Egg Bound ???Re-Absorption??? HELP

Ryan Jarosek

Ryan Jarosek

New Member
I have a carpet female that was mated back in the beginning of November. After 31 days she laid only 3 eggs. She has continued to eat , drink, and behave normal. I was concerned after about 41 days and took her to see Dr. Greek. He felt her and agreed she was full of eggs. It was pretty obvious seeing she looked like a bag of marbles. She is now over 52 days. Still acting and appearing healthy as can be.

Dr. Greek and I decided we would try Oxytocin first to see if we could induce her to lay. She is completely healthy other than the eggs in her.

I injected her 2 days on 2 off and 2 on and 2 off with no affect. Over the time we have been treating her she has gone from Gravid coloration to receptive again. This is where it is getting interesting. I took her out to examine her this weekend and noticed she is looking thinner. I felt her and can only feel a couple of eggs in her.

I weighed her and she is still in the 15gram range. That is what she weighed when she was at the vet.

My question is , is it possible she is re-absorbing the eggs? Has anyone ever heard of this with chameleons?? She could not look any healthier. Her size in length has increased and she is less round.

I have an appointment to have he spayed but am concerned of the risk in relation to letting nature take its course. What are everyones opinions on this??? Surgery and the risk of not having Surgery???

Please any information would be appreciated. I am a mess with this one. I don't want to loose this little girl. Below is an older pic of her. Not really relevant to this thread but thought I would include it.

IMG_5259.jpg
 
I also was curious on people opinions on spaying a reptile. Assuming she makes it through surgery will she live longer. Similar to how dogs would?
 
Fidel said:
Any possibility she laid them and you have not found them??
Click to expand...


No I forgot to mention, carpets generally don't use the laying bin and just drop the eggs. I removed the laying bin this weekend and went through it just in case. Nothing.. I was hopeful. That was my first thought.


I have another question for anyone. Should I continue the Oxytocin??? Could this have an affect on the absorption of eggs?
 
Whatever you decide to do I must say she is beautiful! I love the colors. I have never seen colors like that before.
 
I, too, would like to hear from people that have had a reptile go thru a spay. My iguana is scheduled for one on Wednesday and I am so scared that I am signing a death sentence for her. I have heard so many bad outcomes... any input would be greatly appreciated...
 
ms_ramie22 said:
I, too, would like to hear from people that have had a reptile go thru a spay. My iguana is scheduled for one on Wednesday and I am so scared that I am signing a death sentence for her. I have heard so many bad outcomes... any input would be greatly appreciated...
Click to expand...

Lets hope someone chimes in on this one.

Is your iguana egg bound? just curious.
 
Ryan,
I just had a necropsy done on my female lat that passed this last week. She had eight non-calcified eggs in her, and what appeared to be two other eggs from a previous clutch almost completely absorbed...or what looked to be that. I can send you some photos if you're interested.

I don't know if chameleons really do absorb eggs, but it was noted that it appeared to be happening with my female. For now, I can only assume.
 
I really feel she is in the process of absorption.

I was advised by another member that overfeeding can interfere with the process of absorption.

Here is what I plan to do

Under a careful eye I am going to increase her ambient temps to increase her metabolism and cut back on feeding. I will monitor her for any abnormal weight loss and any other signs of distress (fat deposits etc).

Surgery is on hold for now.

Cameron Pics would be nice to add to this thread for future reference.

Also I should note I will be contacting Dr. Greek for advise as well.
 
Last edited:
I don't know of any scientific papers about chameleons being able to reabsorb their eggs. However, there is one case I was involved in where a veiled was presented to a vet. The xrays showed that she was full of eggs. She never laid them and appeared to have reabsorbed them (became much thinner in the appropriate area). I was told she lived for a number of years after.
 
My iguana, I don't feel is egg bound, as I have read that if they become egg bound, they are doomed like within 48 hours, and what I first thought was eggs, now I'm thinking are ovums developing into eggs. They are about the size of quarters on both of her sides and in the middle of her belly. The reason I have opted for a spay is that she was rescued from a reptile show in Penn. and sent to me. She has had MBD,as her back is alittle hunched and her fingers don't work properly. Despite eating like a pig (except the last 7 weeks) she remains thin. She is negative for parasites. So because of her not eating, she is dehydrated and thin. I give her daily bathes to try to keep her hydrated. I have a nest box for her and she has done some digging, but the little turd won't stay in her nest box unless I sit right next to her, if I move away, she is right there, following me. She is like a little monkey, wants to be on my shoulder, with me. I have spent the whole weekend with her, next to her nest box... I feel having her spay would be the best option for her so she doesn't have to go thru this anymore. And I felt good about my decision until I started reading and asking questions online. The more I research, the more I realize that I could lose her in this operation and that would be devastating. I don't know now if I should wait it out and see if she can lay them on her own, or go ahead with the spay? I guess the fact that I live 80 miles from a town and the weather here is deadly cold(we just had a 2 day blizzard that homebound us) and with the holidays coming up fast...if she should become egg bound and only have 48 hours, I don't like the thought of waiting to see what happens with her... I would like to just get her spayed and be done, but I'd like to hear some good outcomes of this kind of surgery...
 
