I recently had an unexplainable death of one of my V. Prasinus. I can’t find any answers or anything even close to my situation.
I purchased a proven pair of USCBB Merauke V. Prasinus from a breeder here in the U.S. This is a reliable breeder - tons of fantastic reviews, talked on the phone, held them for me while I built the enclosure, helped me along the way, etc. I built a 6Lx5Hx3D enclosure, with all sorts of branches, climbable walls, plants, etc. I received the animals Feb. 4th. and they were perfectly healthy. Within the day, they were both eating and exploring their enclosure. Fast-forward to one week ago, I noticed a lack of appetite, and presumed it to be developing follicles (follicle growth was later confirmed in autopsy) as I was told to expect this when she begins her breeding cycle. A few days after, I witnessed copulation between the two lizards numerous times. The female ate again, and both proceeded on normal behavior.
This past Friday, I checked on everyone as per usual, both lizards out basking and moving around perfectly fine, normal behaviors. This continued throughout the day, till about 3:30 PM when I noticed the female being suddenly lethargic and her eyes very cloudy (Looked like her inner eyelids were stuck over them, not certain if they were or not). Immediately I communicated with my breeder and scheduled an emergency vet visit for ASAP, which was the next morning. I took both lizards in just in case. The male received a clean bill of health. Female didn’t get an exact diagnosis (Was told it seemed to be some type of infection), but was prescribed Fortaz and eye drops, and daily soaks. Injection, eye drops, and soaks began that day. By this point she was no longer moving on her own, and infrequently moving her tail and flicking her tongue. Later that night, she died. I had an autopsy performed this morning on her body, which I preserved, and absolutely nothing was found. I’m waiting on lab results.
Sorry for the essay. Has anyone ever heard of or experienced anything like this? The male is still seemingly perfectly healthy - no behavior difference.
Wow! So very sorry for your loss! It’s strange that the necropsy showed nothing at all! Did the vet have anything at all to say? Have you reached out to the breeder? It would be a good idea to do so if nothing else but to warn him/her about the death and that the vet was treating for some kind of underlying infection.
I have read about this kind of thing happening with crested geckos that suddenly died with absolutely zero explanation. Fine one minute and deceased the next. I apologize that I cannot help but I just wanted to reach out to you to express my condolences.
I know you are seeking answers. I am hoping there will be others here who will see this post and offer plausible causes. I am going to tag a couple of people. They don’t own monitors but it’s worth a try.
The lab results might hold the key in this case. It’s possible there was an underlying low level infection that her body was keeping in check until it started putting energy into reproduction.
Infection definitely seems most likely. Especially when you consider the compounding recent stress of breeding activity on top of the stress of a new environment and shipping.
Reptiles are so good at hiding issues until they are much further along than we’d like before we treat them.
I actually had a python crash very quickly last year. He was breeding and eating well, a few days later he was lethargic and his cloaca was discolored. 4 days later he died. No viral issues, labs came back as a bacterial infection. The only visual signs on autopsy was his colon necrotizing.
All of the females he had ever been paired were immediately quarantined regardless, but are all in good health with nothing having ever come up. We assume he was immunocompromised in some way.
Regardless, I’m sorry that you had that experience with such an awesome animal. I hope your male continues to thrive.
Micro tear leading to internal bleading and infection caused through copulation and egg development would be my guesse. Calcium issues or some improper transfer of energy may have accured through dietery supliments or insufficient muscle to fat raitio.
I could think of a handful of problematic concerns from purchasing a breeding pair and then attempting to breed them without adequate cycle and recovery.
Sounds like a micro tear or sudden on set of infection.
For anyone still interested - just received lab results. Basically chronic kidney failure. No infection or anything like that that was found. Kidneys were failing and introduced several other problems as a result. They said it was something that had to have developed and wouldn’t have happened within my month of ownership.
Wow! Who could have guessed that! I am sorry for your unfortunate loss but I suppose this could have not prevented. At least you know now but it is too bad you can’t recoup the money.
That is quite the surprise result, but very much explains why she went downhill so quickly. I’m sorry for your loss, it sucks that she was ill and hiding it when you received her. I’d consider getting labs on the male just to be sure he’s doing well.
The breeding could have just made something that was inevitable happen sooner. It would make me question if sold as breeding pair because previous season was unsuccessful because of egg development or recovery time. I would assume the issue was present prior to your purchase. Usually people dont sell successfully breeding pairs unless they are holding back majority of the lineage or offspring already. I would guess not a successfull pair. I could be sinical but makes one wonder. Many factores to consider, however, a reputable breeder would be willing to work with you given your findings. Obviously, that would be subject to your willingness to work with that breeder again. Do you know if the animal was wild caught because that would explain a lot as well.
I’m very sorry for your loss. I’m glad that you were at least given a diagnosis from the lam results. There wasn’t anything you could hand done about this, which I hope can bring you a bit of solace. I agree that testing the male is a good idea. Sounds like the breeder was willing to work with you as a human (as opposed to a dollar sign), so they will probably want to know about this. I know that I would want to know if any animal I produced had such a problem. Nature is still in charge and we can’t prevent all problems, but I wouldn’t repeat a pairing which produces an animal with known kidney failure, and would watch others in the line extra closely.
I hope your male continues to thrive. Again, I’m sorry for your loss.
In the August 2006 issue of reptiles mag is an article about V. prasinus. By Robert W. Mendyk
If you can find this article it may give some insight.
I’m sorry to hear of your troubles. Green (and blue)monitors are a bucket list animal for me.
Work with the breeder and see if they can make it right or at least ease this burden for you.
Not sure about copy right issues but I could paraphrase the article if you like.
Best of luck.
So were the GTP back in the 90s that ended up being wild caught and illegally smuggled. Not saying this is the same but I would find out more about the lineage and husbandry practices which include feeding and supliments if you have not done that already. Inline or other inbreeding practices could cause similar effects. Sometimes wild caught could actually improve on the vigor of the blood line. Anyway, just something to think about.
Also, I dont want to sound insensitive to the loss of the animal because it sucks and hurts to loose an animal. Reason why I dont have GTP is because of the heartbreaks. However, we must think criticaly and ask ourselves hard questions if we want to be successful breeders as well as question the sources we purchase or build up our conection by providing them with valuable information about there animals.
It never feels good to hear about this kind of thing and hope you all are doing well.
