had dates and I also had days, like day 25, day 32 etc from when breedings took place or sicknesses noticed. Are you planning on an X-Ray? Even with that, a vet not farmiliar with chameleons may not know what to look for or how big the eggs should look when ready to lay. If you want, I'll put a quarter next to an egg and take a picture for your reference. Let me know if any questions.
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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV

Thanks, a pic would really help. I can print it off and take it with me.
I know that he has had a LITTLE experience.. i'm not sure exactly how much though. We were talking about my husbandry the first time I took her in and he was really impressed. Then we were talking about a veiled he saw that was only fed veggies and was gravid. She was too weak to lay her eggs... but I can't remember what he ended up doing. He also showed me some eggs he had saved from a turtle that was eggbound. That's the most I know... That's why I asked about the shots. The more I know going in the more I can help. I think a pic will help a lot. Is there anything you can suggest I look for in the x-ray?

Looking at the X-Ray at least the one I saw was kinda hard to clearly make out the eggs. You could see them, but since they're so thin and not solid bone, they were just a bunch of round blurs, besides the fact that she would never hold still. She did an untrasound thing also, where she held a little tool up to her belly and it was kinda the same thing, similar to a human ultrasound, where you only see certain parts for a short time. Chameleon's rough skin didn't help. Your vet might suggest to wait a little longer if she still looks healthy and is eating and drinking (and defecating) normally. But here's the picture. I just took it of some of my Nosy Be eggs that are pretty far along (laid in May). But they don't change size a whole lot between being laid and now (not noticeable to me anyways). They're just shorter than a dime. If you want ,I can E-Mail you a higher resoluton picture if that one doesn't print good.

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Tyler Stewart
Las Vegas NV