BocaJan said:
Are fat deposits a sign of stress or something else that we should be aware of.
Click to expand...

Here is an explination I found on the web , I beleive came from The Chameleon Company


The fat storages, a.k.a. fat pads, on both sides of the parietal crest should be flat or slightly convex. If they are concave or sunken in, then it is not a good sign and usually means malnourishment or emaciation.
 
Ryan Jarosek said:
...she looked like a bag of marbles. She is now over 52 days. Still acting and appearing healthy as can be.

...she has gone from Gravid coloration to receptive again.
...I took her out to examine her this weekend and noticed she is looking thinner. I felt her and can only feel a couple of eggs in her.

I weighed her and she is still in the 15gram range. That is what she weighed when she was at the vet.

...is it possible she is re-absorbing the eggs? Has anyone ever heard of this with chameleons?? She could not look any healthier. Her size in length has increased and she is less round.

I have an appointment to have he spayed but am concerned of the risk in relation to letting nature take its course. What are everyones opinions on this??? Surgery and the risk of not having Surgery???
Click to expand...
Howdy Ryan,

Once in a while you hear someone mention egg re-absorption, but as Kinyonga posted, there just doesn't seem to be much hard data regarding it. I checked my medical book and I didn't spot any mention of it there either :eek:.

Another x-ray would show if the eggs have burst out of their containment and into the abdominal cavity. If that was the case, I wouldn't think that she would stay asymptomatic for very long :(.

As you are doing, I'd hold-off surgery without further evidence that the eggs are causing or are about to cause a dire health problem.
 
Dave Weldon said:
Howdy Ryan,

Once in a while you hear someone mention egg re-absorption, but as Kinyonga posted, there just doesn't seem to be much hard data regarding it. I checked my medical book and I didn't spot any mention of it there either :eek:.

Another x-ray would show if the eggs have burst out of their containment and into the abdominal cavity. If that was the case, I wouldn't think that she would stay asymptomatic for very long :(.

As you are doing, I'd hold-off surgery without further evidence that the eggs are causing or are about to cause a dire health problem.
Click to expand...


Dr. Greek said re-absorption is not possible at this stage. I am not completely sure I agree.

He also thought it would be a good idea to increase temps to see if that helps. Steve mentioned that increasing the temps a little may help so I brought it up with Dr. Greek and he agreed.

He said that as long as she is eating and drinking we have time to "play and see what happens".

I will be sure to update this thread with anything that may be of interest.

Thanks Dave and Everyone for your input and help with this.
 
Ryan Jarosek said:
I really feel she is in the process of absorption.

I was advised by another member that overfeeding can interfere with the process of absorption.

Here is what I plan to do

Under a careful eye I am going to increase her ambient temps to increase her metabolism and cut back on feeding. I will monitor her for any abnormal weight loss and any other signs of distress (fat deposits etc).

Surgery is on hold for now.

Cameron Pics would be nice to add to this thread for future reference.

Also I should note I will be contacting Dr. Greek for advise as well.
Click to expand...

I was wondering...not sure if it is possible or even feasible. But.since the Eggs them selves are calcium based, would an x-ray be an option or some way (Usound) of visualizing, counting, measure the eggs. Something like a bone density scan. Maybe one now and then again in say a week or two (provided health stays good). Maybe then an objective measurement or decision can be made to establish reabsorption. It may give you an earlier indication if you need to proceed with surgery or if you can wait.

Just thinking out loud....

OPI
 
Ryan Jarosek said:
No I forgot to mention, carpets generally don't use the laying bin and just drop the eggs. I removed the laying bin this weekend and went through it just in case. Nothing.. I was hopeful. That was my first thought.


I have another question for anyone. Should I continue the Oxytocin??? Could this have an affect on the absorption of eggs?
Click to expand...

I wanted to update this thread...

I have done a couple of things..

#1 replaced the laying bin. After reading this it dawned on me how stupid it was to remove it.

#2 Purchased a small rooted plant (ficus) to plant in the laying container. I will be doing this tonight.

#3 Basking has been increased to 90 for the time being.

#4 Per Dr. Greeks advise I started her back on Oxytocin. (It will either do something or nothing) It has not done much so far.

She is still doing great, eating and drinking
 
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