Lace Monitor With Metabolic Bone Disease
Meet Lacy, the Lace Monitor with Metabolic Bone Disease.
This is the unfortunate story of a lace monitor that
didn't get the proper care by her previous owner and she ended up with Metabolic Bone Disease.
First off, I did NOT do this to this lace monitor. This was the doing of the previous owner feeding her the wrong diet because, he said, "she loves it".
I bought this Lacie with a bad burn on her back from a heat light. I was not concerned with the burn, because they heal and I was simply after a lace monitor, not a perfect, amazing coloured lacie.
I love all reptiles (sometimes more then people), I have met way to many people that just don't care about the reptiles they have. Some simply buy them to sell them for a higher price and couldn't care less about what happens to them after they're sold.
This is one of the reasons why I took this lacie on. I didn't want her going into the market of "buy and sell" (which I have found, most damaged reptiles end up. And trust me, she's been a lot of work.
After buying a burnt but friendly lace monitor, I set her up in her new enclosure and gave her some privacy. When I checked on her later that night, she was shaking as if she was having a fit. I figured, being such a naturally skittish species, that she was just panicked and her nerves were shaky from that, so I covered the front glass doors on her enclosure with a blanket and let her be.
The next morning I checked her again, just to find her doing the same thing as the night before. I jumped on some reptile forums and asked the reptile community if they had seen anything like this in monitors before? Everyone replied with a no.
When I got home from work that day, she had stopped shaking, but she had been pushing on the glass doors all day and had bent her snout down. Obviously I panicked, but it was too late to take her to the vet, so I had to wait until the morning.
The next day, I got her in to see a reputable reptile vet (Dr Robert Johnson).
He checked her out and told me she had "Metabolic Bone Disease", which is almost unheard of in monitors and according to his records, this was the first Lace Monitor to ever have MBD.
He went on to say she had gotten MBD, because she wasn't absorbing enough calcium. Knowing reptiles can't absorb calcium without vitamin D3 in their system, I first thought that meant she wasn't getting enough direct sunlight or she didn't have any UV lights in her enclosure.
As it turns out it wasn't that at all.
During all this, I was in contact with a very reputable Lace Monitor keeper and breeder (David Kirshner).
He explained to me, that Lace Monitors don't need UV light to survive. In fact, he had raised a number of Lace Monitors without UV light and they were perfectly healthy.
He then went on to tell me, Lace Monitors get vitamin D3 (the vitamin you get from the sun and UV lights) from their food, not the sun.
Meaning this Lace Monitor wasn't fed the proper diet, which was true. The previous owner had told me he was feeding this Lace Monitor a diet of chicken breast from the supermarket and one mouse every two weeks. One mouse every two weeks is not enough, and the processed chicken breast wouldn't be doing anything for her. Monitors need the organs in small animals, not the meat.
For a Lace Monitor to absorb calcium, it needs vitamin D3 in its system. For reptiles like Dragons, they get most their vitamin D3 from UV lights. But Lace Monitors get vitamin D3 from the liver in animals like rats, mice, birds, etc. So if a Lace Monitor isn't fed a diet of whole bodied small animals, then it's not getting the vitamins it needs to live a healthy life.
What the vet found interesting about the MBD this Lace Monitor had, was her bones were like rubber and bending. Other Monitors he had treated for MBD, had very brittle bones that would break if they weren't careful.
didn't get the proper care by her previous owner and she ended up with Metabolic Bone Disease.
First off, I did NOT do this to this lace monitor. This was the doing of the previous owner feeding her the wrong diet because, he said, "she loves it".
I bought this Lacie with a bad burn on her back from a heat light. I was not concerned with the burn, because they heal and I was simply after a lace monitor, not a perfect, amazing coloured lacie.
I love all reptiles (sometimes more then people), I have met way to many people that just don't care about the reptiles they have. Some simply buy them to sell them for a higher price and couldn't care less about what happens to them after they're sold.
This is one of the reasons why I took this lacie on. I didn't want her going into the market of "buy and sell" (which I have found, most damaged reptiles end up. And trust me, she's been a lot of work.
After buying a burnt but friendly lace monitor, I set her up in her new enclosure and gave her some privacy. When I checked on her later that night, she was shaking as if she was having a fit. I figured, being such a naturally skittish species, that she was just panicked and her nerves were shaky from that, so I covered the front glass doors on her enclosure with a blanket and let her be.
The next morning I checked her again, just to find her doing the same thing as the night before. I jumped on some reptile forums and asked the reptile community if they had seen anything like this in monitors before? Everyone replied with a no.
When I got home from work that day, she had stopped shaking, but she had been pushing on the glass doors all day and had bent her snout down. Obviously I panicked, but it was too late to take her to the vet, so I had to wait until the morning.
