One group of 5 animals was castrated before the onset of breeding season aggression, a second group of 5 animals was castrated during the breeding season when exhibiting aggressive behavior and a third group of 6 animals served as the control group; these animals were sham operated but were not castrated.
There was a statistically significant reduction in aggressive behavior between the group castrated prior to breeding season but not between the group castrated during breeding season and the control, non-castrated group. Subsequently, the author has castrated more than 60 male green iguanas. The courtship behavior of many squamates involves the male grasping and biting the female in the neck and upper back region.
This behavior can range from mild, causing the female no harm, to vigorous with the creation of open bleeding wounds. In snakes the males will often grasp the female by the neck with an open mouth. This behavior can look like fighting or in the case of some snake species can appear as if one animal is tryingto the eat the other. Egg brooding or shivering thermogenisis is a phenomenon well known to herpetologists and herpetoculturists. This behavior is characterized by a female python coiled tightly around a clutch of eggs and exhibiting rhythmic muscular contractions shivering of the body which produce sufficient heat to maintain a relatively constant temperature in the egg mass over a fairly wide ambient temperature range.
This behavior has been reported for species , table and may be universal in pythons. As the ambient temperature falls the female python begins to shiver and the number of contractions increases as the temperature drops up to a maximum of approximately 30 contractions per minute. This behavior can resemble a parasitic infection mites causing irritation a nutritional disease hypocalcemia or a neuromuscular disease especially as the female python will often continue to shiver even if the egg mass is removed.
To stop the shivering behavior the animal should be moved to a clean cage and the old cage thoroughly cleaned and the substrate changed to remove all scent of the egg mass. This behavior is energetically expensive to the females; who may loose up to half of their body weight during incubation and may require 3 years to regain enough body condition to breed again. The advantages to the species are that the eggs develop rapidly and the species who demonstrate egg brooding can reproduce successfully in cooler climates.
The social interactions of turtles and tortoises associated with reproduction and courtship usually involve head-bobbing, males butting and biting the females to immobilize them, and then mounting the females shell from the rear.
These behaviors are often accompanied by bellowing or whistling vocalizations. In order to achieve intromission the male must incline his body towards the vertical, to varying degrees in different species.
The extreme is seen in the box turtles, who may incline beyond the vertical. This reproductive and courtship behaviors maybe seen as fighting and the vocalizations as pain or injury by the owners. Seeing a box turtle inclined backwards may look as if he is stuck in the females shell. The vast majority of gecko species lack eyelids and instead have a evolved a spectacle analogous to that of snakes. A common behavior exhibited by most species is to clean the spectacle by licking it with the tongue.
This behavior is normal but rule outs could include ulcers, retained spectacle or any kind of irritation. Arm waving is seen in very young bearded dragons and can be present within a few days of hatching.
It seems to serve both as an intraspecies signal, for identification as a bearded dragon, and as a submissive behavior. This behavior persists commonly in adult females and in subordinate males during aggressive encounters.
This behavior could be misinterpreted as a painful or injured limb. A behavior to attract and capture food using the tail as a lure is a behavior most common among vipers but has been suggested in boids Madagascan ground boa, boa constrictor and elapids. In most cases the tip of the tail is a bright color contrasting with that of the rest of body and in some instances is modified into the shape of an insect some Bothrops bilineatus are swollen and pink. The tail is waved in a rhythmic fashion and will often imitate the movement of an invertebrate.
Lizards, mice, frogs and toads are attracted to within striking distance and captured and eaten. This behavior occurs in both juvenile and adult animals of various species. An interesting behavior that has been noted in captive boids and some crotalids is the adoption of a posture where the neck is bent in such a manner as to cause the head to be tilted upwards stargazing.
A similar posture is seen in snakes suffering from parasitic, viral bacterial or fungal CNS disease. The difference between the two postures is that the animals without disease revert to a normal posture when disturbed or manipulated and the ones with disease do not.
This behavior may be a feeding posture modified for captivity. Many animals are fed from top opening cages. Even with those cages that are front opening the prey items are often introduced from above.
The snakes may have adapted to looking up for food in their search for prey. A number of normal structures that are morphological adaptations have evolved in the chelonia that could be seen by an owner or practitioner as a disease process or traumatic injury. Mud and musk turtles Kinosternidae , box turtles Terrepene, Emydidae and hinge backed tortoises Kinixys sp have evolved a hinge or hinges in the plastron or carapace so that the animal can close itself in for protection from predators and equally important from lose of moisture.
The hinges vary in number and location. In most species of mud turtles two hinges are present, on cranial and one caudal, that allow the turtles to completely close itself within the shell.
Musk turtles have one cranially located hinge that serves to protect the front limbs and the head. Box turtles also have one hinge in the plastron but it is located further back than in musk turtles. This location allows the front and back halves of the plastron to close; completely sealing the animal within the shell. Hinge backed tortoises have a hinge located on either side of the carapace which affords protection of the hindquarters.
Other species that have developed one or more hinges include African mud turtles, Asian box turtles and Madagascan and Egyptian tortoises. A lesser degree of movement is found among certain species of pond and river turtles. Asian leaf turtles and neotropical wood turtles have a partial hinging of the plastron with ligamentous rather than bony connections between the plastron and the carapace. This gives flexibility to the plastron but the shell cannot be closed.
This adaptation appears to have evolved to allow these species to lay their exceptionally large eggs which could not otherwise fit through the shell opening.
In a number of these species cane turtle, spiny turtle only mature females develop the kinetic plastron. Certain large headed, aggressive species such as snapping turtles, big headed turtles and Mexican musk turtles also have movable plastrons due to ligamentous rather than bony connections between the plastron and the carapace.
