4122. Red-eared slider has difficulty laying eggs. Oxytocin injection can induce egg laying if done early in dystocia

A COVID-19 PANDEMIC STORY

ON MAY 9, 2020, I FOLLOWED UP

"She is not eating even though it was a week ago that she had laid eggs after the oxytocin injection," the owner said over the phone. "Could she have another egg to lay?"

"X-ray showed 9 eggs and she laid 9," I said. "Unlikely, unless it is a soft-shelled egg that had ruptured."

MAY10, 2020.

"Still restless, not eating," the owner noted. "In the past, she ate around 3 days after injection and egg laying. Now, it is over 7 days! When would she recover her appetite?"

The slider was brought to the garden now that the Government had relaxed to rules in closing it. There had been complaints that the Government ought not have closed the condo gardens. After all, only condo residents are permitted. With closure, the argument went, the condo residents had to exercise outside the condo, increasing the crowd in public parks.

But all playgrounds in Singapore had been closed.

"Did she lay the eggs?" I aside.

"Nothing, but she lingered for one hour.

CONDO MANAGEMENT did not prohibit this slider from digging the soil?

"No, she covered up after laying the eggs."
She doesn't eat the flowers or plants, the watchful owner saw to it that dogs do not get close to her. Many children and residents including expatriates looked forward to seeing her.

FEEDING

Adopted at around 2 years of age. Ate veg for the 6 mths to 1 year. Then no interest.

Changed to prawns. Daily 2-3 light grey prawns. MUST be fresh boiled, or will not eat.
Eats only the expensive purplish leaves seen in salads

Now, mainly fresh grey prawns, not the black Tiger prawns. Must be fresh.

Tried cod fish, but not keen after first 3 times.

Very relaxed watching TV

But when need to lay eggs, will go to the main door.

Adopted at around 2 years old. Now 6 years old.

Oct 2017.   First time visited Toa Payoh Vets. For anorexia. X-rays. No eggs. Antibiotics.
Oct 2018.   X-ray  5 eggs. Laid eggs naturally.

Aug 2019.  X-ray and inj oxytocin   1.5 ml SC          10 eggs   1.9kg

Dec 2019.     "                  "                                            7 eggs
Mar 2020      "                  "                                            9 eggs
May 2, 2020      "                  "                                           9 eggs  2.2 kg. Not eating for over 1 week instead of usual 3 days. Why?

May 10, 2020. Egg laying signs. Brought downstairs. Garden.

Dig a hole, laid there for 1-2 hrs. Tried to push out, but no egg.

(Maybe expelled the remnants of soft-shelled broken eggs stuck inside for the past one week," I said. "Did you see any green discharge?"
"It was too dark, but I saw twice that she passed the unusual green discharge inside the water!"

"She is not eating," the owner had to persuade her by talking to eat 2 prawns for the past 7 days.

  

Did passed unusual greenish discharge (not brown stools) in water 2 times. Just not hungry. Why. 

Dug deep hole. Stayed there for 2 hours. Owner wanted to sleep.Brought back to condo to clean up. Bath tub. Suddenly, very hungry. "Ate 2 prawns and wanted more," the owner had to boil the prawns first. So had fed 40 shrimps. 

After digging hole and lying in the soil for around 2 hours, she was brought up, cleaned.
Very hungry...

        40 shrimps while owner boiled the grey prawns. Not the blackish Tiger Prawns as she does not like them. She also liked the purplish leaves seen in salad dishes. Prawns are boiled. But she is very fussy about the freshness. Would not eat those prawns that are not fresh.

EGG LAYING BEHAVIOUR

1. Not eating. Restless

2. Makes noises whole night. Few days. 

3. Goes to the main door wanting to go out.

Carried to the garden. Pandan trees but few flowers. Management do not mind.
But on 1 May 20, the garden was closed up during lockdown which ends in Jun 1.
Security patrols. "Why not do it quietly?" I asked.
"A lot of residents will take photos and sent to the authorities," she told me. $300 fine. So, waited till next morning and brought to Toa Payoh Vets.