The next day, I got her in to see a reputable reptile vet (Dr Robert Johnson).
He checked her out and told me she had "Metabolic Bone Disease", which is almost unheard of in monitors and according to his records, this was the first Lace Monitor to ever have MBD.
He went on to say she had gotten MBD, because she wasn't absorbing enough calcium. Knowing reptiles can't absorb calcium without vitamin D3 in their system, I first thought that meant she wasn't getting enough direct sunlight or she didn't have any UV lights in her enclosure.
As it turns out it wasn't that at all.
During all this, I was in contact with a very reputable Lace Monitor keeper and breeder (David Kirshner).
He explained to me, that Lace Monitors don't need UV light to survive. In fact, he had raised a number of Lace Monitors without UV light and they were perfectly healthy.
He then went on to tell me, Lace Monitors get vitamin D3 (the vitamin you get from the sun and UV lights) from their food, not the sun.
Meaning this Lace Monitor wasn't fed the proper diet, which was true. The previous owner had told me he was feeding this Lace Monitor a diet of chicken breast from the supermarket and one mouse every two weeks. One mouse every two weeks is not enough, and the processed chicken breast wouldn't be doing anything for her. Monitors need the organs in small animals, not the meat.
For a Lace Monitor to absorb calcium, it needs vitamin D3 in its system. For reptiles like Dragons, they get most their vitamin D3 from UV lights. But Lace Monitors get vitamin D3 from the liver in animals like rats, mice, birds, etc. So if a Lace Monitor isn't fed a diet of whole bodied small animals, then it's not getting the vitamins it needs to live a healthy life.
What the vet found interesting about the MBD this Lace Monitor had, was her bones were like rubber and bending. Other Monitors he had treated for MBD, had very brittle bones that would break if they weren't careful.
Jaw bone bending when opening her mouth.
As you can see in this disturbing photo, her jaw bone bends when she opens her mouth. Because of this, she doesn't have the bone support to apply much pressure when closing her mouth. This means I have to inject food via a syringe.
To start with, she was getting two oral injections of calcium a day (morning and night) and one oral injection of "Hills a/d Critical Care diet" every 2 days.
When she showed signs of improvement, I upped the food injections to everyday, then when her jaw got a bit stronger, I stopped the a/d diet and started assist feeding her a couple of pinkie rats until I felt her jaw was strong enough to up size to fuzzie rats.
This was extremely tricky to do to a monitor with a bent jaw, not only did I have to push a rat past this bend in her jaw, but I had to use my fingers to do so correctly, this means trying to avoid those extremely sharp teeth and trying not to get scratched to bits by her extremely sharp claws.
To start with, she was getting two oral injections of calcium a day (morning and night) and one oral injection of "Hills a/d Critical Care diet" every 2 days.
When she showed signs of improvement, I upped the food injections to everyday, then when her jaw got a bit stronger, I stopped the a/d diet and started assist feeding her a couple of pinkie rats until I felt her jaw was strong enough to up size to fuzzie rats.
This was extremely tricky to do to a monitor with a bent jaw, not only did I have to push a rat past this bend in her jaw, but I had to use my fingers to do so correctly, this means trying to avoid those extremely sharp teeth and trying not to get scratched to bits by her extremely sharp claws.
Side on view of her bent snout.
Here's a side view of her head with her mouth closed.
X-rays
First X-ray. Taken 2/11/2010.
This is the first X-ray she got.
This is what the bones of an animal with MBD looks like.
As you can see, the colour of her bones are very, very dull, this means there is not enough calcium in her bones, they should be glowing white. This X-ray brought some other problems to our attention.
Her upper ribs were fractured and deformed, she has a slightly bent spine, broken toes, kinks all down her tail, deformities in her leg joints and she was quite bloated.
This is what the bones of an animal with MBD looks like.
As you can see, the colour of her bones are very, very dull, this means there is not enough calcium in her bones, they should be glowing white. This X-ray brought some other problems to our attention.
Her upper ribs were fractured and deformed, she has a slightly bent spine, broken toes, kinks all down her tail, deformities in her leg joints and she was quite bloated.
Second X-ray. Taken 8/12/2010.
Here's the second X-ray, this is the colour her bones should be.
As you can see, the calcium injections and proper diet, have helped her to absorb the calcium to her bones and they are now glowing white like they should be. (her snout is still rubbery at this point).
But although her bones are improving, she is still very bloated, (this was also caused by being on the wrong diet). But as it turns out, this was a simple fix.
Just keep up the new diet and soak her in warm water every day, it took a little while, but the extra air and urine finally came out.
As you can see, the calcium injections and proper diet, have helped her to absorb the calcium to her bones and they are now glowing white like they should be. (her snout is still rubbery at this point).
But although her bones are improving, she is still very bloated, (this was also caused by being on the wrong diet). But as it turns out, this was a simple fix.
