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We just purchased a 3 yr old gravid female from a reptile shop. She is a beatiful girl with lots of reds and yellows. She has kind of a stretched out vent...is this normal..I was figuring she had eggs before and that is what caused this. Also, other than giving her a lay box, what should we do for her to ensure she lays her eggs successfully. We are upping her insect and calcium intake right now. How long does it take from conception to laying?
Thanks

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*Amy*
0.1 Green Iguana (yes, I have a lizard in my bathroom)-iggy
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She has either strained in the past and had a slight prolapse that did not return or this can also happen when they have parasites or bacteria.

From the looks of her I would guess that she has not been kept real clean and suggest you get a fecal on her to rule of parasites or bacteria. The tissue does not look dead, its small enough it is still getting blood to it, but I watch her real close when she lays that she does not have a more serious prolapse.
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www.reptilerooms.com

any more common in males or females?

btw, Cheri you are such a treasure chest of information.
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Bennett

Home of the Florida Orange
www.beardiedragon.com

Bennett, not really sure, previously I had read it was more common in females, with egg laying. But from what we have seen the last several years online, there are more young males that owners seek help for.

We have had one dragon prolapse, about a month after she came to us. Looking back there were signs prior, we just missed them. Myst was different from other babies we had bought, she had blue/green eyes, had a very long tail and a long thin build, we assumed that was natural for her as she ate really well, was active, but did not gain weight very fast.

She had a real bad prolapse, twice in 24 hours and the second time was very bad (first one on Saturday night, naturally)The vet that did the emergency surgery found that she had a gram negative bacteria that was causing it.

Her weight gain after surgery and treatment was amazing, we realized although she was a great eater, the bacteria was interfering with her absorbting the nutrients.

We decided to not let her breed, did not want to risking her to egg laying.... so of course she is the female that lays the most and largest clutches of infertile eggs!

Here is a picture of her the day before the prolapse and one 3 weeks after, she more than doubled her weight in 3 weeks.

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www.reptilerooms.com

so when do you want to do a gram stain to test for this? should it be a regular vet visit checkup like a fecal once or twice a year or only when there is a problem? and how contagous is it?

So tell me Cheri, do you have your own law like Murphy?
ohhh I know the feeling all too well.
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Bennett

Home of the Florida Orange
www.beardiedragon.com

Well since she is already gravid, what can we do to help her along?

The skin around her vent is skin, and not inverted cloaccal, oviduct, or urinary bladder tissue. If that was the case the exposure to the air surely would have caused tissue loss.

Are you sure this is the result of a prolapse, I'm not so experienced with bearded dragons, but I have seen iguanas with a prolapse, and this is not what it looked like!

Thanks for the response! I certainly appreciate any suggestions!
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*Amy*

Amy, read the post below to beardiedragon

NO, I am not sure it is a prolapse, there are several degrees of a prolapse and types, from minor that does not fully retract back into the vent to a massive one were a few inches of internal tissue/hemipene is outside the vent engorged with trapped blood.

There was someone else on this forum who dragon has an egg trapped in the cloacal and the vent was bulging. Another who they think it was related to pinworms causing a bulge.

There can be multiple causes, and only a Vet or animal medical professional can determine the cause, but it is not normal.
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www.reptilerooms.com

They will have a crisis after clinic closing time on Saturday..... especially if Monday is a holiday! I swear, this is a fact!

Bennett, the signs that where there that we missed was her not gaining weight in proportion to the food she was consuming, and that when she did go to the bathroom, like the picture above, the inner lips of the cloacal remained out for some time. Those should retact the entire way inside the vent flap. Since she was so active and such a great eater, we thought everything was fine, when actually she was really very ill. After the surgery she did not hardly move for 5 days and we thought we would lose her, but Cipro pulled her through and she rebounded fast

Now, when we need a fecal or a dragon is not acting the way that is within a normal range, we have a gram stain done at the same time as a fecal float. It does not cost that much more and they can be done on the same sample.

Several that have been brought to us when we had fecals done on them, showed coccidia or worm and the gram stain showed gram negative bacteria that was a problem. Anytime a dragon is brought to us that is impacted, once the impaction is cleared, we have a gram stain done on the feces after the impaction is out and everytime they have had bacterial infection, I think it pretty much follows any impaction that has been there for more than a few days.
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www.reptilerooms.com

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Amy, read the post below to beardiedragon

NO, I am not sure it is a prolapse, there are several degrees of a prolapse and types, from minor that does not fully retract back into the vent to a massive one were a few inches of internal tissue/hemipene is outside the vent engorged with trapped blood.

There was someone else on this forum who dragon has an egg trapped in the cloacal and the vent was bulging. Another who they think it was related to pinworms causing a bulge.

There can be multiple causes, and only a Vet or animal medical professional can determine the cause, but it is not normal.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

So what can we do until we can get her into the vet?
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