Mass in middle of corn snake

[tkbalt]

I have a corn snake that has had two accidental pregnancies, both of which went awry and ended in hysterectomies because she was egg-bound. (Hey, I learned snakes have two uteri!) Now she seems to have a large, slightly lumpy mass right in her mid section, about two hand-widths long. I have taken her to the vet and after an x-ray and an ultrasound, we at least know she doesn't have a miraculous third pregnancy, but the vet isn't really sure what it is except that it's probably not a tumor. The snake has stopped eating food when offered, and we've been soaking her, massaging her a bit and trying to give her laxative (oy, what a pain). Unfortunately, I'm afraid the next step is surgery, which I'm loathe to undertake for a fourth time on one snake (one of her hysterectomies got infected, so there was a third surgery to take care of it). Her last time under the knife was over two years ago, and while she's got some serious scarring, she seemed perfectly healthy up until about month and a half ago. Anyone have any ideas? Suggestions? Right now she is still fairly feisty, having not eaten in over a month, but I'm concerned this won't last....

[Missy]

wow tkbalt, im sorry to hear all this is ahppening to one snake. i too have had 3 major operations on one snake, 2 for being egg-bound, both accidental also amnd the 3rd to remove a lump on her kidney. unfortunately she now has passed on, i dont think its a good idea for one snake to have soo many ops. my one was 8 when she passed on and i do not think that she was old. not at all. do try to avoid that if you can but do go ahead if you have no choice. she never ate for 5 months and we were having to feed her food supplement down a tube into her stomach, i know, tis not nice and tis not an easy thing to master.

(Hey, I learned snakes have two uteri!) do you mean 2 uterus'? i do not think so, just the one.

[tkbalt]

Thanks for the comiseration.

Yes, it's amazing, but snakes have two uteri... uteruses... whatever you want to call them, I never really needed a plural before. The two uteri are next to each other in the same region of the snake. My corn, Cedar, used one side for her first pregnancy, had that taken out when she was egg-bound, and then used the other side for her second pregnancy. Nutty....

[Missy]

ok if you mean oviducts, yes they have two, and two overies obviously, but in this picture ~ http://mzone.mweb.co.za/residents/net12980/anatomy.html (anatomy of a female snake)



you can not see the uterus at all. come to think of it, i dont even think they have one. lol. The fertilised egg then moves down into the oviduct where the uterine glands secrete substances to surround it.
tis interesting though.
:-)

[Cindy]

I think that link is not working. :eek1:

[tkbalt]

Ah, yes, I think uterus is a misnomer. Oviduct... that which holds the eggs. That makes sense. And there are two of 'em! :) I'm fairly sure my vet simplified for me by calling it a uterus.

The link works, I just had to cut and paste. Clicking on it didn't do much.

[Missy]

oh sorry, i see now. lol :-)
you learn something new every day.

[CornCrazy]

tkbalt...how long have the lumps been there? Is it possible that your snake could be ovulating? I think that follicles would be much harder to see on an x-ray. I personally would just monitor her if the lumps haven't been there very long.

Another surgery may be detrimental to her. I will say this, if she does have to go back to surgery, then you should see if the vet can just go ahead and "spay" her so she (and you) do not have to go through this again. Maybe it will give her a better chance at having a longer life.

[tkbalt]

No, it's not really possible that she's ovulating. This is a big mass that takes up about a quarter the length of her body and hasn't moved in over a month now. The vet aspirated it (took a sample with a needle) last week and we're trying to analyze it, see if it's a cancerous tumor or an infection or just waste or what. In the X-Ray and ultrasound it's quite clear that it's NOT eggs. She's already been spayed... twice.

[CornCrazy]

So the vet actually removed the oviducts and ovaries when he did the surgery before? I didn't see that in your first post...somehow I overlooked it(sorry :rolleyes: ). Some vets will simply make an incision into the oviduct, remove the eggs, then sutures the oviduct back up. That is what I assumed had been done. Hopefully the vet will get some definitive answers after the cytology results come back in. I would wait to have the surgery done until after that. You have a better chance at knowing what you are dealing with then, at least.

[tkbalt]

Honestly, I'm not sure about the exact terminology. The vet dumbed it down for me, saying that snakes have two uteruses (which I realize now they don't actually have, but I guess she was using the term "uterus" so that I could easily understand the significance) and during the first surgery, one was removed. The vet warned me that it was possible that Cedar could still use the second one, and so she did, laying another clutch a couple years later and becoming egg-bound again. At that time, the vet removed her other "uterus," and assured me that there was no chance that Cedar would ever lay eggs again.

Yes, I'm waiting for all the test results before making any decisions. Really want to know exactly what we're dealing with.

Thanks for all the advice and good thoughts.

[CornCrazy]

Have you gotten any results back, yet? How is Cedar doing?

[tkbalt]

Well, the culture that they grew turned out to be E Coli, which would be consistent with the mass being feces. And Cedar finally took a poop for the first time in over a month. I have never been so excited about snake poop in all my life. So, we're waiting a little longer to see if it's possible that she'll work things out on her own. Then the next option is surgery to get the mass out and possibly modifying her diet in the future, which basically means smaller mice....

*sigh*

[tkbalt]

Cedar is going in for surgery on Tuesday. Wish us luck! I feel terrible putting her through this again, but I just can't do nothing....

[Amanda E]

Is it just going to be an exploratory surgery? If so, you might want to wait a little longer before putting her through a 4th surgery.