Xena struggling ~ R.I.P. My Special Love

[BeardyDragon]

with her partial amputation to her tail 10 days ago, we couldnt give her a digbox. she seems to be struggling to be passing her eggs, her vent is very poofed and swollen, no prolapse, and her tail even appears to be swollen. weve had her in an extra warm bath, any ideas what else we can do? first clutch ever, all infertiles.

UPDATE: She is in for surgery as of this morning, 10/1 -- please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

 

[BeardyDragon]

i am posting this for blondie098, ive got laptop up w/us, im transferring info from her.

 

[Gail]

She needs a vet ASAP. Struggling like that is likely to cause a prolapse or worse.

 

[BeardyDragon]

no vets until 8:30 am

 

[blondie098]

Update: We gave her a long bath that was a little warmer than usual. Being her first lay ever, and she's 5+ years old, she's confused as to what her body is doing, I think. She's still trying, but is getting tired. It will be a long night here, but all we're getting is 2 tiny drop of poo, and lots of urates. She doesn't seem to want to give up yet, and I've gently massaged her belly... she seems to use less muscles to push when I massage. She feels really full up of eggs.

No prolapse at this point, thank goodness -- but any ideas to get thru the night would be appreciated.

She's been very very dark since this started, and beards when she feels the need to push hard. Not sure what is normal, this is all of ours first time!

 

[fresnowitte]

Some beardies will not lay without the proper conditions...whereas some don't care and will drop them anywhere.
She might be confused about not having anything to dig in....this sucks that her tail isn't healed enough yet to give her a dig box. Maybe a big pile of blankies :dontknow: she could dig into somehow to lay. :?:

 

[TheWolfmanTom]

Other than Barbs blanket idea, Ive got nothing. Considering the tail amputation Im going to agree with Gail that the vet is the best option here.

 

[Khammy87]

Would using a digbox just for her to lay eggs really hurt a lot? Maybe after using the dig box, clean the tail well? Personally, I'd risk the tail issue over the prolapse, just my input..

 

[wizbee]

I agree, try the blankets but if that doesn't work I'd make the lay box and just clean the tail after she's done. This is nothing to mess around with!

 

[blondie098]

We did try the blankie pile. Didn't do any good. Did make a small laybox, put her in (after covering her tail), and she doesn't know what to do. We even showed her, including with her own paws.

She is still trying, on and off. Still doesn't have any interest in digging. Have been in communication with her vet and he said to let her keep trying. (Digital camera and email help nowadays). He'll see her tomorrow if she still hasn't laid. She did start to get pink around her vent, scared me, but he says it doesn't look prolapsed, hence the wait for tomorrow. I put her in a sugarwater bath when I saw the pink.

He also told us to crank up her temps a little, but make her viv semi-dark. I guess some beardies lay at dusk? Now I know how helpless my husband felt every time I was in labor with his 9-pound children! :mrgreen:

 

[Goonie]

Dawn, were you able to get any sleep last night, or were you up all night worry about Xena?
I can't believe she hasn't laid even one egg yet. That must be so frustrating for her.

Hope she'll realize what's going on tomorrow.

 

[blondie098]

Gina, I got a couple hours of fitful sleep, it sure didn't feel like it. Hubby let me catch a couple hours this afternoon, and I did same for him so we can take shifts thru the nite.

She's back in her viv right now, I rolled some extra blankies up so she could use them for belly compressing... she's caught on to that, laying on one to push on her lower belly right now. I just cannot believe the possessed look in her eyes thruout the day. I talked to Barbara last night and she's worried too. I just wish I could help her somehow to pop a couple out.

In gently palpating her tummy, she's still got a few up high, but it feels like most of them are low, very very low. At a rough count, I can pickout the shape of 14+ eggs... plus there's more up higher.

When she pushes, her tail looks like its swelling a little (the fat base of her tail).

 

[blondie098]

Just returned from vet, xray shows that her eggs are not calcifying properly. Drew bloodwork -- her calcium levels are fine, actually at the higher end, he said 16? Her white count is a little elevated, too, so she may have an infection brewing on top of this. Did another ultrasound to get a better view of how soft they were, and there is not much change from 12 days ago. So she's trying to lay eggs that are not ready to come out.

To get her to settle down and stop pushing, he's giving an anti-inflammatory (Metacam / 0.1ml orally once daily) and an anti-biotic (Fortaz / 0.04ml injectable) for 3 days. We will re-assess on Tuesday how she's doing. Basically, we're probably looking at surgery. We've just spent $900 in the past two weeks on her, I have no idea how to get the surgery. I'm more of a wreck at this point than she is. I have to have husband give the injections, I just cannot bring myself to do it.

 

[spurlee01]

Dawn, when we went through all this with Lilly, Vicky told me to make sure her UVB light was within the 6-8 inches that it should be (which, of course, it wasn't). Just a thought. Lilly's eggs actually never existed, though, so I'm not sure if that makes this point moot.

 

[blondie098]

Xena has the MegaRay 160watt MVB - wouldn't that cook her?!?