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Dalek ate Fir bark! Pictures...

Arpolis

Corn Snake Breeder
Hello all. I have never had this happen and it concerns me a bit. My cute and lovely petco find amel that looks like a floresant almost has a piece of "Repti Bark Fir park bedding". Is there anything I can do to help her?
 

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Ouch that looks like it hurts im sure the experienced ppl on the forum are typing up suggestions right now as I am new I am of no use just here to offer my support I would suggest feeding in a separate tank or plastic tub to avoid this in the future.
 
Did she just go ahead and eat it, or did you feed her in her viv?

I'm not sure what you could do, without causing damage. I'm wondering if you are going to need to make a trek to the vet. That piece looks a little big to pass on it's own.

Sorry I can't help.

Wayne
 
Ouch, that sucks! It looks like you are going to have to have that surgically removed. So take it to the vet. It may have already perforated the esophagus(Judging by the bulge on the right side). So I would not try massaging it out yourself, you might end up doing more damage rather than helping.

Good luck with your snake hope every thing works out.
 
I always fed her in her tank. She has always been an agresive eater with great strike and coil response but when I went to check her out after she was done with her meal she was like this.
 
JEEZ, that looks bad. I would take her to the vet PRONTO, because there isn't much you can do to her that won't make things worse. Maybe in the future buy her a sterilite container just for feeding? Then you'd avoid this happening again. I know some corns won't take it outside of their 'territory'... Mouse for example, is a bit under the weather right now, and will only take food offered in her viv. She normally takes it fine in a bin.
 
Yeah that's not good, idk if that will dissolve any and be digested. I would find a herp vet asap and you know now that feeding in the tank can be dangerous.
 
I think I would try to massage it to be inline with her throat. Very gently, try to work the left side back toward the head. I think if you can get it in line it will pass. I would do it sooner than later, you don’t want to have it puncture anything. If you can’t get it in line on your own without too much force, I think you need to have a Vet do it in the morning.
 
or maybe at least put the food in a dish or on a saucer if you HAVE to put it in the viv so that way its not sitting in the bedding
 
Ouch! That looks really painful. I would definitely get it checked out by a vet if I were you...hopefully everything turns out okay.

I also second the suggestions of either feeding in a separate bin, or putting something between the substrate and the mouse. You could use the lid from something like a cream cheese container or something similar - a paper towel would probably work too.
 
Yay!

Well I ended up gently rubbing her neck a bit and the item easily rotated in her neck so it was more in line but still there. Now this may not have been the best move but I then offered her a large pinky mouse and she gulped it down quick seemingly taking the bark down with it. I figured the bark would digest and pass more easily if it was in the lower intestine. Here are some pics of her now. I will keep you all up to date how she does over the next few days.
 

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I would not have done that. A piece of bark that big could cause her to become seriously impacted. It's not going to digest!

She really needs to get to the vet and you really need to keep an eye on her.

Wayne
 
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What your snake now has in its intestines is called a "foreign body". Snakes are not going to be able to digest large chunks of wood, and there is a good chance that that will either block outflow from the stomach, or lodge in the intestines and create a blockage there.
 
Ok, now DEFINITELY take her to a vet. Snake's stomach acid isn't meant for fibrous things... I foudn this out the hard way when Mouse pooped out a nice, long, perfectly intact piece of aspen. I worry most about it causing an impaction (imagine if you got really, REALLY super bad constipation, that would not possibly ease up without a doctor's help) and secondly about it slicing her intestines to ribbons. Go to an emergency vet if you must.
 
YOU FED HER?! Why not just put her in the freezer now, that piece of bark will most likely go straight down and kill her! It WILL NOT get digested, it will either obstruct the intestines or rupture them.

Go. To. The. Vet. NOW! This is an emergency.
 
YOU FED HER?! Why not just put her in the freezer now, that piece of bark will most likely go straight down and kill her! It WILL NOT get digested, it will either obstruct the intestines or rupture them.

Go. To. The. Vet. NOW! This is an emergency.
That's a bit harsh... He's new and he thought it would help. I'm not at ALL defending what he did and he'd better be at the vet or driving there now if he wants to keep this girl, but I think yelling and telling him he'd be better off freezing her is a little scary and intimidating for a new member who's likely already grinding his teeth down with worry about his pet... and I say this with full knowledge of the irony.
 
He was told to go to the vet. He chose to ignore that advice and push a giant foreign body down his pet's gut. As a vet tech and a pet owner, I find that appalling.

Weren't you recently sending new members nasty PMs about how they chose to title their threads? Now you're telling me not to be mean to someone who probably just killed their snake by not following advice given. Huh.
 
However, typically when an animal has something stuck in its throat, you don't try to get it farther down the animal. :/ There is a more than decent chance, from the apparent size of that foreign body that it can cause an impaction, which is fatal unless surgically removed. If the object had been left alone, a vet could have potentially sedated the snake, and removed it without invasive surgery.
 
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