 | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2018) |
Egg binding occurs in animals, such as reptiles or birds, when an egg takes longer than usual to pass out of the reproductive tract. [1]
| | This article needs additional citations for verification .(February 2018) |
Egg binding occurs in animals, such as reptiles or birds, when an egg takes longer than usual to pass out of the reproductive tract. [1]
In birds, egg binding may be caused by obesity, nutritional imbalances such as calcium deficiency, environmental stress such as temperature changes, or malformed eggs. [2]
The egg may be stuck near the cloaca, or further inside. Egg binding is a reasonably common, and potentially serious condition that can lead to infection or damage to internal tissue. The bound egg may be gently massaged out; failing this it may become necessary to break the egg in situ and remove it in parts. If broken, the oviduct should be cleaned of shell fragments and egg residue to avoid damage or infection.
In reptiles, it is inadvisable to attempt to break a reptile egg to remove it from an egg-bound female. This procedure may be done by a veterinarian, who will insert a needle into the egg, and withdraw the contents with a syringe, allowing the egg to collapse and be removed. Non-surgical interventions include administering oxytocin to improve contractions and allow the egg(s) to pass normally. In many cases, egg-bound reptiles must undergo surgery to have stuck eggs removed.
Egg binding in reptiles is quickly fatal if left untreated; therefore, gravid females who become very lethargic and cease feeding need immediate medical treatment in order to treat the potentially life-threatening condition.
Egg binding can occur if an egg is malformed and/or too large, the animal is weakened by illness, improper husbandry, stress, or if hormonal balances are wrong (producing weak contractions). Factors that can contribute to the risk of egg binding include calcium deficiency, breeding animals that are too young or too small, not providing suitable laying areas (leading to deliberate retention of eggs), and overfeeding of species in which clutch size is dependent on food intake, such as the veiled chameleon.
In the context of behavioral ecology, egg binding can be an important factor in limiting clutch size. Lizards that lay fewer, but larger eggs are at higher risk for egg binding, and so there is selection pressure towards a minimum clutch size. For example, in common side-blotched lizards, females that lay fewer than the average 4–5 eggs per clutch have significantly increased risk of egg binding. [3]
Reptiles, in common parlance, are a group of tetrapods with an ectothermic ('cold-blooded') metabolism and amniotic development. Living reptiles comprise four orders: Testudines (turtles), Crocodilia (crocodilians), Squamata, and Rhynchocephalia. As of May 2023, about 12,000 living species of reptiles are listed in the Reptile Database. The study of the traditional reptile orders, customarily in combination with the study of modern amphibians, is called herpetology.
A veterinarian (vet) is a medical professional who practices veterinary medicine. They manage a wide range of health conditions and injuries in non-human animals. Along with this, veterinarians also play a role in animal reproduction, health management, conservation, husbandry and breeding and preventive medicine like nutrition, vaccination and parasitic control as well as biosecurity and zoonotic disease surveillance and prevention.
Amniotes are tetrapod vertebrate animals belonging to the clade Amniota, a large group that comprises the vast majority of living terrestrial and semiaquatic vertebrates. Amniotes evolved from amphibian ancestors during the Carboniferous period and further diverged into two groups, namely the sauropsids and synapsids. They are distinguished from the other living tetrapod clade — the non-amniote lissamphibians — by the development of three extraembryonic membranes, thicker and keratinized skin, and costal respiration.
Pogona is a genus of reptiles containing eight lizard species, which are often known by the common name bearded dragons. The name "bearded dragon" refers to the underside of the throat of the lizard, which can turn black and puff up for a number of reasons, most often as a result of stress, if they feel threatened, or are trying to entice a mate. They are a semiarboreal species, spending significant amounts of time on branches, in bushes, and near human habitation. Pogona species bask on rocks and exposed branches in the mornings and afternoons and sleep at night, making them a diurnal species. Their diet consists primarily of vegetation and some insects. They are found throughout much of Australia and inhabit environments such as deserts, and shrublands.
The central bearded dragon, also known as the inland bearded dragon, is a species of agamid lizard found in a wide range of arid to semiarid regions of eastern and central Australia.
Emergency Vets is a reality television series that airs on the U.S. cable network Animal Planet. First aired in 1998, it depicts the working and outside lives of the veterinarians at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in Denver, Colorado, USA, plus the animals that they treat. At its peak of popularity, Emergency Vets alternated with The Crocodile Hunter as Animal Planet's most popular show.
An egg is an organic vessel grown by an animal to carry a possibly fertilized egg cell and to incubate from it an embryo within the egg until the embryo has become an animal fetus that can survive on its own, at which point the animal hatches.
