Taking your Reptile or
Amphibian to the Vet.
Dr Joshua Llinas, aka HerpVet, provides
some important tips for visiting the vet.
When you take your pet reptile to the vet, whether for a
routine health check or because it is showing symptoms
of an illness, it is important to consider all aspects of the
visit. This includes travelling to the clinic, sitting in the
waiting room and the information that may be required to
help your vet make the proper recommendations and
assessment of your pet’s health. If your reptile is already
sick, then this process is even more important. Reptiles’
natural instinct is to appear as normal as possible to avoid
predation in the wild, and this can be incredibly effective
in masking any illness. Therefore, a reptile or amphibian
that appears to be healthy may in fact be suffering from a
serious condition.
Preparation.
As we all know, the majority of problems faced in the
reptile pet world are related to husbandry concerns. It is
essential that you provide a detailed history of your
animal so that the vet can make a thorough assessment.
For this reason, when we know a reptile patient is coming
in for an exam, our team sends a form to be completed
and sent back to the clinic addressing these topics. It is
also valuable to bring any records of feeding, shedding or
illness that you have available. This process not only
saves our clients time and money, but also allows us to
pinpoint possible health-related issues. This enables us to
provide the appropriate advice, testing and treatment as
soon as possible.
Travel.
When travelling with your pet to the clinic, there are
guidelines to determine what is acceptable to minimize
stress and risk to different species. These can be found on
page 10-11 in the ‘Code of Practice Wildlife Manage-
ment’ in the Nature Conservation Act of 1992 (see full
reference below). A variety of factors should be
considered, such as the preferred optimal temperature
zone (POTZ), humidity, quarantine and specific risks
such as entanglement or crushing injuries that can be
incurred during transport. Our recommendation is to have
each individual in a separate travel container. The con-
tainer should have adequate ventilation and allow the
animal to fit comfortably without sliding around. Ensure
there are no heavy objects (rocks or hides, etc.) or ex-
posed string if using bags made of fabric, such as pillow
cases. A hide can be supplied, and the use of a light-
weight material such as a cardboard box or paper towel
tube will assist to reduce the risk of injury while provid-
ing a sense of security. Venomous reptiles should always
be transported in a box within a box, and for safety rea-
sons it is important to alert the veterinarian and the clinic
staff of the species contained in the enclosure. Aquatic
turtle species are great climbers so should be in secure
containers to reduce the risk of falling, which can result
in injuries. I recommend turtles travel on a damp towel.
This reduces sliding around and helps maintain higher
humidity levels.
Depending on the species, it may be necessary to provide
supplementary heating during the cooler months,
especially if travelling for a lengthy period of time. If you
are unfortunate enough to be travelling in Brisbane,
during summer, and without air conditioning, then over-
heating may be an issue, so consideration of the ambient
temperature is a must. It is also important to take into
account the condition of your reptile; for instance, if
you’re coming for a routine exam then it may
be more appropriate to wait until a snake has
finished shedding and has not eaten for a few
days to avoid problems such as dysecdysis
(improper shedding) or regurgitation. My
recommendation is to wait a full feed cycle,
which could be a couple of days or a couple
of weeks, depending on the species. How-
ever, if the animal is very sick and needs
urgent attention, this may not be possible.
At the clinic.
Once you arrive at the veterinary practice, it
is important to consider the needs of other pet
owners and their animals. Not everyone is a
Left: a blue-tongue in an ICU enclosure.
Photo by Dr Joshua Llinas.