vent trouble

Hi everyone! I noticed my female dragon, Phoenix rubbing her arse all over her cage. I took her out and let her run around and she started doing it on the floor. I'd never seen her do this before so I picked her up and checked her out. Her vent seems swollen and reddish, and it was a little gooey to the touch, I'm really worried about her, money has been super tight lately and a vet bill would be almost impossible right now. I'll take her if needs be, but I'd really appriciate your advice and wisdom. I suspect some sort of parasite...but I haven't a clue, Help!! Thanks!

I called the vent and they want a fecal sample and I'm taking her in for a check-up tomarrow. I hope it'snot too serious. The vet sounded concerned but would venture a guess without seeing her. Wish us luck

Hello,

Let us know how things go at the vets! It could be a parasite, yes, poor thing.
Is she perhaps shedding on that area?
Has she recently laid any eggs?

In the meantime, you can soak her in a cool sugar water bath to help reduce any swelling. Let us know how she is doing.

Tracie

Thanks Drache, I never would have thoght of sugar water! We already gave her a twenty minute warm bath. I'll try the cool one soon. She is only a year and 8 months old and has never had any eggs or signs of digging. Her vent looks normal colored now, I think she was pushing it out and the red was the inside of the vent being pushed out. It is definately still swollen. We have a male dragon, but they aren't allowed any contact with eachother. I have heard that hormones can cause a female to produce eggs...is that true? She's had her tummy fat and filled with air for two days now so Ican't feel anything in there. I'll ask the vet to check that too.

Hello,

Let me know how the sugar water bath goes, maybe it will help out a little bit.
She can develop infertile eggs yes. Some do while others do not, so it is an individual thing between dragons, really. However, having a male around she might be prone to ovulate more so than if there was not a male around even if they do not have any physical contact.
She is definitely old enough to develop follicles & lay eggs, so, maybe an x-ray would help determine whether or not she has eggs, or any developing follicles. Though, if she has any developing follicles an ultrasound would be more likely to pick those up than an x-ray.

Let me know how she is doing.

Tracie

The sugar water bath seemed to help a little, Phoenix wasn't itching her bum as much as before the bath. The swelling seems to have gone down some as well. She is sleeping soundly now and seems content. Thanks for all of your help, I'll let you know what happens with the vet vist tomarrow.

Phoenix survived the vet trip with only a little stress. She was nice enough to povide us with a small fecal sample this morning, and we had the vet test it. The doctor said Phoenix has a moderate case of pin worms and gave her adose of Fenbendaz 100mg/ml x cc. She told us to rub diaper rash ointment on the vent area if it keeps itching. We had an odd, scary moment while the vet was examining her. Phienix started rubbing her arse on the table really fast, and then all of a sudden her back feet slammed together and she froze and layed down on the table with the balls of her feet pressed together and she just closed her eyes. :shock: Freaked me out! The vet thinks she was having the big O...after stimulating herself on the table...but I don't know. The whole thing was weird and a little scary. Phoenix has never done that before. Hopefully the vet is right, I thought "oh God don't let her develop epilepsy(sp) or anything. But anyway she has another appointment on the16th for another dose of meds. Until then we will keep our eyes on her, spoil her even more, and hope for the best. Thanks for everything, Tracie! I really apprciate advice from someone with your experience.:mrgreen: