Reptiles

Question 0

in terms of activity - what should a lizard be like? chelonian? snake? neuro exam?

Answer 0

lizard - should move around with their head and body lifted off the table. (?nutritional 2 hyperparathyroid? - low ca? ) leads to rickets etc.
tortoise - should have plastron off the table and eyes open. they move their legs in order to breath. they have a solid shell so therefore cannot expand their chest. they move their legs to expand their lungs.
you can assess locomotion.
snakes - should have strength and be able to anchor themselves. they should lift their head up to a flat surface and be able to carry their heads.

Question 1

what should you make sure of before you start taking a clinical history? what can you observe while taking a history?

Answer 1

you must make sure they are warm after their journey!! otherwise you can not get a good idea of their overall health. if they are cold - warm them up while you take a history. while taking a history you can observe their demaenor and rr and activity.

Question 2

why should you alwasy wear gloves when handling reptiles?

Answer 2

you want to reduce the chances of you catching diseases like salmonella and campylobacter as well as you acting as a vector to pass it to other reptiles.

Question 3

how can you subdue a lizard? what is the problems with handling chelonians? and snakes and lizards?

Answer 3

lizard - you can cover and apply pressure to the eyes. this has a vasovagal reflex which parasympathetically reduces the HR and can be used to short procedures such as xrays.

chelonians - have hinges and retract legs and head. care as you can get fingers trapped. you should grasp and extend any appendages to avoid this happening. care of plastron hinge etc.

lizards - bite and scratch and whip tail. care may want to wrap in a towel.

snakes - bite. avoid venomous species. large snakes may need more than one person to handle them.

Question 4

if a snakes stomach swells up what is the main ddx? cx?

Answer 4

crypto. serpentis? 50% along length of body will see a swelling.

Question 5

clinical exam of reptiles? what should you do first? which species normally has an ocular discharge?

Answer 5

weigh!! and take temp! red footed tortoise - ocular discharge.

Question 6

which species of tortoise does not hibernate naturally? what temp should medeteranean tortoises hibernate at and how long should you starve them before they go into hibernation?

Answer 6

5 degrees and starve for 21-28d.

leopard tprtoises do not hibernate.

Question 7

when is the glottis open? cx of resp disease in a chelonian?

Answer 7

only when they respire is it open. cx - yawn, squeak, rub face and increased effort.

Question 8

explain the dentition of different types of reptiles? which often get dental disease? what can it lead to?
how do we treat chelonian beak overgrowths?
lizards with a bendy jaw ddx?

Answer 8

acrodont - dragons and chameleons - they have teeth that are not replaced and they sit on a boney ridge exposed to damage. these often get dental disease and ths can lead to stomatitis which can extend to resp disease.
pleurodonts - all else - teeth regularly replaced and so dont often get disease. they also sit on a ridge inside the jaw line and so are protected.
burr beak of a chelonian.
compress jaw of lizards and if bendy may mean 2 hyperparthyroidism. - rickets. due to low ca. etc.

Question 9

ear of chelonians? cx?

Answer 9

tehy dont have an external ear and so if they get a distended ear drum - swelling on the outer skin.

Question 10

what is the snake mite? called? causes? treat? how else can you treat it? cx? where do they hide and how can you get them to come out?

Answer 10

ophionyssus natricus. black snake mite. ivermectin and bathe. burn contents of enclosure and disinfect vivarium. get anaemia. photophobic. hide in skin folds. 13-19d cycle. pruritic and soak alot due to self trauma. get dysecdysis secondary. may also use fipronil wipes and spray the environment to treat them

Question 11

how can you easily assess the renal size and if they are increased what does it suggest?

Answer 11

they are intrapelvic and so you can feel them on digital exam of the cloaca. if they are enlarged they will be constipated.

Question 12

if you transilluminate geckos what do you see?

Answer 12

liver and fat shown up.

Question 13

how can you examine a chelonians coelomic cavity?

