Weird question (for worldbuilding on a thing): Do you happen to know if it is possible to run drugtests on shed reptile skin the way they can be run on human hair? (Question tax: Do you have a ‘theme song’ for vet work?)

drferox:

I honestly don’t know about drug residues in reptile skin. I know you can definitely find them in reptile meat, so I assume some would be detectable in reptile skin, but I have no idea which ones, or how accurately.

For a veterinary theme song, you’d probably expect me to say something meaningful or serious like ‘how to save a life’, But for some reason I really feel the lyrics of Fly Like A Butterfly. It’s absolute nonsense, but it’s nonsense with feeling. I mean, especially for emergency medicine. Look at these lyrics:

I don’t know how to do this
I don’t know how to DO THIS
I think I know, but I don’t really know
Where am I gonna go
Don’t know.. okay
Where am I gonna go
I’m flubbernucked anyway 

I just know that feeling, you know?

I don’t think it would work quite the way it does on hair. Drugs show up in hair because hair grows steadily, forming a chemical timeline. Reptiles grow scales intermittently, when it’s almost time to shed. I imagine chemicals would show up to some extent, but not in such a handy timeline shape, and I’m not sure what would get incorporated.