Pharmacotherapeutics in Exotic Small Mammals Flashcards
1
Q
What are the different orders of reptiles?
A
- Chelonians (Testudines)
- Crocodilians
- Squamates
- lizards
- snakes
- Sphenodontia
2
Q
What happens when reptiles are kept with suboptimal husbandry
A
- Impaired metabolism
- infectious disease transmission
- Interference with immune system, growth, shedding, calcium metabolism, appetite and digestion, species-specific behavior
3
Q
What happens when reptiles are kept in sub-optimal temperature
A
- ⇣ activity
- Impaired physiological processes
- Digestive enzymes are temperature dependent
- ⇣ antibody production
- ⇡ susceptibility to infection and dysecdysis
4
Q
How are the temperature requirements of reptiles met?
A
- Must have a thermal gradient
- Cool area
- Hot area
- Basking spot
- May be cooler at night
- Gradient - varies species to species
- mid 80s to low 100s (degrees Fahrenheit)
- From day to night
- Infrared heat lamps at night with white light off
5
Q
What are common heat sources for reptiles
A
- Primary
- radiant heat
- ceramic bulbs
- under cage heating
- Warm air
- light bulbs
- poor heating
- aquarium heater
- radiant heat
- Secondary
- Basking spot
- Hot rocks - Thermal burns!
- Light bulbs
6
Q
What is the photoperiod for reptiles?
A
- Important in oogenesis, spermatogenesis, and gonadal development
- Circadian (daily) and circannual (yearly) photo periods
- 12/12 for pet animals
- For successful breeding
- summer 15/9
- winter 9/15
7
Q
What are the requirements of UV light for reptile
A
- UVA - behavior
- UVB - Vit D3 metabolism
- 290-320 nm wave length
- Replaced every 6 months
- Must be 12-28 inches from animal
- Must not be blocked by glass or plexiglass
- Could also be direct sun light
8
Q
What are the basic dietary requirements for reptiles
A
- Make salads colorful (dark leafy greens, carotenoid content)
- Offer a wide variety of insects (many of the worm species are very high fat with otherwise low nutritional content)
- Crickets (generally considered most nutritious)
- Cockroaches
- Mealworms
- Waxworms, superworms
- Do Not feed live prey
9
Q
What supplementation do reptiles need?
A
- Gut-loading of insects is crucial
- offer insects a maintenance diet
- gut-load for 12-24hrs prior to feeding the insects
- Calcium supplementation
- Appropriate Ca:P ratio
- Repcal without D3
- Tums
- Appropriate Ca:P ratio
- Multivitamin 1x weekly
10
Q
What are the potential results of improper humidity with reptiles
A
- Too Low
- Dysecdysis
- Respiratory problems
- Sub-clinical dehydration
- kidney disease
- Decreased reproduction
- ⇡ humidity may result in ⇡ environmental pahtogens
- Fungal disease
11
Q
What substrates can be used for reptiles? Advantages/Disadvantages?
A
- Natural substrates
- Advantages
- natural looking
- provide security
- provide humidity
- Disadvantages
- Difficult to clean
- parasites
- ingestion, toxic
- Advantages
- Wood shavings
- Cedar is toxic
- can cause GI obstruction or tooth injury
- Moss
- Works well in amphibian enclosures
- various types commercially available
- provide humidity
- biological filter
- Rocks
- No lava rock ⇢ very abrasive
- small pebbles may be eaten
- Sand
- Irritant (silica)
- may cause GI blockage
- hard to clean
- Some need sand ⇢ sand skinks, sand boas
12
Q
How is water quality for reptiles managed/?
A
- Drinking water
- change frequently
- proper disinfectants on bowls, ponds, mist and drip systems
- Filtration
- drain and disinfect large ponds daily
- Aquarium tanks
- nitrogen cycle
- mechanical and biological filtration
- de-chlorinated
- Temperature - 75-80F
13
Q
How/Why should reptiles be quarantined
A
- Purpose:
- limit introduction of infectious disease
- Observation of new animal
- Acclimate to new environment and food
- Process:
- Usually 60-120 days
- PE
- +/- biological sampling
- blood
- feces
- Treatments
- Isolation