  

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2/5/2020. She had come to Toa Payoh Vets as Covid-19 pandemic circuit breaker lockdown to stem the spread of the coronavirus meant that the condo management had closed the condo playground garden.

So, the slider could not go to the soft soil to dig and lay eggs that night.  All playgrounds and exercise areas in Singapore were also closed to prevent community spread of Covid-19.

GARDEN WITH LESS FLOWERS, LOOSE SOIL WHICH APPEALS TO HER. 

Not eating. Restless instead of being relaxed, tried to open the main door to go out.
She would have scouted a safe spot, dig the soil to lay eggs naturally. Around 2 hours.

X-rays showed 9 eggs. Dr Daniel Sing gave Oxytocin injection of 1.5ml SC.
The first egg was laid around 30 minutes after the injection.

The other 8 eggs were inside the car on the way home.

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Some Singapore owners of red-eared sliders are concerned when their slider has difficulty laying eggs as in the following case study. Early oxytocin injection can induce egg laying, in our experience with our cases. Do not wait more than 24 hours.

See
CASE 1.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3zfw0oh99M


CASE 2.

This 8-year-old female Red Eared Slider has a body weight of 2.2kg.

She lays eggs once every 3 months or once every 6 months for last 2-3 years.

Nowadays, she lays eggs once a month. Sometimes she lays eggs naturally. Other times, she will need the oxytocin injection given by Toa Payoh Vets.

The following is the history:
.

14/12/2019 - x-ray (7 eggs) , gave Oxytocin inj -1.5ml SC , 1st egg lay 15 mins after inj

After that lay eggs by herself for 2 times

22/3/2020 - x-ray (9 eggs, including one big egg) ,  gave Oxytocin inj -1.5ml SC , 1st egg lay 20 mins after inj

In April, she laid eggs naturally in the garden.

2/5/2020. She had come to Toa Payoh Vets as Covid-19 pandemic lockdown has closed the playground garden sand where she would dig to lay eggs naturally.
X-rays showed 9 eggs. Dr Daniel Sing gave Oxytocin injection of 1.5ml SC.
The first egg was laid around 30 minutes after the injection.

The other 8 eggs were inside the car on the way home.

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Mar 27, 2020

Kong Yuen Sing <99pups@gmail.com>	Mar 27, 2020, 7:42 PM
to jimmy, me

Hi

I am Dr Sing Kong Yuen from Toa Payoh Vets,
I am doing research on your red-eared slider.

May I ask you the following:

1. Since April 2019 when I injected and Kame laid eggs, was there any other occasions she laid eggs?

2. Was she laying eggs monthly for past 12 months?

3. What diet is she fed?

4. How did you know she could not lay eggs in Mar 2020?

Many thanks to both of you.   

Dear Dr David Sing

Thank you for your interest in understudying Kate. 

My wife, R... who handles Kate daily has other households matter to settle and will get back to you after reviewing photos and collecting the data. 

Item 1. (yes other on occasions) is once every 1 month or 2 months. 

Item 2. (yes, must check the dates because some time she can lay naturally) but we do not know how many more eggs ( without X Ray ), So when she displays certain signs  ie very restless , at night can’t sleep, making a lot of noise and kicking around, and she will run to the main door signalling to go downstairs  to lay eggs which my wife feels she wants to lay eggs.  R.. will bring her downstairs to look for a suitable place, ie suitable sand.  

Item 3. Kate eats mainly cooked prawn and small dry shrimp twice a day.  She also eats vegetable and on a few occasions we feed her cooked scallops. 

Item 4. She was laying eggs monthly since Dec 19 (the last time we brought her to inject oxytocin) with Jan and Feb (lay eggs naturally) and Mar 20 (oxytocin iinjection).

