Table 8.
Example welfare/physical signs of injury or ill health and possible causes.
| Signs | Problem | Cause |
|---|---|---|
| Open mouth breathing | Hyperthermia; disease; major head/neck injury | Critically high temperature; infection/organic dysfunction; fall; drop; co-occupant attack; transport trauma |
| Panting | Hyperthermia | Too high temperature |
| Sores on head, neck, or dorsal region | Thermal burns | Too close or too hot “hot-spot” (basking lamp) often combined with too low environmental temperate |
| Hyperactivity | Hyperthermia | Too high temperature |
| Hypoactivity; anorexia | Hypothermia; disease; injury; pain | Too low temperature; infection/organic dysfunction; fall; drop; co-occupant attack; transport trauma |
| Emaciated appearance | Starvation/dehydration; chronic injury/disease | Infection/organic dysfunction; fall; drop; co-occupant attack; transport trauma |
| Uncharacteristic red or white patches on head, skin, extremities | Injury; disease | Infection/organic dysfunction; fall; drop; co-occupant attack. Attack by prey insects e.g., crickets |
| Deformities | Malnutrition, Injury | Metabolic Bone Disease. Co-occupant aggression. Trauma |
| Incomplete skin shed | Poor humidity. Poor environmental enrichment | To low humidity. Lack of provision of shedding aids |
| Damage to extremities. Especially tail tip and toes | Poor shedding, injury, trauma | Co-occupant aggression. Poor handling may induce tail drop in some lizard species. Incomplete shedding can damage toes in some lizard species. |
| Injuries anywhere on body | Attacks by co-occupants or self-harm | Co-occupant aggression, invasive courtship routines, hunger, inability to avoid cage-mates when required, overly restrictive, inappropriate environments. |
| Red patch on tip of snout | Rostral lesion/abrasion | Stress. Persistent attempts to push against, crawl up, dig under or round the transparent barriers of their enclosure |