ABSTRACT
Despite many advances over the last 20 years, nutritional disease remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality in reptiles. This is because reptile nutrition is not as well studied as domestic animal nutrition, poor nutritional advice is widely disseminated, the nutritional requirements of relatively few species have been studied and identified, and their foods in the wild, for the most part, are commercially unavailable. Excessive caloric intake is a frequent problem in captive reptiles and may lead to obesity and lipid storage or deposition disorders, particularly in carnivorous species. Because the caloric requirements of reptiles in captivity are often not well known, regular monitoring of body weight may help in assessing the adequacy of caloric intake. Xanthomatosis is a lipid deposition disorder characterized by the accumulation of cholesterol crystals in tissues, with varying degrees of granulomatous inflammation.
