To Spay Or...??

[remi1]

So I'm kind of at a loss here. I put this in breeding because it's an egg-type issue, but...?

This is the first season for egg-laying for Remi, and I've posted about her before. So after she came out of brumation we had a hard time getting her to eat. She has had as much as she wants of salad, crickets, supers and waxworms, and we now have phoenix worms and dubias to offer her. Before she laid her first clutch about 4 1/2wks ago she became pretty darn skinny, where you could easily feel each lump of vertebrae because the musculature was atrophying. With babyfood I managed to get her to put on some weight. She then laid 24 eggs and weighed 330g immediately after laying.

After her first clutch she started eating more on her own and again we offered her all she wanted of everything, but her appetite was sporadic. 2 1/2wks after the first clutch she again laid 25eggs and weighed 326g immediately after laying.

After the second clutch, laid 2wks ago, I really made a huge effort to get her to eat and would feed her whenever I was around. Her appetite was excellent the first 10d or so, and to my pleasant surprise she started filling out around the base of the tail and spine. This week, however, I have been soo busy with school (to the point of sleep deprivation) that I would feed and bathe her in the morning, and left the rest of her care to my fiance. Unfortunately she hasn't been eating much of anything for the past couple of days, maybe a few supers or a roach here and there. I could also feel eggs in her belly a few days ago. I just took a major exam today and came home with no other thoughts than of the lizards, especially Remi. I was shocked to realize that she has lost sooo much fat that I can clearly see her hip bones and spine, and the fat pads around the head just caudal to the eyes seem to be almost gone. I can see the outline of her skull!! I'm at a complete loss as to how to help her. Her temps, measured w/a digi probe & temp gun, are fine, she has a 1mo old reptisun, she gets bathed, neg fecal less than a year ago, I've been giving her extra calcium (though I cut back to once a day because the urates were off-colored).

So, I'm at a loss as to what I'm doing wrong, and I'm considering spaying her. What is everybody's experience with spaying? I know there's not much in the literature as to the long-term effects, but what does everyone think? What am I doing wrong? Is this even normal for her to be so incredibly skinny?


Thanks for your input!

 

[Twobeardieguy]

Colleen having her snipped wont do much of anything. She can still lay infertile`s. Yes it can happen. Also being with her weight down so much that would not be such a great idea. You will have more problems on your hands then you know what to do with. You may want to take her to the vet and have some bloodwork done. Also another fecal wont hurt. I would have both a fecal float and a fecal smear done. There is a possibility something is off in her. I hope this helped.

 

[remi1]

Thanks Lance. Yeah, I know they can still lay infertile eggs if the vet doesn't get all the ovarian tissue out, it's pretty diffuse and it can be hard to locate all of it... I'll call the vet on Monday, although for an exotics specialist I sorta wonder sometimes. Even a fellow vet student who knows nothing about lizards could see how skinny she was when he was over last week. Sigh... Thanks again.