Female Sikorae Gravid - Things to Look Out For?

[Fumbles]

My female sikorae has been gravid for some time now. I'm getting a bit worried she's been gravid for too long so I thought I'd put this out to the community:





I've read they sleep in awkward positions when gravid. You can see she's trying to keep her bottom end hanging off the side. She also sits like this while awake, just in different spots. She is in a basking spot relative to the rest of the cage. She drinks mist water every time I turn it on and eats a couple crickets during feedings though she seems a bit low energy. There's evidence in the cage she's not impacted. For some reason, maybe she couldn't reach, but she had a problem shedding the top side of her tail. Her crickets are dusted with calcium and I can see her calcium sacs.

She's always been very healthy, I'm just concerned she's been gravid for too long, I feel like it's been over two months since she first started getting bigger. There's been stress in that time including losing the male in the same cage, cleaning the cage and moving its location (to control temperature). I wouldn't want to add the stress of a vet if everything here is normal.

 

[Fumbles]

She moved during the day, here's a more common resting position for her lately:

 

[thorrshamri]

You are right about going at a vet's...does she have enough depth of substrate to lay her eggs? Usually 3" deep is enough. The substrate has to be moist but not looking like a swamp. A vet might possibly try an injection to trigger egg-laying, but this would have to be done at your place, and should only be done by a vet familiar with geckos.

 

[Fumbles]

She has about 2" of new moist coconut fiber substrate. I can add a bit more. She also has leaf litter. I've seen her lay a lot of eggs, I'm not sure why she's holding onto these for so long. Maybe the male left a surprise. She hasn't laid any fertile ones so far.

Unfortunately I don't know anyone who could come to my place to handle any sort of injections. Do the pictures, behavior and length of time she's been gravid seem normal?

Something to note - her calcium sacs seem smaller than the last time I saw them. Should I apply a heavier calcium dust to crickets?

 

[thorrshamri]

More calcium will change nothing. I would add more depth to your substrate, and maybe remove the male from the enclosure. Males can sometimes harass gravid females, and it may stress her out and provoke a delay for egg-laying if they are together. They are wicked little critters which usually don't show any sign of mutual aggression when you have your eyes on them, both egg-laying and harassment happens when you are not there. How can you be sure she has been gravid for 2 months? Is she foraging on the ground?

 

[Fumbles]

I added another 1 1/2 inch of substrate to the enclosure today.

The male passed away about the same time I noticed she was getting a little bigger - around two months ago.

Another thing - once in a while when I approach she seems to take slow, deep breaths rather than the short quicker ones I'm used to seeing. Could be another sign of discomfort?

She's not looking for a spot to lay as far as I can tell. I've watched her lay eggs before beginning with crawling down to find a spot and ending with her covering the spot with leaves. Shes not shy and never had a problem before. This sort of unusual resting behavior and egg retention is odd for her.

I got her as a juvenile about a year and a half ago if that makes a difference. She was about 15 grams. Probably laid about 8-10 clutches since then.

 

[pakinjak]

How do you know she is gravid? If it's just from her resting positions, it's not certain that she is. Has she been laying this year? If so, how many clutches and when was the last one laid?

 

[Fumbles]

I haven't seen a clutch out of her since winter started.

I can't say for sure she's gravid. I just figured for her size and since she seems to be having bowel movements it was the only answer. If someone could give me some info regarding how to check I'd appreciate it.

Her limbs seem to be getting skinnier and she didn't any of the three crickets I put in. It's been 72 hours since i put the last crickets in her cage and there was one left over - I usually don't see that.

 

[miguel camacho!]

As far as I can guess, she's either egg-bound or impacted. A vet would be the only person to be able to tell you if it's either of those, or something else. The behavior and weight loss doesn't make this a very good scenario. If it's egg-binding, the vet can try a dose of oxytocin to elicit egg-laying, but if that doesn't work, surgery might be the last option. If it's impaction, I'm not sure there is any option other than surgery.

 

[Fumbles]

Lost one to some sort of growth two months ago, another to an infection last month. Not having good luck here.

Is there anything I can do here or should I be making a vet appointment? I'd like to not lose another but a trip to the vet will definitely stress her out.

She just had a bowel movement with urate but it was small.

