Giving medication to reptiles can be “pretty slippery”. With their varied physiological and anatomical make-ups, choosing ‘routes of drug administration’ is fairly complicated. Having to deal with scales, teeth, and a cranky attitude makes reptile medication a daunting task for a newbie.

There are specific techniques that may be used in treating a sick reptile with drugs. Each form of reptile medication has pros and cons that should be painstakingly considered as not to give the reptile more pain.

Administering fluids or any reptile medication through the mouth is tricky since you’ll have to deal with the sharp teeth, possibly venom, and the highly sensitive glottis. Also, any reptile (even any human!) does not appreciate having some foreign object shoved up its throat and thus may be quite uncooperative. They tend to acquire a more crabby temper when sick, too. Usually, a catheter or feeding tube attached to a syringe with prepared slurry or fluid medication is inserted into the throat up to the stomach to avoid flooding into the glottis and causing the fluid to back up into the mouth. Continue reading »