Just keep up the new diet and soak her in warm water every day, it took a little while, but the extra air and urine finally came out.
Third X-ray. Taken 13/7/2011.
Third X-ray.
The bloating is finally gone and her bones are recovering well, (snout is still slightly rubbery).
This is how their internals should look. Now the bloating's gone, she has more lung space and can breath a bit easier now.
The bloating is finally gone and her bones are recovering well, (snout is still slightly rubbery).
This is how their internals should look. Now the bloating's gone, she has more lung space and can breath a bit easier now.
Fourth X-ray. Taken 10/8/2011.
The fourth X-ray shows the side view of her head.
That snout should be perfectly straight, not bent like a boomerang. At this point she has pretty much levelled out, she is still improving, but it's at a much slower rate.
That snout should be perfectly straight, not bent like a boomerang. At this point she has pretty much levelled out, she is still improving, but it's at a much slower rate.
Now the story I was told about the burn on her back was. The cat got into the room the monitor was kept in, got to close to the enclosure and freaked out the monitor, so she backed away and puffed up at the cat, but when she did that, she came in contact with the very hot and low placed heat light, causing her to get a very big burn, covering most her body.
Now when I picked her up, the burn was big, but not as big as in the photos I have of her. The vet explained to me, this is because most of the burn was under the skin and it took a little while for the skin to fully die and fall off.
Up until 12/9/2013, she was doing quite well. She didn't look a whole lot different, but her bones were strong, she was very friendly and she had even eaten a couple of pinkie mice on her own, which is only small, but it's a big step when you remember not to long ago, she had to have all food from a syringe.
But unfortunately on 12/9/2013, she suddenly went down hill, very fast, her whole body started going limp. I got her to the vet, but they weren't sure exactly what was wrong with her. she was given calcium injections (due to her history) and antibiotics (just in case she had an infection of some sort).
Unfortunately, none of the treatment worked and she was getting worse by the minute, I sat by her enclosure for quite a while, until (at 7pm 12/9/2013) I noticed the sparkle in her eye had gone and she had past away. She was 3 years old.
The vet informed me, that she would have suffered permanent internal damage from her MBD and it was just a matter of time before her organs started shutting down.
RIP Lacey, you will be missed dearly.
Here's a couple of photos to show the extent of her burns and deformities.
Now when I picked her up, the burn was big, but not as big as in the photos I have of her. The vet explained to me, this is because most of the burn was under the skin and it took a little while for the skin to fully die and fall off.
Up until 12/9/2013, she was doing quite well. She didn't look a whole lot different, but her bones were strong, she was very friendly and she had even eaten a couple of pinkie mice on her own, which is only small, but it's a big step when you remember not to long ago, she had to have all food from a syringe.
But unfortunately on 12/9/2013, she suddenly went down hill, very fast, her whole body started going limp. I got her to the vet, but they weren't sure exactly what was wrong with her. she was given calcium injections (due to her history) and antibiotics (just in case she had an infection of some sort).
Unfortunately, none of the treatment worked and she was getting worse by the minute, I sat by her enclosure for quite a while, until (at 7pm 12/9/2013) I noticed the sparkle in her eye had gone and she had past away. She was 3 years old.
The vet informed me, that she would have suffered permanent internal damage from her MBD and it was just a matter of time before her organs started shutting down.
RIP Lacey, you will be missed dearly.
Here's a couple of photos to show the extent of her burns and deformities.
Here's a photo of a normal Lace Monitors head, compared to this MBD Lace Monitors head.
What's the message to this story?
FEED YOUR ANIMALS THE PROPER DIET!!!
This Lace Monitor got Metabolic Bone Disease, because someone fed her the wrong diet. Monitors need whole bodied small animals to absorb the right vitamins and live a healthy life. They can not live off a meat only diet, they need the organs in animals for vitamins.
Don't be cheap or just lazy, you're doing more damage then you think. The previous owner of this Lacie didn't think he was doing anything wrong, he was buying 5 star chicken breast, but it's not good for monitors and shouldn't be fed as their main diet.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article and if you didn't already know, I really hope you learnt how important the proper diet is for even the hardiest of reptiles.
This Lace Monitor got Metabolic Bone Disease, because someone fed her the wrong diet. Monitors need whole bodied small animals to absorb the right vitamins and live a healthy life. They can not live off a meat only diet, they need the organs in animals for vitamins.
Don't be cheap or just lazy, you're doing more damage then you think. The previous owner of this Lacie didn't think he was doing anything wrong, he was buying 5 star chicken breast, but it's not good for monitors and shouldn't be fed as their main diet.
Thank you for taking the time to read this article and if you didn't already know, I really hope you learnt how important the proper diet is for even the hardiest of reptiles.