BLUE TONGUE SKINKS

Unfortunately i was going through my pits today to check on everything. and i found one of my suspected girls who has been in one of hte breeding pits for a few months. I had only seen her a week ago sunbaking and hooking into some food But today she looked terrible. Sunken eyes, very very weak. So i jumped into emergency mode. warmth fluids and Abs but i could feel a solid lump in her abdomen which did not feel good. Unfortunately she showed no improvement and passed. So did a quick PM to see what was happening. As you'll see it was pretty freaky took me a good little while to work out where is was as nothing looked normal positioning wise.


heresthe pics i will explain as i go and put another normal positioned photo up of a shingle back.


normal photo of the shingle back for comparison



here we go straight away nothing looks right


so yeah as you can see there is no lungs/air sacs. the liver is centred and larger then what i would expect from a bluey of her size. there is also necrotic tissue in the abdomen. (the dark red to black tissue.


found the lungs squished under the liver very reduced and not great looking

the problem

at first glance i thought this was a massive liver tumour but my thoughts changed as i went on


deffinitely a female left sided ovums growing well.

with more the "tumour" seprated from the liver and showed no direct connection liver relatively normal lobe shape. when i cut the "tumour in half it shows what looks to be follicles. so i would say what we are looking at is a rather large ovarian tumour which has ruptured in numerous places.


without sending it off for histo i cant confirm it but everything is pointing toward that.

sad day really, i have had mistress for about 5 years now this would have been her first litter to bumble bee but these things happen.


regards
gary

I'm very sorry for your loss, but thank you for the pictures. These are always so informative for me. I can't believe how messed up she was from that tumor, or that something so large could fit inside her. How horrible for the poor lady. I'm sorry

I've had a question I've been meaning to ask of everyone, so I hope you don't mind if I include it here: In my experience, a BTS always comes out into the open to die. What are your and others experience with this?

to be honest i think you may be right fatal. i have witnessed it a few times with very sick bluetongues. but i dont know whether i think it is they come out to die or whether it is simply they no longer have the energy to hide.

Sorry for your loss, but thank you once again for sharing those images.

So sorry to hear about your loss. Your pictures and explanation were very informative though, thank you.

Very, very sorry for your loss but thanks for sharing the photos. They are quite amazing, I've never seen anything like it. I wonder how common something like this is in BTS.

Thanks so much for taking the time to share this.

sorry for your loss gary .. im wanting to do a double degree in herpatology and vetinary when im in University, and this is quite interesting to me. was she an eastern? what do you do for a job? you seem quite skilled at this. what length was she? sorry for all the questions. im just wanting to learn as much as possible even though im only 14.

Sorry you lost your girl Gary. The photos were facinating so thanks for taking the time to include us.

Katrina wrote:Very, very sorry for your loss but thanks for sharing the photos. They are quite amazing, I've never seen anything like it. I wonder how common something like this is in BTS.

I'm sorry for your loss Gary, particularly when you had her for so many years.

I have been thinking along the same lines as Katrina since you first posted regarding the occurrence of this type of tumour in both the domestic and wild skink population.

Is it possible the liver was enlarged due to metastasis?

Uterine cancer is extremely common in the domestic European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), it is believed to affect as many as 80% of does from the age of about 5 years. Fortunately, unlike skinks, when pets they are able to be spayed to protect them.

Gary, I'm very sad to hear what's happened. Sorry for your loss, but thank you for the very interesting photos.