DECEMBER 2019

4 eggs were laid naturally. Dystocia. Came for oxytocin injection after X rays

MARCH 2020

We let her lay eggs naturally but on Saturday, 21st March 2020, it was raining and we tried 3 times. We were not successful, so we brought her over on Sunday 22nd March. 

After x ray, Dr Daniel Sing injected her with oxytocin. She laid 8 eggs.  Dr Daniel indicated 9 eggs were inside her abdomen. One big egg seen in the X Ray was on Tuesday, 24 March 20 at about 7pm naturally (she dug the hole and laid and covered it).  My wife dug it out to take a photo of it. 

MAY 2, 2020. COVID-19 LOCKDOWN.

2/5/2020. She had come to Toa Payoh Vets as Covid-19 pandemic lockdown has closed the playground garden sand where she would dig to lay eggs

X-rays showed 9 eggs. Dr Daniel Sing gave Oxytocin injection of 1.5ml SC.
The first egg was laid around 30 minutes after the injection.

The other 8 eggs were inside the car on the way home.

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Citations (29)

References (12)

Abstract

Oxytocin dosage was determined experimentally for the red-eared slider (Trachemys scripta elegans). Five dosages including 20, 10, 5, 4, and 2 units/kg were experimentally compared in 253 female turtles in a series of experiments conducted in 1999 and 2000. The 3 highest doses were equally effective overall following a maximum of 2 injections. The 2 lower doses were equally effective overall following a maximum of 2 injections. Success rate (i.e., turtles laid all eggs or retained 2 or fewer eggs following a maximum of 2 injections) ranged from 100% (20 and 10 unit/kg doses) to an average of 88.9% for the lowest doses (4 and 2 units/kg). When reduction in oxytocin exposure is desired, the lower dosages are recommended; when turtles are being treated for egg retention, the higher dosages may be more desirable. No difference in oxytocin efficacy was found among 3 species of chelonians (red-eared slider; stinkpot, Sternotherus odoratus; and painted turtle, Chrysemys picta) when oxytocin was given at 4 units/kg. No difference in efficacy was found among 2669 red-eared sliders from 2 collecting areas in west-central Illinois induced with 4 units/kg between 2000 and 2005.

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Abstract

Nonobstructive egg retention is quite common in captive-bred turtles and may result from several different factors, including poor husbandry and poor physical condition. Oxytocin, 1 to 40 IU/kg, can be used to stimulate oviductal contraction and induce egg deposition. The purpose of this study was to investigate the efficacy of low-dose intravenous (IV) and intramuscular (IM) oxytocin for managing turtles with nonobstructive egg retention. Physical examination and radiographic and computed tomographic evaluations were performed in 39 female red-eared sliders (Trachemys scripta elegans) that were showing overt clinical signs of egg retention. After being placed for 7 days in a suitable environment without laying their eggs, a diagnosis of nonobstructive egg retention was made in 30 of the turtles. These 30 turtles were then randomly divided in 2 groups. Group OXY-IM (n = 15) received 2 IU/kg of oxytocin IM, whereas group OXY-IV (n = 15) received the same dose IV. If animals did not lay all of their eggs within 60 minutes, a second dose (2 IU/kg) was administered. Follow-up doses were given every 120 minutes until all eggs were laid. The mean time for animals on OXY-IM to start laying and complete egg deposition was 97 ± 22.4 minutes and 246.1± 27.37 minutes, respectively. All animals required a second dose, 10 turtles (66.6%) required a third dose, and 5 turtles (33.3%) required a fourth dose. The animals in OXY-IV started laying eggs on average of 61.26 ± 13.9 minutes after treatment and completed laying eggs 147.2 ± 25.5 minutes after treatment. Six animals (40%) required a second dose of oxytocin, and 4 (26.6%) required a third dose. There were significant differences (p < 0.001) in the elapsed time between the first injection and the start of egg deposition and total egg deposition between the 2 treatment groups. In conclusion, oxytocin administered IV provided faster results than IM dosing for the treatment of nonobstructive egg retention in red-eared sliders. No side effects were observed in either treatment group.