uterine inertia... a close call!

I learned something new from my vet (who is the greatest...) about egg binding, or dystocia. First of all, there are many reasons for a female's unwillingness or inability to lay her eggs... for example she is too young, too small (or eggs too big), too stressed, low calcium levels, and most commonly for lack of an appropriate place to lay them. I just learned that uterine inertia is another reason, and this is caused by lack of the necessary hormones (oxytocin) to start the labor process where the uterus begins contractions to expel the eggs.

My reverse stripe albino female has laid clutches consistently every 14-17 days since February, and has been kept in top condition weighing in at 60-68 grams all season. She was gravid with her 11th (yes, eleventh!) clutch and stopped eating at about 13 days, which is completely normal just prior to laying. When she hadn't laid her eggs or eaten in over 3 weeks, I became alarmed. I was giving her abour 0.1 mls of liquid calcium (neocalglucon), warm water soaks, and gentle massages daily... but nothing... and no indication she was ready to lay.

I gave her an injection of .02 ml Oxytocin when 4 weeks had passed and she was beginning to lose weight dramatically. Nothing happened overnight, so I gave her a second injection the next day. NOTHING!!! I had postponed a trip to Spokane waiting for her to lay her eggs, and finally took her in to the vet when 4 weeks had passed.

Apparently, she was suffering from uterine inertia (which is different from follicular stasis) and simply could not start labor even with the help of the hormone injections I gave her, but the eggs inside her had continued growing to the size that she couldn't lay them anyway... poor baby.

My vet performed surgery on her last Friday while I was on my trip, and removed the eggs... successfully saving her reproductive organs!!! The eggs weighed over 4 grams each. She has a bunch of stitches on her abdomen that look hideous, but she managed to power down 4 crickets last night when I got her home, and another 6 mealworms today. Needless to say, she will be pampered and housed by herself for the rest of this year, but should be able to breed next season. I am sooooo glad she is OK, and I have a fantastic veterinarian.

Wow, sounds like quite the experience. I bet you were worrying about her every minute of the trip.

It's great to hear that she's going to be all right. 11 clutches?! Amazing.

Olivia, I was absolutely sick with worry until my vet called me on my cell phone and told me she was just fine! I still worried about ALL of my geckos, gravid mamas, incubating eggs, hatchlings and anything else I could think of the entire week I was gone. For some reason I have this idea in my head that no one can care for my animals as well as I can... (I'm already an obessive-compulsive with my critters, and a worry-wart by nature). Fortunatley, the guy who cares for my geckos when I'm gone or in the hospital is very experienced... he's not only my neighbor, but used to be the manager for the local reptile store!

Marcia, i'm happy to her your little girl is doing well. Thanks for the info too. Having just lost one of my girls to a cloacal prolapse, it makes me wonder if she may have had this condition too. which reptile shop does your niehbor manage. i used to live in the bay area, and i was just curious.

Breandan, when I saw the photos you posted of your poor little girl, I knew it was a cloacal prolapse... but since she was able to go into labor and actually lay the eggs, I doubt it was an issue of uterine inertia. Her prolapse was more likely due to her eggs being too large, and/or straining too hard to pass them. I felt so sad for you when you lost her...

The term 'inertia' basically means "lacking the power to move". The ability of the uterus to contract is dependent on the hormone pitocin, or oxytocin, and even though I gave my girl 2 injections her uterus was still unable to contract. Perhaps she was just 'done' with laying eggs for the season(?)

Edit: I forgot to answer your question about the store... it's Pet'Acular Exotics in Antioch, in the East Bay Area.

Marcia,
You're lucky to have an experienced gecko-sitter in your area. I had to place full trust in my mom to take care of my leos when I was abroad. She didn't really use the caresheet or the list of resources I typed up for her, but I think she handled things pretty well for the 5 months I was gone. She knows my leos now just as well as I do--what they like to eat, when they like to come out, if they like to be held. I'm not sure if I would be able to extend that trust to other people though.

Marcia, I'm just wondering, but have you ever had any luck with using Oxytocin on lizards? It seems every time I've tried it to help pass a clutch, it does not seem to help. Perhaps it does not work as well with lizards? My vet and I now generally just use a shot of calcium.

Justyn, fortunately I have not had this problem with egg retention very often, and with the exception of this case and one other, the times I have used Oxytocin for my girls it has given results within 12-24 hours. It does seem to work better with an injection of liquid calcium just prior to the oxytocin, and in a few cases required a second injection the next day.

The first case I had was a few years ago where my girl could only lay one egg after an injection of oxytocin, and went into severe distress trying to lay the other. She did wind up having the egg surgically removed, again my vet kept her reproductive organs intact, and she was recovering extremely well. She went into a shed within the following week, and pulled out all of her sutures (most likely thinking it was skin)... and I found her with her uterus and intestines hanging out of the incision. I freaked. She was still alive, I rushed her to the vet, but she died a few days later. I was devastated for weeks... even now I am worried about the same thing happening.