Be Kind To Pets, Vet case studies, Photography tips, Travel Stories: 3943. NEVER SAY 'NEVER!". Kame's egg laying behaviour as narrated by her owner on Jan 8, 2020

8 Jan 2021

WhatsApp message

Dr Sing, good morning.

Good news, Kame is starting to eat veggie. I bought a few types of veggies and he eats. We are glad to see that.🏻

I still feed her with prawns but at night, like 2 pieces or 3 pieces but the most important she eats more veggie or balance it with prawns.

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DIETARY CHANGES
1. Young, about 4-inch length. Ate vegetables
Stopped eating.
6m to 1 year---stopped eating vegetables.
Commercial pellets. Rapid growth in size.

Switch to pellets. Switch to cook fresh prawn.

Fresh glass prawns cooked. Disliked Tiger prawns.

24 Dec 2020. 2.4 kg.
Restless for more than 2 weeks. Hind leg digging, loss of appetite. No access to her usual garden soil as there was construction debri.

Emergency oxytocin, 2 eggs. 26 Dec 2020. Oxytocin again. 2 eggs.

8 Jan 2021
Eating fresh vegetables - good news.

EGG LAYING
2021. Past 2.5 months, laid eggs monthly. Before that, it was 2 weekly.

Start laying. 2-3 years back at Lloyd Road before shifting to condo. Kame started being restless, jumping, could not manage her as she did not know how to. Spoke to a vet who said "wait and see." Spoke to me.I had advised bringing Kame to a garden

First consulted me. Oct 2017. No oxytocin. May 2018. No oxytocin, but baytril.

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8 Jan 2021

Egg laying routine

Kame is very particular and systematic. The whole process takes 3-4 hours. The owner has to monitor from a distance and related the following:

1. Kame will go to the same particular location in this condo garden, a secluded shady area, under the plants. She rejects other locations offered by the owner. 2. Kame will walk around for 20-30 minutes to select the egg laying area. Her front paws loosen the soil. Her hind paws dig into the soil for 45-60 minutes.

3. She will keep putting her 2 hind legs into the hole to check the depth before laying the egg. After laying one egg, she will wait a while. Then she will cover the soil with her back paws. She checks to ensure that the hole is fully covered.

4. The owner has to wait and monitor for 3-4 hours. Kame laid clutches of eggs every two weeks during the past 3 years, but now, it is less frequent, being over a month.

5. This is quite stressful as the caregiver has to bring her to the soil when Kame is agitated, restless and not wanting her food at various times of the day. This can last for some weeks, as Kame is not guaranteed to lay eggs when brought down to the soil.Oxytocin injections at Toa Payoh Vets was effective for the past few occasions resolving her caregiving stresses.

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16 Dec 2020.

BE KIND TO PETS VETERINARY STORIES. Too much protein make too many eggs? Image 1/7
Dr Sing Kong Yuen, BVMS (Glasgow).

Kame, 2.4 kg, 6-year-old red-eared slider had been laying clutches of eggs every 2 weeks for the past 2 years in 2019 to 2020, exhausting the owner. Kame would frantically paw the condo apartment door to go out to lay eggs in her garden patch downstairs, usually in the evenings and nights. No guarantee after waiting. Kame's bath tub has water but it is not natural for sliders to lay eggs in the water!

Oxytocin injections are effective and time-saving. I did one injection on 24 December 2020 at 5 pm as the owner was exhausted with Kame's on-off egg laying behaviour. She laid one egg after the injection and had 2 more inside (as seen in the X-ray of 4 eggs). One malformed egg was laid just before the X-ray on 24 December. If no eggs are laid WITHIN 4 HOURS, a second injection is needed. I had to follow up to persuade the owner to come on 26 December to get another injection which caused the remaining 2 eggs to be laid.

Eggs not laid can rot inside the oviducts, fracture and lead to egg yolk peritonitis and death of the slider.

Dr Daniel advised the owner to bring Kame to the garden to lay eggs instead of coming for injections. I advised that too. In addition, I asked her to feed much less prawns which is Kame's sole and favoured diet. “Glass prawns only,” the owner had rejection of Tiger prawns. “She will never eat vegetables,” the owner was as sure as we know that the sun will rise every morning.

Well, she WhatsApp to me on 8 January 2021 to say Kame ate some vegetables! The morale of the story is “Never say 'Never!”.