Answer 13

pre femoral fossa - tip ventrally so all come down eg eggs and bladder stones.

Question 14

what should you provide for a reptile when they are in the hospital?

Answer 14

heat light, focal heat lamp. uv-b newspaper substrate. box to hide in.
disinfect
water bath
turn off basking light at night.
21 degrees.
monitor the basking temp - care of burns.

Question 15

how can we prevent burns ?

Answer 15

guard all heat sources

Question 16

what environment is better for a rainforrest species? if an aquatic species cannot swim?

Answer 16

elcosed and even heat and higher RH. can achieve this by giving them a litter tray of damp substrate. if an aquatic species canot swim then place them on a damp towel.

Question 17

maintenance fluid rate of a reptile? what must they be before you give any meds?
routes of fluid admin?

Answer 17

30ml.kg.d. must be warm or no point!
routes - bathe, stomach tube, parenteral - hartmans

chelonian - epicoelomic - good as vusacular as they can use pericardial fluids as a store when fluids are not available.
or intracystic. - they can reabsorb them. i/o

lizards - intracolemic, care in cameleon as they have digital projections of the back of the lungs. must draw back. i/o in to tibia but use LA. r jugular. always use iodine scrub first!!cephalic.

snakes - ventral tail vein. jugular ventral abdo?

Question 18

if they are anorexic? - what do they need and what do you need to be especially careful of? what is re-feeding syndrome? what can you use as a gue to measure dehydration? bloods!

Answer 18

fluids electrolytes and energy. they mask their deficiencies by reduce cellular levels of electrolytes but then the plasma looks normal. when you give glucose wihtout them being hydrated first - you increase cellular uptake and so you may deplete the po4 and k in the plasma. this is called re-feeding syndrome. to avoid this - you should give them 4% of bw in fluids per day until they urinate and their wieghtstabilise then you can start feeding them. also need to be warm to digest food.

monitor - na and urea (<20) uric acid and potassium too.

Question 19

Give me the protocol for rehydration of an anorexic chelonian?

Answer 19

fluids - hartmans. epicoelomic. bath 2 x d for 20 mins.

add electrolytes after 24 hours. stomach tube h20 and electrolytes. when urinate start feeding. plus bw change.

Question 20

why cant you give ivermectins to a chelonian? and why not to much fbz.?

Answer 20

ivermectins get into the CNS. they cause collapse and death. GABA.
fbz - cause stomach ulcers.

Question 21

explain faecal screening? what for? why important esp in reptiles?

if a snake wont void what can you do?
what is autoinfections?
what parasites do lizards get? chelonians? snakes?

Answer 21

they are very messy feeders! they spread faeces everywhere and so does their live prey as well as harming them. never re use prey. and have a substrate you can totally remove. if not then screen them before you put them on it. also treat and re test after 28d before putting them onto the lawn.

snake - cloacal flush - 1% bw in saline into cloaca and massage and aspirate. may void due to this - better as more concentrated.
may not show any cx - just carriers - therefore must screen.

lizards - cocci - beared dragons. isospora. toltrazuril. 1xd orally for 3d
oxyurids - fbz. d shaped eggs, anorexia obstruct and rectal prolapse. large burdens due to direct life cycle.
crypto - c. saviophilum. si disease and waste. biop. MET! esp gecko.

SNAKES - crypto - c.serpentis. stomach hyperplasia of mucusu glands. mid body swelling. regurg and emaciated. - ddx mouse crytpo if doing zn stain red on faeces or regurg! 80% dont shed and just reinfect and 20% immediately re-infective. MET!

chelonians - ciliates and ascarids and oxyurids.
ciliates - MET. commensals. balantidum
ascarids - impactions, vomit death. thcj walled eggs. fbz. lower dose over a few days. safer ie stomach ulcers.
oxyurids - fbz. d shaped eggs. anorexia, obstruct and rectal prolapse.

Question 22

ticarcilin? what is it?

