I have set this page up for our very special iguana, Oobleck, who passed away January 21, 2000. She was gravid and had laid an egg just an hour prior to her vet appointment that Monday, January 17. I took her in to see the vet and she was skinny, but still very active. The vet thought she seemed okay by her reaction to her belly being palpatated (no reaction at all). I kept an eye on her Tuesday and Wednesday and kept the vet informed on how she was doing via e-mail. After she hadn't laid anymore eggs those two days, I called him back first thing Thursday morning. He said he needed to check some things in the books he had and that I should call him back at 11am. I also found out he was going to be out of town for the next 5 days. That scared me because things always happen when the vet is out of town. I called back and he hadn't gotten a chance to check the books again and to call him back in 45 minutes. I had been checking on her every half hour to see how she was doing, hold her water bowl in front of her face so she would drink, and see if she could have possibly laid any eggs. I thought I would check once more before calling back and I found an egg! I called back and he couldn't get to the phone at that time and called back about 10-15 minutes later. By then she had laid 2 more eggs. I watched over her that afternoon and from noon until a little after 4pm, she laid 28 eggs. She looked really tired and dehydrated. I got a little more water into her and just watched over her. I thought she was just tired. I had talked to the vet that evening before he left and we both thought she was done laying.
It had been so long since my other females developed eggs and actually laid them (after one laying they went about reabsorbing them) that I forgot just how skinny they were and Oobleck's belly wasn't as sunken as their bellies were.
Friday morning I went in to check on her and she had brown blotches all down both sides of her spine. I had a really bad feeling about it and called the animal hospital right away and asked if they had any other vets there that saw reptiles and they had one that was on the emergency shift at 6pm. During the day she went downhill very fast. I took her in and the vet there took x-rays since I suspected more eggs. There looked to be up to 15 more or so still in her. He wanted to stabilize her overnight and gave her some lubricants in through the cloaca to help pass the eggs as well an injection of "reptile ringers" (to rehydrate her) and an injection of calcium gluconate. He suggested some oxytocin, but I thought it might be a bad idea if she was having difficulty passing a large or odd shaped egg from what I read on Melissa Kaplan's page on the subject. He said I could leave her there or take her home and if she didn't lay by the afternoon, to bring her back in and he'd do the surgery. I got her home and took her upstairs to the lizard room and thought about it. I was pretty sure she wasn't going to pass the eggs. I mean she laid 28 and then stopping. She was either so tired out from it or she was obstructed by a large or odd shaped egg (couldn't tell from the x-ray because her spine was in the way- but there weren't any eggs in the pelvis). I wasn't sure she would make it through the surgery, but I knew she wasn't going to get better without it. I called the vet back and he agreed to do the surgery that night. I went to get her and her eyes were fixed and dilated and she wasn't going to be around for very long. I got Igor out from underneath CDR's cage so he could say goodbye and I held her until she died.
Igor is really missing his basking buddy and has been looking all over the lizard room for her. They have been free roaming the lizard room for the last 2 months and were really getting along (okay, minus the one bite she gave him, but he probably was asking for it ;-)). He hasn't eaten since and won't use their basking site anymore. When I go to check on the lizards, he's usually walking around the room. I'm going to give him some extra attention. I think he needs it.
I am incubating 15 out of the 28 she laid, but I'm afraid they're infertile. Right now it appears that there could be 1-2 good eggs, but I think the odds of having that many plugs (bad eggs) might be close to impossible. I'm not giving up, just not counting iguanas before they hatch.
Please read Melissa Kaplan's pages on preparing for egg laying and dystocia if you think your female could be gravid. It could save her life.
View Oobleck's X-rays
