My male eastern beardy is having surgery today, he has a large lump in his stomach and has been off food for weeks hardly eating, subsequently hes lost alot of condition fast.
hell be opened up today to find out whats going on.
Vet is a new guy called Matt, who hasnt done herps before but is a freind of David Vella and has consulted him and will be guided by him today in his first ever reptile surgery.
I have left him a digital cam and hes promised to take pics.
Wish my beardy luck.
will post up pics as soon as possible and update this thread!

Ok Update!!!

Turns out he swallowed a chunk of carrot that was kept in his enclosure for loose crix to munch. It lodged in his gut and wasnt digested.
Surgery was suscessful and beardy is recovering nicely.
heres the pics!!
Congrats to Matt on his very first Reptile Surgery and a big thanks mate!

going under


anethesised and incision


opening gut wall


blockage removed (carrot)


closing gut


gut sewn up


neat stitch job


all done

Interveiw With The Vet!

Questions regarding Ken the bearded dragon

1. What did you learn from your first reptile surgery?

The surgery that was performed on Ken was a first for both Ken and myself. The
surgery was a big thing for Ken to go through, although he seemed content to sleep
through the majority of the procedure! Since Ken’s surgery was my inaugural reptile
surgery, I had to leam quite a lot before the surgery took place. For example, I was
not aware of which drugs were safe for reptiles, including anaesthetic agents, painkillers
(anti-inflammatory drugs) and antibiotics. Nor was I sure how to administer
these medications or how to maintain Ken at an ideal anaesthetic depth.
After researching reptile surgery, I was relieved that we had all the required
equipment and the adequate drugs and so we were ready to begin Ken’s surgery.
However, reading or bclng told how to do a surgery is one thing, actually doing it is
another. And this was the case for Ken’s surgery as I planned to inject an aesthetic
drug into Ken’s central tail vein and then pass a dog catheter into his windpipe
(trachea). I soon realised that injecting into the central tail vein is not as easy as it
seems since reptile skin is obviously very different to dog and cat skin. After facing
this challenge, placing the catheter into Ken’s trachea was much easier than expected.
trachea in reptiles is much more forward at the base of the
tongue and so IS easier to see compared to dogs and cats.

2. Was it a difficult transition form dogs and cats?

There are little idiosyncrasies in every species that make them unique and wonderful,
However, as I faced doing surgery in a reptile for the first time, these
struck me with a fear of the unknown. For example how hard was it
to
anaesthetise Ken; do reptiles have a high rate of anaesthetic death as do some animals
including birds and guinea pigs; and what was the lump in Ken’s abdomen. As it
turned out the lump in Ken’s abdomen was a large piece of carrot that Ken had
swallowed and had subsequently become stuck in his intestines. This is a surgery that
I have preformed many times in dogs and cats. So, removing foreign objects from
intestines was not a complete unknown and I should not have been so concerned.

3. What were some of the things you want to bear in mind next time someone
presents you with a reptile?

Reptiles are lovely pets, but they are not just hairlesslscaly little dogs or cats. In fact,
being cold blooded (exothermic) is just one thing that makes reptiles different to
mammals. From a medical point of view, reptiles can only have a limited range of

drugs administered to them, and these drugs are given at a different dose rate to dogs
and cats.

4. What made you confident to operate on a reptile for the first time?

I have always enjoyed performing surgery and get a real buzz from being able to use
my hands to help an animal. The majority of the surgeries that I have performed are
on dogs and cats and so I am confident with surgery in these species. While surgery
on other species is a little different, I have faced the challenge of performing a surgery
in other species. For example, a few years ago a wild Marsh Harrier of about one foot
tall was presented to our clinic with a broken wing (humerus bone). I knew that the
best way to fix the wing was to do surgery and to glace an internal pin into the broken
bone. This was a procedure that 1 had undertaken many times on dogs and cats but
had never seen done in a bird. The surgery on the bird went well and four weeks later
the fracture had healed, the pin was removed and the bird was released back to the
wild. So, the fact that I was competent with dog and cat surgery and that I have
performed surgeries on species other than dogs and cats gave me the confidence to
undertake surgery in Ken.

5. Will you be happy to work on reptiles at your practice in the future?

I am happy to work with reptiles. In fact, my first patient was a reptile when I was
about 10 years old. I had found a lizard at the bottom of our pool and was desperate to
save it from drowning. So I retrieved the limp body, wrapped it in tissues and slept
with it for a number of nights. That was until the smell permeated into my parent’s
bedroom. I awoke one morning to find the lizard gone and was told by my mother that
she had seen the lizard running from my bedroom out the front door. I had believed
this until she recently when she admitted that this was a fabrication of the truth used
to protect me from disappointment.

6. Can you give us a general description of the procedure you performed on
Ken? Ie what anaesthetic did you use? Gas or IV? Why? What happens next?

Ken was anaesthetised with a drug called alfaxalone (Alfaxan) given intravenously
into the central tail vein. Interestingly, the dose of alfaxalone in reptiles is much
higher than for dogs or cats. With Ken adequately anaesthetised, an 18g catheter (one
normally used for placing into a large dog’s vein) was passed into his trachea and
taped to his upper jaw. This catheter allowed an anaesthetic gas called isofluorane to
be breathed in to keep Ken at an adequate anaesthetic depth. I had been advised that
reptiles often do not breathe when under a general anaesthetic, and so we were
prepared to give intermittent puffs of gas (referred to as IPPV). Ken did breathe for
most of the surgery, and so IPPV was rarely needed. Ken was given injections of pain
relief and antibiotics before the surgery began. Throughout the anaesthetic, Ken was
kept on a heating mat and wrapped with bubble wrap to keep him warm.
A cut was made on the underside of Ken’s abdomen. This incision was made just to
the left of midline to avoid the prominent abdominal vein that runs along the middle

in reptiles (this vein is not present in mammals). Once the abdomen was open, the
2cm diameter lump was located within a part of the intestines. This was a relief since
removing a foreign object from Ken’s intestines has a much better outlook than
attempting to remove a nasty tumour. So, the intestines were then incised and a large
rubbery piece of carrot was removed. The intestines were then sutured closed with
very fine suture material (YO PDS). To close the skin, the abdominal wall was
puckered outwardly (everted) to give the surgery wound more strength and to prevent
the wound healing inwardly (inverting). This is something that does not happen in
mammals and yet another thing that makes reptiles a little bit special

Thankyou so much for your Time Matt, Well done! We know you'll enjoy many successful Reptile Surgerys In the Future!