SAVC Registration Examination · South Africa · South African Veterinary Council
Original practice questions written to the published syllabus · not past papersRabbits, rodents, ferrets, parrots and reptiles: disease caused by poor husbandry, safe handling and anaesthesia, their common conditions, and the zoonoses they carry.
In the exams: NAVLE other small mammals 3.3%, pet birds 2.3% and reptiles 1.5%; SAVC exotic pets and cage birds 10
SAVC Registration Examination (South Africa)
Paper 1 gives exotic pets and cage birds 10 marks: husbandry-related disease, handling, anaesthesia basics, common conditions of rabbits, rodents, ferrets, cage birds and reptiles, and zoonoses. Practical panels can include restraint and sampling.
How our questions for SAVC Registration Examination spread across the units of Exotic, Pocket Pet, Pet Bird & Reptile Medicine. Difficulty: 33 easy, 36 medium, 0 hard.
| Anaesthesia of exotic pets | 9 | |
| Handling of exotic pets | 8 | |
| Rabbits | 8 | |
| Pet rodents | 8 | |
| Ferrets | 8 | |
| Psittacine birds | 8 | |
| Reptiles | 7 | |
| Zoonoses: psittacosis and Salmonella | 7 | |
| Husbandry-related disease | 6 |
Choose an answer, then open the working. Each explanation says why the right answer is right and why the others are not.
An owner places a UVB lamp outside the glass front of a lizard's vivarium so that it shines through the glass. What is the effect on the lizard's vitamin D3 synthesis?
A. Almost none, because ordinary glass filters out UVB wavelengths
UVB (roughly 290–315 nm) converts 7-dehydrocholesterol in the skin to previtamin D3. Ordinary glass and most plastics block it, so a lamp behind glass, like a sunny window, gives the lizard no useful UVB. Running a lamp 24 hours a day does not overcome the filter and disrupts the light cycle.
Further reading: Girling & Raiti, BSAVA Manual of Reptiles
Which statement explains why guinea pigs develop scurvy on diets lacking fresh vegetables or supplements?
A. They lack L-gulonolactone oxidase and cannot synthesise vitamin C
Guinea pigs, like primates, lack the enzyme L-gulonolactone oxidase, the last step in vitamin C synthesis, so they need a daily dietary source. Requirements rise in pregnancy and illness, but deficiency occurs in any guinea pig without a source; it is not limited to reproduction.
Further reading: Quesenberry et al., Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents
A corn snake has severe ventral burns. The vivarium has an unguarded heat lamp and a heated rock with no thermostat. What is the main lesson for the owner?
D. Heat sources need thermostats and guards, as reptiles do not avoid burns
Reptiles do not withdraw from a burning surface as quickly as mammals, so unguarded lamps, heat mats and heated rocks without thermostats cause thermal burns. Dysecdysis is incomplete shedding from low humidity, not a burn.
Further reading: Girling & Raiti, BSAVA Manual of Reptiles
Why are injections in reptiles often given in the cranial half of the body, especially for nephrotoxic drugs?
C. A renal portal system routes hind-limb blood through the kidneys first
Many reptiles (and birds) have a renal portal system through which blood from the caudal body can pass through the kidneys before reaching the systemic circulation. Its clinical importance is debated, but cranial injection is a common precaution for nephrotoxic or renally excreted drugs.
Further reading: Divers & Stahl, Mader's Reptile and Amphibian Medicine and Surgery
A pet rat has red-brown crusts around its eyes and nose. What is this material, and what does it indicate?
D. Porphyrin from the Harderian gland, a sign of stress or illness
Chromodacryorrhoea is porphyrin-rich secretion from the Harderian gland behind the eye. It fluoresces under ultraviolet light and is a non-specific sign of stress or illness, often respiratory disease, not blood.
Further reading: Keeble & Meredith, BSAVA Manual of Rodents and Ferrets
Several recently weaned Syrian hamsters have profuse watery diarrhoea, a wet perineum and some have died. What is the most likely cause?
D. Proliferative ileitis (wet tail) from Lawsonia intracellularis
Wet tail affects young hamsters around weaning and has high mortality. Tyzzer's disease is caused by Clostridium piliforme; Streptobacillus moniliformis causes rat-bite fever; Eimeria stiedae is a hepatic coccidium of rabbits; hamsters synthesise vitamin C.
Further reading: Quesenberry et al., Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents
Which antimicrobial class is used to treat avian chlamydiosis, and what is notable about the course?
C. Tetracyclines, usually doxycycline, given for a long course of 45 days
Long-course doxycycline is standard, and US public health guidance has traditionally recommended 45 days, with retesting after treatment. People are also treated with tetracyclines. Penicillins are not reliable against chlamydiae.
Further reading: NASPHV Compendium of Measures to Control Chlamydia psittaci Infection
Which household practice increases the risk of reptile-associated salmonellosis?
C. Washing the reptile's bowls and enclosure items in the kitchen sink
Indirect contact through contaminated surfaces is a major route. Guidance advises cleaning enclosures and bowls away from food areas, hand washing after contact and keeping reptiles out of kitchens.
Further reading: CDC, Healthy Pets, Healthy People
A healthy 30 g budgerigar is to be sampled. Its blood volume is taken as 10% of body weight, and no more than 10% of blood volume is to be removed. What is the largest volume to take?
C. 0.3 mL
Blood volume = 10% of 30 g = 3 mL. Maximum sample = 10% of 3 mL = 0.3 mL (equivalent to 1% of body weight). 3 mL is the whole blood volume; 0.03 mL is a tenfold slip; 1 mL is a third of the bird's blood volume.
Further reading: Chitty & Monks, BSAVA Manual of Avian Practice
A neutered female ferret has a swollen vulva and tail alopecia. Which diagnostic imaging finding would best support the most likely diagnosis?
C. An enlarged adrenal gland on abdominal ultrasonography
Vulvar swelling in a spayed jill with tail alopecia points to adrenal disease, supported by ultrasonographic adrenal enlargement and, where available, a steroid panel. Ferrets have no caecum; a dilated proventriculus is an avian finding.
Further reading: Quesenberry et al., Ferrets, Rabbits, and Rodents
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