In these species the flexibility of the plastron allows the large head to be retracted within the shell. With the jaws open and the head protected by the shell a formidable and nearly impregnable defensive is provided. Similarly, the pancake tortoise of East Africa Malachochersus tornieri has a flat, soft shell as an adult. This condition is due to permanent open spaces or fontanels between the bony plates of the carapace and the plastron.
These fontanels increase in size as the tortoises grow. These species live in rock outcroppings and are good climbers. When threatened they wedge themselves in rock crevices and are very difficult to extract. All of the above are normal structural modifications and should not be interpreted as traumatic injury or as a result of nutritional or other metabolic disease.
Many species of side necked turtles genus can exude fluid from the plastron, generally in the area of the bridge. It is unknown if this fluid is for defense or a pheromone for courtship and reproduction. This should not be mistaken for fluid loss secondary to septicemia or trauma. A morphological adaptation for attracting and capturing prey is possessed by the alligator snapping turtle Malacochersus tornieri.
This bifurcate modification of the tongue is wormlike in appearance and can be made to wiggle by contractions of the muscular base that it is attached to. This appendage can look like an oral parasite to the laymen. The tongues of many lizards are very colorful or of two different colors. Blue tongued skinks have a bright blue tongue that they expose when harassed.
Iguanas have a two toned tongue; the tip being darker than the body. These colors do not represent cyanosis in the skink or an infection and necrosis in the iguana. Many gecko species have bilateral structures, located in the ventro-lateral cervical region, that are involved in calcium metabolism and storage.
These structures are called endolymphatic glands or chalk glands. During the breeding season these glands will often hypertrophy and fill with calcium in preparation for egg laying. These structures are very prominent on radiographs and may be misinterpreted as an abnormal mass.
Male gharials, a slender snouted crocodilian from India, develop a large bulbous growth on the tip of snout during the breeding season. This growth is a normal structure and does not represent a granuloma or tumor. In snakes the lower jaw is loosely connected by a ligament instead of a solid bony connection as is seen in most vertebrates. During feeding the two halves of the mandible can move independently and stretch out of shape to aid in prehension and swallowing of food.
After feeding the snake manipulates the jaws by yawning to reposition the mandible back into normal position; this can take few minutes to accomplish.
This should not be mistaken for a fracture of the mandibular symphysis. By Role. Behavior and morphological adaptations of reptiles Proceedings. May 1, Byron de la Navarre, DVM. Defensive behaviors Catalepsy, death feigning, tonic immobility This category describes a condition or state of external unresponsiveness to stimulation.
Squirting blood from the eyes and or nostrils A number of species of horned lizards Phrynosoma sp and at least one species of boid Tropidophis sp squirt or exude blood from the eyes and or nostrils as a defensive mechanism. Tail display Tail displays as a defense mechanism are fairly common being seen in pipe snakes Anilliidae , shield tailed snakes Uropeltidae , ring necked snakes Colubridae , burrowing pythons, sand boas and rubber boas Boidae , coral snakes and shield nosed snakes Elapidae as well as a few lizard species.
These displays can be misinterpreted as an animal in pain or possible neurologic disease. Everting hemipenes Another defense mechanism that is employed by many reptiles and is especially well developed in some boids blood python elapids coral snakes and monitor species, is eversion of one or both hemipenes.
Puffing up body, throat, hissing A portion of many defensive displays in reptiles and amphibians involve bluffs and threats. Chameleon color change-dropping from branch Chameleons are for the most part strictly diurnal animals that cease all movement as soon as the sun goes down or the cage lights are turned out.
Fragile skin in geckos Most geckos species are nocturnal, have special scansorial foot pads for adhesion to walls and ceilings and rely on crypsis or rapid locomotion for escape from predators such as snakes, owls and bats.
That is not to suggest you feed your iguanas foods which salt has been added. If it does, go ahead and reinstate that food item, but not as often. Sneezing is not a result of a cold virus. Reptiles can develop lung infections, usually due to bacteria, sometimes inadvertently caused by the owner when forcing oral fluids or food which get into the lungs via the rather than down the esophagus, or when regurgitated and then aspirated inhaled by the reptile.
The common signs of a respiratory infection in reptiles do not include sneezing. Cleaning the Snalt Snalt is a term some green iguana keepers use when referring to the residue that gets deposited seemingly over everything their iguana comes into contact or proximity to. When salt deposits collect around the nostrils, they can easily be gently wiped away with a damp cloth. You may need a razor blade to scrape the deposits off the glass of their tank, however, as well a glass cleaner with a mild degreaser, to get the windows completely free of the residue.
Snalt on eyeglasses should be first rinsed with hot water, then a mild soapy water applied to remove the residues. If you rub your lenses while the salt residue is still on them, you may scratch the lenses. Snalt will corrode brass and other such metals, so if you value your lamps, headboard, or other furnishings, clean them quickly and often.
Yawning Birds do it, bees do it, even reptiles in the trees do it. Yawning, that is. Researchers don't understand completely why we yawn, or why yawns are "contagious". They do know that normal occasional yawns can be due to drowsiness that may be related to a reduction in oxygen in the brain or lungs.
Excessive yawning is related to health problems that are affect the body's ability to take in or circulate oxygen heart disease, respiratory disease, etc. Some medications can interfere with oxygen uptake, while yawning can exacerbate some joint and pain conditions, including temporomandibular joint and neuralgias.
Certainly he would like an ordinary morning. When you can relax, and mom does not look into his mouth with a camera. Johnny Super Moderator Staff member. It is not easy being a superstar. People don't even let you yawn in peace. Camo's Mom Well-known member. You must log in or register to reply here. Status This thread has been closed due to inactivity. You can create a new thread to discuss this topic. This site uses cookies to help personalise content, tailor your experience and to keep you logged in if you register.
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