RioReptiles
Sub-Adult Member
This is not meant to be a memorial, but a detailed account of the events that have recently taken place.
For those who follow Rio Reptiles on facebook, you know that we recently lost the prettiest, sweetest dragon anyone could ever ask for. Embyr was my beautiful red female who recently lost her front arm, but she overcame her disability and was happy and healthy as ever. The Tueday before last was like any other day, I go to work around noon and feed all the dragons before I go. She ate a few worms and then took a big poo just like she does every day. She had a bath the day before and was basking on "her" big slate rock. I got home late, around 9pm to find her super brightly colored, black beard/tail, fat pads sunken, eyes dialated and slightly puffed up. I immediately put her in a half inch of warm water but she didn't respond, I grabbed the stethoscope to get a heart beat to find only a bump every three to four seconds. Her belly was puffed up as if something ruptured, I knew it wasnt right. I wrapped her in a blanket knowing she probably wouldn't make it through the night. The next day I didn't want to get out of bed because I knew what I would find, I thought maybe, but she passed in the night.
The next morning I called my vet, she is so into dragons and reptiles I knew she would like the opportunity to do a necropsy for her own self enrichment. I took her in and signed the donation form, by donating her I don't have to pay for the necropsy and we all get to learn from the experience. It's been just over a week and a half and she called this morning. Embyr had a belly full of eggs, some undevelped follicles, some partially matured eggs, that had burst in her belly filling it with blood and yolk. Dragons bodies reject the proteins in the yolks of their own eggs, their cells fight the substance as if it were an infection, thus the belly full of liquid. She did not breed this year but still cycled her eggs, possibly brought on by other dominant females, and there was now way of knowing this was even happening. Why they would burst, I don't know, but it could happen to anyone this time of year. Just one egg is enough to be fatal. I'm sure most vets won't do necropsies for free and most people won't pay the money to find out what happened. I know I can't be the only person this could happen to so I wanted to share my story and information. Unfortunately, there is no way to detect such an event is even taking place. I'm hoping that anyone who has lost a dragon with some of these symptoms may be able to get some closure. This has happened to me twice in two years, so it can't be all that uncommon, I just happen to have more dragons than most people so the chances are higher for me. I will always share my stories to help others learn, thank you for reading.
For those who follow Rio Reptiles on facebook, you know that we recently lost the prettiest, sweetest dragon anyone could ever ask for. Embyr was my beautiful red female who recently lost her front arm, but she overcame her disability and was happy and healthy as ever. The Tueday before last was like any other day, I go to work around noon and feed all the dragons before I go. She ate a few worms and then took a big poo just like she does every day. She had a bath the day before and was basking on "her" big slate rock. I got home late, around 9pm to find her super brightly colored, black beard/tail, fat pads sunken, eyes dialated and slightly puffed up. I immediately put her in a half inch of warm water but she didn't respond, I grabbed the stethoscope to get a heart beat to find only a bump every three to four seconds. Her belly was puffed up as if something ruptured, I knew it wasnt right. I wrapped her in a blanket knowing she probably wouldn't make it through the night. The next day I didn't want to get out of bed because I knew what I would find, I thought maybe, but she passed in the night.
The next morning I called my vet, she is so into dragons and reptiles I knew she would like the opportunity to do a necropsy for her own self enrichment. I took her in and signed the donation form, by donating her I don't have to pay for the necropsy and we all get to learn from the experience. It's been just over a week and a half and she called this morning. Embyr had a belly full of eggs, some undevelped follicles, some partially matured eggs, that had burst in her belly filling it with blood and yolk. Dragons bodies reject the proteins in the yolks of their own eggs, their cells fight the substance as if it were an infection, thus the belly full of liquid. She did not breed this year but still cycled her eggs, possibly brought on by other dominant females, and there was now way of knowing this was even happening. Why they would burst, I don't know, but it could happen to anyone this time of year. Just one egg is enough to be fatal. I'm sure most vets won't do necropsies for free and most people won't pay the money to find out what happened. I know I can't be the only person this could happen to so I wanted to share my story and information. Unfortunately, there is no way to detect such an event is even taking place. I'm hoping that anyone who has lost a dragon with some of these symptoms may be able to get some closure. This has happened to me twice in two years, so it can't be all that uncommon, I just happen to have more dragons than most people so the chances are higher for me. I will always share my stories to help others learn, thank you for reading.