 

[thorrshamri]

You can very carefully check her belly. An impaction would give a belly hard to the touch and no feces at all. Urates mean nothing. You can have an impaction and still the kidneys and urate excretion will work. A gravid female about to lay her eggs would be restless and often foraging on the ground. May a vet come possibly to your place? I mean a qualified one, with some gecko experience.

 

[Fumbles]

I took a few pics this morning and checked her belly. Her belly is soft until midway down. Then there's a distinct hard lump on her left side almost at the vent. There's a not-as-pronounced lump on the other side too. I tried to get angles where you can see and circled the areas on one of the pics. I cleaned the cage a few weeks ago and there is evidence of feces as recent as yesterday.

One thing I noticed - her belly did seem hard until she relaxed, then it was easy to find the soft and hard spots.

 

[Fumbles]

Unfortunately there is no vet that I know of around here qualified to handle this animal who does house calls. There is a vet that does specialize in exotic animals and does reptile exams but its 30-40 minutes away. I live in southern California. A house call from that particular vet plus the procedure may be, regrettably, out of my budget but I can certainly inquire.

That was actually an observation I was going to make about the general community here. Some of you seem very connected to vets and herp specialists, or are so yourselves. Is that the case?

 

[thorrshamri]

I'm not a vet myself, but I know one in Berkeley, Ca. You can pm me for details.
As for this pic: CIMG0443.jpg Photo by Therearenogoodsc | Photobucket I am quite skeptical. I avoid handling and bothering my females while gravid, so what I am going to say is not 100% reliable. BTW, handling a gravid female will increase the risks of egg-binding. Photos are great, but when the animal is for example motionless on a glass pane. What I can see on your photo seems more to be a case of impaction than eggs. You may try to put 2-3 drops of paraffin oil on her snout. It has no side effect and may help your animal to defecate, if her intestines have not completely stopped to work. If the intestines have stopped working, this is usually very painful for the affected animal. Geckos are not exactly prone to show signs of pain, but when you touched her belly, she might have expressed both stress and pain, so it's difficult to know if she was unhappy with being handled or also suffering from pain. Typically though, an animal with acute pain such as pain caused by a major impaction will stay on the ground and show abnormal reactions, f.e. "unexplained" aggressivity.

 

[thorrshamri]

I'm not a vet myself, but I know one in Berkeley, Ca. You can pm me for details.
As for this pic: CIMG0443.jpg Photo by Therearenogoodsc | Photobucket I am quite skeptical. I avoid handling and bothering my females while gravid, so what I am going to say is not 100% reliable. BTW, handling a gravid female will increase the risks of egg-binding. Photos are great, but when the animal is for example motionless on a glass pane. What I can see on your photo seems more to be a case of impaction than eggs. You may try to put 2-3 drops of paraffin oil on her snout. It has no side effect and may help your animal to defecate, if her intestines have not completely stopped to work. If the intestines have stopped working, this is usually very painful for the affected animal. Geckos are not exactly prone to show signs of pain, but when you touched her belly, she might have expressed both stress and pain, so it's difficult to know if she was unhappy with being handled or also suffering from pain. Typically though, an animal with acute pain such as pain caused by a major impaction will stay on the ground and show abnormal reactions, f.e. "unexplained" aggressivity.

 

[Fumbles]

I will try the paraffin oil this weekend. I am seeing bowel movements but they're smaller than normal. She drinks like crazy from running water but there's no evidence of dehydration.

She used to hang out on the glass but she seems to be on the background and branches lately. Never on the ground except to get to the water bowl. I can't get a clear shot of her in there. I figured it'd be worth her stress to get clear pictures to see if someone can identify the issue if this is life threatening.

If it turns out there is an issue with this animal that is beyond my means to remedy I'll gladly give her up for adoption to someone who can help her.

PMing you for details on vet.

 

[thorrshamri]

I am afraid rehoming her would worsen her overall state...

 

[Fumbles]

More signs of restlessness. She doesn't seem to be going anywhere near the substrate during the day.





For reference, is paraffin oil you're referring to comparable to mineral oil sold at drug stores? I don't want to give her the wrong thing.

 

[thorrshamri]

Laxative (Oral Route) - MayoClinic.com My bad, Paraffin Oil is a wrong translation from French

 

[Fumbles]

It's too late. She's gone for sure. She's taking her last breaths. Heartbreaking.