Quasimodo - a melleri baby with back problems

[Sepioteuthis]

Hi,

My melleri eggs started hatching this weekend and one of the babies has a croaked back. His behavior isn't different from that of the heathly hatchlings; he's active and alert (not in the pictures, but they were taken after their bedtime).
Has anyone seen anything like this before?

thanks,
Suzanne

 

[Kent67]

Big congrats on the melleri! How long was the incubation time?

I've never had any spinal problems in hatchlings like that. I have heard about them in pardalis but never heard what the outcome was. Good luck with it, does he eat?

 

[Sepioteuthis]

Thanks!

The incubation time was 4 months, almost to the day.

I haven't seen the little hunchback eat yet, but I've seen him drink.

 

[Brandy]

i have seen this on a little werneri female i had i eventually had to put her down as her spine worsened and she eventually could not move properly

I got my girl very young with this but some off the explinatlions i heard are keep in mind this is livebearing i think this was a factor in some of the speculations, incorect temps (mother was over/under heated), randome deformity, stress duing importation for mother, exposure to chemicals. i have no clue what caused it my guess is just randome mutation or egg temps but with other heathly babies that get ruled out for me.

 

[Sepioteuthis]

How long did this little girl live? It looks from the pictures that she made it to adulthood?

Suzanne

 

[Brandy]

id guess she was a year old when i put her down mabey slightly older

 

[kinyonga]

I have seen this once (in the very first chameleon I ever hatched)...but when you looked at her from above, the spine was straight...and when you looked at her from the side she had a slight hump about half way from the neck to the vent. She lived a full life.

I have heard that this is from incubation temperatures that are too warm. (She was the first to hatch and the rest of the clutch didn't start to hatch for a couple of weeks after...so it stands to reason that for her it was a temperature "thing".)

Hope yours does okay!

 

[Sepioteuthis]

I have heard that this is from incubation temperatures that are too warm. (She was the first to hatch and the rest of the clutch didn't start to hatch for a couple of weeks after...so it stands to reason that for her it was a temperature "thing".)

Hmm, high temps is actually a possibility in my case. When we moved last month the eggs were briefly (maybe 30 min) exposed to high temps (80+), maybe I just got lucky that so far it only affected one embryo (knock on wood - still have a dozen or so incubating).

 

[PardalisGirl]

Curved spine issue.......

Birth defects are actually somewhat common in all reptiles just as they are in humans. Some defects are temperature or nutritionally (the mom's nutrition) related and some are genetic. Curved spine issues usually result in an earlier than normal death. If the defect is noticeable at hatching it only becomes more so with growth. The curve continues to curve and the curve tightens as growth occurs. Eventually, the curved spine presses on nerves and/or internal organs. At this point movement of the back legs becomes increasingly more restrictive. This is the point at which the comfort of the lizard becomes an issue. Until then, they can live a pretty normal life.

I had a female Hydrosaurus Pustulatus with a spinal birth defect. This is a very rare sailfin lizard (grows to be over three feet long) that can not be imported anymore. I have a couple of captive bred ones. My vet did an experimental back surgery on it, similar to one they do on horses with curved spines, to see if we could keep the spine from curving more as she grew. The surgery worked to a certain extent and probably extended her life another two years. Even so, the spine still curved enough that it eventually caused paralysis in the hind legs and her lower digestive tract. She died as a result.

More recently, I had a Sambava hatchling with a curved spine. It got around just fine until it hit a major growth spurt at about three months. The curve got more pronounced and it lost the use of it's hind legs. I put it to sleep because I knew the rest of the story. I'm not trying to make you feel terrible about your baby, I'm just trying to prepare you for what might happen. In any case, you can provide your baby with the best home and life possible for whatever time it is allotted. That's the important thing to think about. Keep us posted. I would be interested in how this little one's story goes. I hope it is a long and happy story

 

[Sepioteuthis]

Thanks PardalisGirl,

I appreciate the detailed response.

-Suzanne

 

[Sepioteuthis]

Just wanted to let you know that Quasimodo passed away last week. Fortunately, he didn't seem to have suffered (long). He was fine one day and gone the next.

- Suzanne

 

[boothy]

awww sorry to hear that he passed on you , best of luck to you with the rest of them

 

[PardalisGirl]

Quasimodo is a peace now.......

I'm so sorry about your loss. I'm glad he did not suffer though. Continuing to grow with that condition would have just meant suffering. At least he got to experience the wonder of life as a baby for a short time. His story was a short one, but it sounds like it was a happy one

 

[Sepioteuthis]

Thanks Boothie & Pardalisgirl,

Yeah, I'm a bit relieved actually, I can't imagine that he could have grown up without serious complications.
He will be missed though.

 

[kinyonga]

Sorry to hear that Quasi passed. If the curvature was due to the incubation temperatures it may have affected more than just the spine I suppose.