Rhea

Worth ruling illness in or out since he has been dark for days: a sick anole often stays dark and loses the ability to change colour at all. Come in if there is lethargy, no eating beyond a short gap, weight loss showing as visible hips or a thin tail, swelling, sores, stuck shed, or trouble climbing.

And check the husbandry trio while you have the lid off: UVB with a proper day and night cycle, reasonable humidity, and misting daily so he can drink droplets off the leaves rather than expecting him to use a bowl.

What would bring her in: discoloured patches, raw or red skin, thick crusty areas, a bad smell, open sores, or tiny moving specks and a lot of rubbing, which is mites.

And on the shell, thin clear scute layers peeling can be normal in some tortoises, but soft spots, pitting, discharge, a bad smell or deep flaking down to raw areas is not. That list is shell rot territory and it needs seeing rather than soaking.

Worth raising the longer-term question now rather than after the third clutch. Constant large clutches take a real toll, and a lot of female veileds are managed with adjusted feeding amounts and temperatures to keep the frequency down. That is a conversation to have with a reptile vet rather than something to work out from forums.

Remove the eggs afterwards if you are not breeding, which given she has never met a male you are not.

The distinction that matters: a hiss while retracting is mechanical. A noise while she is breathing normally and not pulling in is not. Wheezing, clicking, whistling or gurgling, bubbles at the nose or mouth, an open mouth to breathe, nasal discharge, puffy eyes, going quiet and off her food.

That is respiratory and it needs seeing, and in tortoises it usually traces back to being too cold, sitting in a draught or wrong humidity. Worth checking she has a warm basking end, a cooler end, UVB, somewhere to dig, and no cold floor under her.

Tail shaking on its own is not a health sign, so nothing here needs me. What would: twitching or tremors with no trigger at all, loss of coordination, refusing food for a long stretch while losing weight, or bubbles at the mouth or nose and any wheeze.

The distinction is the same one that comes up with every defensive display. A behaviour that arrives when you open the lid and stops when you leave is about you. One that happens while nothing is happening is about the animal.

What would turn this into an appointment: going properly lethargic or stopping climbing, refusing food, red or pink colouring on the belly or legs which can point at a bacterial infection, patches or lesions or odd skin texture, shedding far more than normal, bloating, or sitting in the water constantly.

Amphibian problems can move fast, which is the reason to know that list rather than to worry about a frog who is brown at lunchtime and green at midnight.

Come and see somebody if the tail consistently flops over the body at rest, if there is a kink or a bend at the tail base or along the spine, or if he is dragging a leg or looks weak.

The other one to have in mind is a soft or rubbery jaw or limbs, which points at metabolic bone disease rather than at furniture, and that is calcium, D3 and lighting. Rearranging the enclosure helps stop floppy tail getting worse; it does not undo a bone problem.