14/15/16: Reptile medicine and surgery

Question 1

What is required to import an tortoise?

Answer 1

CITES certificate and microchip

Question 2

Why must you feed tortoises in the morning?

Answer 2

Hide in a bush in the hottest part of the day

Question 3

What triggers hibernation in tortoises?

Answer 3

Photoperiod, not temperature

Question 4

How must tortoises enter hibernation?

Answer 4

Fully hydrated with an empty stomach and small intestine

Question 5

What is hibernation in reptiles called?

Answer 5

Brumation

Question 6

WHich species should always be barrier nursed?

Answer 6

Tortoise

Question 7

What should tortoises have over their clavicle??

Answer 7

A fat pad

Question 8

How do you restrain a tortoises head?

Answer 8

Behind neck

Question 9

What does yellow in a tortoises mouth mean?

Answer 9

Anaemia, not jaundice

Question 10

Where can you ballot eggs?

Answer 10

The prefemoral fossa

Question 11

How should you use the Jackson ratio?

Answer 11

With clinical judgement

Question 12

Which housing system mainly gets dehydration?

Answer 12

Closed vivaria with heat 24h a day

Question 13

What should you do with all hospitalised tortoises?

Answer 13

Bathe

Question 14

When is the only time you should worm a tortoise?

Answer 14

With evidence, and not during winter and worms don’t produce eggs at this time

Question 15

When does fenbendazole give tortoises side effects?

Answer 15

If debilitated

Question 16

How should you give tortoises fenbendazole?

Answer 16

By stomach tube

Question 17

Where should you make sure Profender (topical cat wormer) doesn’t get on a tortoise?

Answer 17

In the eye

Question 18

What does a tortoise in pain look like?

Answer 18

Increased activity, walking tall, tiptoes

Question 19

How long after hibernation should a tortoise eat?

Answer 19

2-3 days

Question 20

What happens to a tortoise during hibernation?

Answer 20

Slowly uses fluid, uses up energy stores and fat soluble vitamins, may get stomatitis.

Question 21

When does hibernation take a worse toll?

Answer 21

If incorrect temperature - should be 5-8 degrees

Question 22

What is the basic protocol for a tortoise after hibernation?

Answer 22

Bathe twice daily, oral rehydration until urates passed, herbivore syringe feed

Question 23

How long should stomach tube be for a tortoise?

Answer 23

Gular notch to abdominal hinge

Question 24

What has happened if a tortoise regurgitates after tube feeding?

Answer 24

It is not through the cardiac sphincter

Question 25

What is often the cause of LRT disease in tortoises?

Answer 25

Lung abscess rather than generalised

Question 26

Which view do you take to see tortoise lungs?

Answer 26

Cr-Cd, not DV

Question 27

How do you inject a tortoise?

Answer 27

Clean skin very well, and hold it shut after

Question 28

What is the first sign of resp disease in a tortoise?

Answer 28

Blowing bubbles

Question 29

Which antibiotic should not be injected in tortoises?

Answer 29

Enrofloxacin

Question 30

How do you treat tortoise ear abscesses?

Answer 30

Suture, or fenestrate and flush

Question 31

Where are reptile jugulars?

Answer 31

3 and 9 oclock

Question 32

Where else can you take blood in a tortoise?

Answer 32

Sub-carapacial sinus (bend needle and go midline)

Question 33

What's a problem with using the subcarapacial sinus?

Answer 33

Can dilute with lymph

Question 34

What do you check for in generalised oedema in a tortoise?

Answer 34

Could just be an obese Horsefield's. Or heart failure, renal disease, hypoproteinaemia,

Question 35

Why can you not give a tortoise diuretics?

Answer 35

No loops of Henle

Question 36

What do you do with a tortoise that fell in a pond?

Answer 36

Doppler for heartbeat, fluids, antibiotics, NSAIDs, pneumonia, KCS

Question 37

What happens if a tortoise eats too many buttercups?

Answer 37

Liver disease

Question 38

Which lizards can use their tail?

Answer 38

Any

Question 39

What do lizards have in their abdomen?

Answer 39

Fat bodies

Question 40

Which snake species don't eat well in captivity?

Answer 40

Royal/Ball pythons

Question 41

Which type of snake can get aggressive?

Answer 41

Burmese python

Question 42

What are some causes of anorexia in snakes?

Answer 42

Stress, wrong temp, parasites, resp disease

Question 43

In which snake species can anorexia be seasonal?

Answer 43

Adult corn snake males

Question 44

Where can roundworms live in snakes?

Answer 44

In the stomach (and come out of the mouth!)

Question 45

What do snake mites look like?

Answer 45

Black dots under scales, around eyes, corner of mouth

Question 46

How do you treat snake mites?

Answer 46

Wipe fipronil spray on the snake, clean vivarium by putting it in the oven for 30 minutes

Question 47

What is the priority when treating burns?

Answer 47

Analgesia

Question 48

What can be long term problems with burns in snakes?

Answer 48

Scarring and sloughing problems

Question 49

Which snakes commonly get resp disease?

Answer 49

Pythons and boas when temperature too low

Question 50

What do snakes with resp disease look like?

Answer 50

Anorexia, bubbles in mouth, leans against sides of vivarium

Question 51

How far down the snake is its stomach?

Answer 51

1/3

Question 52

What happens to snake cilia if anorexic?

Answer 52

Lose them

Question 53

How do you tube feed a snake?

Answer 53

Keep it vertical, lots of lube, don't use a rigid tube or it will come out the side of the neck!!