Answer 22

PEN AND CLAVULANATE - synulox. anti pseudomonal.

Question 23

where are injection sites? snakes?
lizards?
chelonians?
car eof renal portal system why?
what reaction may chameleons and water dragons get?

Answer 23

snakes - epaxial, jugular, heart, ventral tail vein.
lizards - legs mm. veins.
chelonians - intracoelomic, epicoloemic, jugular, dorsal tail vein. subcarapacial sinus.

chameleon and water dragon - may get black skin, excited melanophores - warn owner it is only temproary.

CARE - of renal portal system esp if excreteed this way or nephrotoxic eg. aminoglycoides. - amikacin. - they go via kidneys first and may not even reach the systemic or a very high conc goes through kidneys and cause g=big toxicity. car eif inj. in the caual 1/2

Question 24

cytoology? of what? good why? why better than just a culture? where can you do it?
TW in snakes?

Answer 24

cells - good as it confirms the agent and that is it causing inflamm. culture just confims an agent but does not say that it is relevant.

tw mouth, cloaca etc.
TW in snakes - good as can give 1% bw in saline and roll then aspirate. may do a PCR? IF doingmouth - starve. conjuctiva? eyes/. lung?

Question 25

where can you take blood from? in a snake where is the heart? what is bad about the subcarapacial sinus and the dorsal tail vein in a chelonian?
which can you get a carotid in?
what blood cell dont they have ?
why not tail vein in a gecko?

Answer 25

lymph dilution!
car eof heamatomas in jugular or carotid in lizards. 
22-33% way down is the heart
no platelets. 
gecko - drop tail

Question 26

xrays?
3 veiws for chelonian?
snakes?
git transit time in chelonians? - barium?

Answer 26

chelonian - dv vertical, horizontal, lateral and craniocaudal. a toritoise has no diaphragm there fore horizontal is good to see lungs as git not compressing them.
snake - dv vertical and latero horzontal. stretch out.

barium 1% bw. chelonian 21d transit. can increase it more with ky jelly.

Question 27

what is us good for in a chelonian? snakeS?

Answer 27

all way along in a snake!

chelonians good for reprop = go in pre femoral fossa.

Question 28

why are ct and mri good for chelonians?

Answer 28

no superimposition of the shell sections so can see fractures well.

Question 29

analgesia is good? what kinds?

cx of pain?

Answer 29

butoprhanol and morphine. nsaids. LA. ket.

cx pain - withdraw, restless, agressive, increase RR. stint regions eg snake wotn curl up

Question 30

anaesthesia? chelonian? - not inhaled why?
why short and uncuffed tube?
tracheal rings? of chelonian and snake? diff!
why cant cehlonians and snakes clear secretions?
heart chambers? - shunting? when breath hold?
IPPV? how many bpm?
iso and sevo conc’s? why high at start and then reduce? when reduce?
HR? and when under AN?

Answer 30

chelonians breath hold/ can inj then propfol and the maintain with iso.
short and uncuffed as they have varied bifurcations - dont want to just inflate one lung. their rings are complete
snake - incomplete. normally just right lung functions.
heart - 3 chambers. when bretah hold. away from lungs due to vasoconstraict the PA and so pulmonary resistance goes up and so reduce hr and blood away from lungs.

IPPV - 6BPM.may use higher to deepen first
iso - 5% and sevo8% forst to deepen until surgical stim and then reduce to 3 and 5,
HR - 70 and when AN - 30-40
monitor with toe pinch tail pinch and jaw tone etc.

Question 31

when should you use an oseophagptmy tube?

Answer 31

long term fluids and nutrition.

Question 32

endo scopy - lizards? snakes? chelonian?

Answer 32

lizards - insufflate with co2. tent skin up and go in left side. car eof lungs in chameleons. alway close it up to prevent pnumocolon.

snake -dotn insufflate. right side between ribs - air sacs.
can do biop, histo , pcr, etc etc.
chelonian - pre fmoral fossa. ex lap instead