A young tuatara being treated for a fungal infection in Otago is likely to face a “long recovery”.
Merri, a 6-year-old tuatara living at the Queenstown Kiwi Park whose gender is unknown (it’s assumed he’s male), was admitted to Otago's Polytechnic's Wildlife Hospital after a lump was found under his throat.
Believing it was cancer, vets quickly operated on the reptile - finding that it was, in fact, a fungal infection.
“It’s an absolute relief that it wasn’t cancer,” the hospital's manager Jordana Whyte told Seven Sharp.
“It’s good news and tough news. It’s good news because there’s medication we can use - antifungals to treat it.
“But it is quite a serious infection, so it’s quite a guarded prognosis at this stage.”
She said his recovery is going to be a “long one” because the “infection is quite serious” but he should be out of the hospital in six months to a year.
Merri is only the second tuatara that’s been admitted to the hospital, which brought all sorts of challenges to the vets operating on him.
“With this particular patient, it’s the location of the mass,” Whyte said.
“The mass is located on the lower jaw, which means it’s quite close to a lot of important things, like the trachea, the oesophagus the carotid artery.
“Things that you don’t really want to nick during surgery.”
Whyte also highlighted tuatara’s incredibly slow metabolism meant it took “about 45 minutes” for Merri to go under prior to the surgery.
“Lots of high-stakes things happening.”
Merri’s currently on a diet of mealworms and locusts, which he seems pretty happy with.
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