Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My female (Sobek) a few weeks ago after being moved into a newer bigger cage with a foot or so of dirt (topsoil from nearby woods and creek bank dirt combined with some fine grain sand), swelled with eggs after a period of time in her new home. She made some digs throughout the cage yet would not eat for a week and a half as well as no laying or dropping the eggs. She ate a large jumbo mouse and continued about her normal activities for another week and a half before eating a chicken peep and some chicken meat (tried a mouse but spit it out). She still has remenants of eggs reabsorbing into her system and they dont seem normal in the xray(the vet thought the same). She has been returning to normal size from the eggs but its been too long so this Friday she will get whats left of them removed as well as getting spaid to prevent unusual problems in the future. Shes a great pet and companion so I will take no chances with her life with what appears to the vet as an unusual reproductive system and when I have space to put more monitors I will raise a few together from babies to see if they breed. My male cross was hatched with a lump and divit on his back as well as 2 toes half missing. None of this slows him down even though the funny bone structure in his back is 3 vertebrae that are compacted to the thickness of one then one strangly formed.

why blame this on the monitor? it is most likely your nesting material. it does not matter if it is from the woods, it doesn't make it good. bad nesting can lead to reabsorbption. know what i mean?
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Varanus Creations

Attitude. Now you believe your right over one of best herp vets around after you havent even looked at the x-ray, maybe I should have bypassed him and called you instead. The vet is the one who said its not normal and does not look right, besides the advice I got from a few individuals was beyond your knowledge and experience. The nesting material was switched this last week after using a topsoil, vermiculite, sand mixture which I discovered had a bad smell and was tree bark based. This weekend was when I was finished switching the dirt over because its hard to find time. It may have been any one of several things that helped cause a million things but the vet knows a lot better than you. Besides a foot of dirt to the option of none at all, Id say theres a problem that changing the dirt doesnt help.

Sorry to hear of your mishaps with your female - perhaps for the better...maybe with a little more time she will reabsorp the eggs completely?? I had a female V.albigularis I lost to ruptured ovary, that became grossly infected and she was put down on the operating table. Good luck to you and albigs...
mbayless

I think you are doing the responsible thing, only you know what you are capable of providing, we internet people, are not there. And its not up to any of us, to decide what is acceptable risk with your family member.
You know like the rest of us, from reading these forums, that the options include having her die, from lack of suitable nesting. (My ig died of being eggbound, and its not a nice way to go.)
Surgery too, involves some risk, and I wish you luck. That's a tough call to make, when you love her so much. I hope it goes well. Think positive.
Cheers.
Goon.

Thank you Goon, and I hope she comes through this with flying colors. Her last nesting material was bad and she wouldnt dig in it, but the vet told me her xray didnt look right and any one of a couple of things can cause a problem like this. Oh yes she was crapping out what looked like egg yoke since day 4 or so of her cycle. The vet even had a sample when I took her in yesterday, he said thats not normal and shouldnt happen either. I glad shes such a big strong monster because it doesnt slow her down, other than not feeding normal shes still doing the same things, but digging all over her cage is a good sign that the new dirt is alot better..

had any contact with Dan Turner? I know he had the same thing happen with one of his blackthroats. I always thought that Sobek looked like a female even though she grew so fast. I made the same mistake with my first blackthroat. So much for males growing faster than females it would seem. The difference must be they males continue to grow. Nevermind, I'm not making any statements on that issue. =)

Anyway, he might be able to help you out with this incident. His email is .

Good luck with her, and hopefully things will work out for the best.

Steve

He waited 5-6 weeks before getting Dracula to the vet to find that her fertile eggs were necrotic and poisoning her. Sobeks are infertile and more than half way absorbed but its happening way to slow, Im helping her out so they cant rot in her, this Monday was 3 weeks and Friday will be less than 4 weeks. I want this done while she is still very strong and healthy so she recovers fast. Shes still 5.5 ft and 18 lbs 4 ounces. She defecated today so things are looking better.

LOL...

G'day, Steve, haven't seen you online for a while. How are things?

Good Luck with her.

--Robert

Sorry for your reproductive failure. It happens even in the best(that we know of) conditions.

There can be many many reasons for the failure and nesting is only one of them. If you choose to attempt reproduction, you will have to find out what the problems are.

About nesting, it seems, it is by far, best to have it set up(your best attempt) before the female breeds. After that, messing with it only makes it worse. Even with good nesting, for instance, if the moisture is off, adding late will not help.

Good luck F

She has eaten a very large jumbo mouse at a week and a half and a day old chicken peep with 3 large pieces of chicken meat at 3 weeks. She wouldnt eat a mouse for me or a large peep so Ill stick to smaller foods for now until shes eating normal again. Im using both your advice and Robs. Shes a tough animal and it hasnt slowed her down or changed her except her appetite. Friday those eggs and her ovaries come out because Im not ever risking this with her again.