Health
Learn the signs that mean a vet the same day, and what you'd do if you couldn't keep it any more.
In this chapter
Health: what to watch for
Most problems are shared, and most start with the setup
Nearly every common reptile illness traces back to temperature, humidity, hygiene or diet. When something looks wrong, check the temperatures with your gun first, then see a vet. These problems can affect any species.
| What you see | Likely cause | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Respiratory infection Wheezing or clicking, open-mouth breathing, bubbles or mucus at the nostrils | Too cold, too damp, stale air or dirty substrate, usually two at once | Vet. Fix the conditions; switch to paper substrate while treating |
| Mites Tiny black or red specks around the eyes, chin and vent; drowned mites in the water bowl; constant soaking | A new animal, second-hand equipment, or contaminated substrate | Isolate. Treat the animal and the enclosure together with a reptile-safe product, and repeat on the product's interval |
| Mouth rot Swollen gums, cheesy yellow discharge, refusing food, rubbing the face | Poor conditions, or a mouth injury, often from live prey | Vet. Not treatable at home |
| Stuck shed Patchy old skin; retained eye caps on snakes; rings on toes and tail tips of lizards | Humidity too low through the shed | Raise humidity, add a humid hide, a shallow lukewarm soak. Never peel. Vet if it persists into the next shed |
| Scale rot Brown, raised or blistered belly scales | Persistently wet or fouled substrate | Vet. Dry the enclosure, paper substrate, clean daily |
| Burns Discoloured or blistered skin on the back or side | An unguarded or unthermostatted heat source | Vet. Fix the cause before the animal goes back |
| Internal parasites Weight loss while still eating; runny or foul-smelling droppings | Often arrives with a new animal or live food | Faecal parasite screen at the vet |
| Dehydration Wrinkled or tented skin, sunken eyes, thick sticky saliva | Water the animal does not recognise or cannot reach, or an enclosure too hot and dry | Fix water provision for the species. Vet if severe |
Problems particular to one group
| Group | Watch for |
|---|---|
| Snakes | Regurgitation, when prey is too large, the snake is handled too soon after eating, or it is too cold to digest. Retained eye caps. Head tilt or corkscrewing, a neurological sign linked to certain morphs. |
| Insect-eating lizards leopard gecko, bearded dragon, chameleon | Metabolic bone disease: a soft or rubbery jaw, swollen or bowed limbs, tremors, weakness. Caused by missing calcium, D3 or UVB; fully preventable. Impaction: straining, no droppings, a swollen belly; from loose substrate, oversized insects or an enclosure too cool to digest in. |
| Geckos | Tail loss. Never hold a gecko by its tail. A leopard gecko regrows one; a crested gecko never does. A leopard gecko's tail is also its fat store, so a thinning tail is an early sign of weight loss. |
| Female lizards | Egg binding. Leopard geckos, bearded dragons and veiled chameleons can produce eggs with no male present. Restless digging with no eggs laid, straining or lethargy needs a vet. Give females a laying site; the species guide explains how. |
Same-day vet, any species
Open-mouth breathing, or bubbles or mucus at the nostrils. Tissue protruding from the vent. A burn, a bleeding wound, or a swollen jaw. An animal that cannot right itself when turned over, or that is limp and unresponsive. A female straining with no result, or one that has stopped part-way through laying.
If you can no longer keep it
Rehome it properly, with its records
Circumstances change, and rehoming an animal you can no longer care for well is a responsible decision. Doing it badly is not.
- Never release it. It is illegal and the animal will die.
- Pass on the records: feeding log, weight history, shed history, genetics, vet history and the full setup with temperatures. With records, the next keeper can look after it properly from day one.
- Sell or rehome through bask, where the buyer confirms they are 18 or over and the sale follows bask's collection rules. Adverts offering an animal "free to good home" are not allowed.
- Ask the buyer questions too. Have they kept the species before? Is the enclosure already running? Who is their vet?
- If the animal is a prohibited morph, or no buyer comes forward, contact a reptile rescue or ask your exotics vet for a recommendation. Prohibited morphs cannot be advertised on bask, including to rehome them.