Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I recall michelle posting a topic about varanids and antibiotics. Some people felt that antibiotics were not meant for varanids..
With the limited knowledge veterinarians have when it comes to reptiles, I am very skeptical and untrusting when it comes to vets looking at my monitors.

A little bit of personal experience that I had just recently:

My glauerti male developed a nasty looking abscess on one of his toes. At first, it went unoticed because I had thought it was just a piece of dirt, or some crap stuck to his foot, but it remained on his toe. It kind of looked like if you were to stick your finger in a plum....pretty ugly.. Anyways, I was contemplating on taking him to the vet to get him on a regiment of antibiotics, as you would give to a person, or other animal to help the body to fight off the infection, but I decided to wait and "take the chance" that he will be able to fight it off.

Being that monitors have extremely fast metabolic rates, I figured that out of most reptiles, monitors would probably have a better chance of fighting anything off. Sure enough, after about a week and a half, the abcess began to shrink in size, and has now dissipated. For a while I feared that the infection might spread to his foot, and would lead to his death, but he fought it off, without ever becoming lethargic, or slowing down in his daily feeding.

This is just my experience with a monitor being able to fight off an infection without the use of antibiotics.. Perhaps if conditions are optimal, that allow proper thermoregulation, and proper metabolisms, they can overcome almost anything... Us humans are too frail a species...we've gotta learn from reptiles.

does anybody else have experience with a sick monitor recovering without the use of anitbiotics?? Besides, through time, and repeated dosing, don't antibiotics cease to work on pathogens, we're finding that some antibiotics used on people are not having the effect they once had in the past..

bob

I saw a mangrove at a local pet store once, he was laying in the tank, barely breathing, his back and side had been ripped open by the nile he was housed with(the owner is not too bright). He was bleeding pretty bad, I figured he was breathing his last breath and was beyond help. I was back in there about 2 weeks later, looking at their monitors, and sure enough, the old mangrove was back up and kickin. I couldnt believe it. I asked the owner what he had done for it, he said all he did was clean up the gashes with water. This display of strength was the sole reason I'm as into monitors as I am today. their tough little buggers alright.

_JT_

Im such a worry wart though. I thought my snake was dying of crypto one time... turned out to be a piece of shedding skin on its face, it was trying to scratch off! Hahahaha! I have many more sotries of me freaking out over silly stuff. Over protective mum! -Thats what I am! Lol!!

I agree monitors/reptiles have very very strong immune systems. I have also addressed the development of the immume system in captivity is very important.

The problem is, on this forum, most have no idea how to develop the immune system. Most are new and really have no idea how to keep a monitor healthy. Suggesting that these people should allow their monitors to heal themselves is not the best approach.

The reason most captive monitors are sick in the first place is, they do not have a strong immune system. The reason is, they are reptiles and do not create their metabolic conditions, they are ectotherms and seek out the conditions behaviorally to address their metabolic needs. If that is not provided or understood, that the reptile will indeed fail.

In captivity most maladies are from commonly carried pathogens, pathogens they have imunites for. What happens when they are exposed to pathogens they do not have imunities for?

In reality, whether you trust vets or not, in most cases, a vet is far better qualified to determine whats wrong with your animal. But please, do not be a fool, you must understand, there are good vets and poor vets, just like, carpenters, plumbers, electricans, doctors, biologist, herpers, dogs, etc. Your job is to find a good vet that will work with you. Cheers FR

I think the biggest risk is that the vets are unfamiliar with the dose to deliver to a reptile, and may kill the herp with a toxic dose. The antibiotics should kill the bacteria whether it is in a mammal or a reptile, but the dose will differ dramatically. I also suppose that a drug that has to be metabolized to it's active form may differ substantially in different species. Reptiles complecate the matter by being ectotherms and rely on keepers to provide the correct conditions for recovery. Antibiotics may not play such a large role as good husbandry.
Justin J