The sand lizard is a lacertid lizard distributed across most of Europe from France and across the continent to Lake Baikal in Russia. It does not occur in European Turkey. Its distribution is often patchy. In the northern extremes of the sand lizard's distribution, such as along the southern English coast of Great Britain, it can only survive by inhabiting seaside heathlands, where the ground temperature is sufficiently elevated from the sun’s rays; the warmth is also critical to the lizard being able to successfully incubate their eggs, which are laid in sand.
The viviparous lizard, or common lizard, is a Eurasian lizard. It lives farther north than any other species of non-marine reptile, and is named for the fact that it is viviparous, meaning it gives birth to live young. Both "Zootoca" and "vivipara" mean "live birth", in (Latinized) Greek and Latin respectively. It was called Lacerta vivipara until the genus Lacerta was split into nine genera in 2007 by Edwin Nicholas Arnold Arribas & Carranza.
A goanna is any one of several species of lizard of the genus Varanus found in Australia and Southeast Asia.
The common side-blotched lizard is a species of side-blotched lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is native to dry regions of the western United States and northern Mexico. It is notable for having a unique form of polymorphism wherein each of the three different male morphs utilizes a different strategy in acquiring mates. The three morphs compete against each other following a pattern of rock paper scissors, where one morph has advantages over another but is outcompeted by the third.
An eggshell is the outer covering of a hard-shelled egg and of some forms of eggs with soft outer coats.
Kevin Terrel Fitzgerald, an American veterinarian who works at Alameda East Veterinary Hospital in his native Denver, Colorado is best known through his visibility on the Animal Planet reality show Emergency Vets and, more recently, E-Vet Interns. Fitzgerald also does stand-up comedy and a little tap dancing. In 2001, he was named one of the 50 most eligible bachelors by People.
Urosaurus ornatus, commonly known as the ornate tree lizard, is a species of lizard in the family Phrynosomatidae. The species is native to the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. The species, which was formerly called simply the "tree lizard", has been used to study physiological changes during the fight-or-flight response as related to stress and aggressive competition. Its life history and costs of reproduction have been documented in field populations in New Mexico and Arizona. This species has been fairly well studied because of its interesting variation in throat color in males that can correlate with different reproductive strategies,
A clutch of eggs is the group of eggs produced by birds, amphibians, or reptiles, often at a single time, particularly those laid in a nest.
The king quail, also known as the blue-breasted quail, Asian blue quail, Chinese painted quail, or Chung-Chi, is a species of Old World quail in the family Phasianidae. This species is the smallest "true quail", ranging in the wild from southern China, South and Southeast Asia to Oceania, south to southeastern Australia, with 9 different subspecies. A failed attempt was made to introduce this species to New Zealand by the Otago Acclimatisation Society in the late 1890s. It is quite common in aviculture worldwide, where it is sometimes misleadingly known as the "button quail", which is the name of an only very distantly related family of birds, the buttonquails.
The Argentine black and white tegu, also known as the Argentine giant tegu, the black and white tegu, or the huge tegu, is a species of lizard in the family Teiidae. The species is the largest of the "tegu lizards". It is an omnivorous species which inhabits the tropical rain forests, savannas and semi-deserts of eastern and central South America.
Bird eggs are laid by the females and range in quantity from one to up to seventeen. Clutch size may vary latitudinally within a species. Some birds lay eggs even when the eggs have not been fertilized; it is not uncommon for pet owners to find their lone bird nesting on a clutch of infertile eggs, which are sometimes called wind-eggs.
The jacky dragon is a type of lizard native to south-eastern Australia. Other common names include blood-sucker, stonewalker, and tree dragon. It was one of the first Australian reptiles to be named by Europeans, originally described by English zoologist George Shaw in Surgeon-General John White's Journal of a Voyage to New South Wales, published in London in 1790. The lizard is well-known for its bright yellow mouth and well-developed vertebral crest, as well as the temperature-dependent sex determination of its offspring.
Chronic egg laying is a maladaptive, behavioural disorder commonly seen in pet birds which repeatedly lay clutches of infertile eggs in the absence of a mate. It is particularly common in cockatiels, budgerigars, lovebirds, macaws and amazon parrots. Birds exhibiting chronic egg laying behavior will frequently lay eggs one after the other without stopping to brood them once the typical clutch size for their particular species has been reached. Excessive egg laying places a strain on the hen's body, depleting resources such as calcium, protein and vitamins from her body and may lead to conditions such as egg binding, osteoporosis, seizures, prolapse of the oviduct, or peritonitis – which may lead to her death.