QuesarVII
10-19-2003, 12:34 PM
Hello all. Warning-long story to follow, but please read on and offer some advice.
I have a male year and a half old miami corn. He is about 3' and weighs about 150g. About 2 months ago, I found a lump in his belly. I soaked him, he passed some gas and it cleared some. Since it did not go away completely, I took him to the vet. Xrays confirmed a blockage, but it wasn't hard enough to be a fecal stone. It turned out the cord for the heating pad for the tank had gotten knocked loose and temps were too low causing digestive problems. After daily soakings, he seemed to have passed the blockage (no more lump, and stuff came out). He still would not eat (stepped down to pinkies- he was always a f/t eater- tried live pinkies, f/t, brained pinky). He gradually got weaker and got dehydrated. Saw vet again. He got a vitamin shot and 4 days of fluid injections. He looked and acted a lot better after that.. on the 4th day of fluid injections, he passed a whole mouse leg on the vets table. Just to be safe, we had the vet do a fecal on what came out.. and it did come up clean. It is now about 2 weeks after that and he still has not eaten. He has passed a lot more stool since then, but it has not been normal at all. There seems to be a lot of yellow urea and the stool passed is all full of mucus and nasty. He also had a problem shedding (started just before the trip to the vet for fluid injections). After the injections and some soakings, I was able to shed him myself (he still seemed too weak to do it himself), although I couldn't get the skin under his chin off (i hope he'll get it on his next shed).
Whew.. I'm out of breath after all that ;)
Anyway.. my hope is that someone can give me a clue what to do from here. I've had this snake since a hatchling and really don't want to give up on it... I've already dropped like $300 at the vet on xrays, visits, fluid shots, fecal exams, etc... and don't know what to do.. I am considering force feeding him soon.. but I know it is a drastic thing to do..
opinions?
I have a male year and a half old miami corn. He is about 3' and weighs about 150g. About 2 months ago, I found a lump in his belly. I soaked him, he passed some gas and it cleared some. Since it did not go away completely, I took him to the vet. Xrays confirmed a blockage, but it wasn't hard enough to be a fecal stone. It turned out the cord for the heating pad for the tank had gotten knocked loose and temps were too low causing digestive problems. After daily soakings, he seemed to have passed the blockage (no more lump, and stuff came out). He still would not eat (stepped down to pinkies- he was always a f/t eater- tried live pinkies, f/t, brained pinky). He gradually got weaker and got dehydrated. Saw vet again. He got a vitamin shot and 4 days of fluid injections. He looked and acted a lot better after that.. on the 4th day of fluid injections, he passed a whole mouse leg on the vets table. Just to be safe, we had the vet do a fecal on what came out.. and it did come up clean. It is now about 2 weeks after that and he still has not eaten. He has passed a lot more stool since then, but it has not been normal at all. There seems to be a lot of yellow urea and the stool passed is all full of mucus and nasty. He also had a problem shedding (started just before the trip to the vet for fluid injections). After the injections and some soakings, I was able to shed him myself (he still seemed too weak to do it himself), although I couldn't get the skin under his chin off (i hope he'll get it on his next shed).
Whew.. I'm out of breath after all that ;)
Anyway.. my hope is that someone can give me a clue what to do from here. I've had this snake since a hatchling and really don't want to give up on it... I've already dropped like $300 at the vet on xrays, visits, fluid shots, fecal exams, etc... and don't know what to do.. I am considering force feeding him soon.. but I know it is a drastic thing to do..
opinions?