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Prolapsed oviduct - photo

Ronda

Ronda

New member
Just checked on one of my females, and it appears that she laid an egg with the oviduct still around it. I'll keep you posted on her progress. I'm not sure what action to take, if any. I read once that submersing the prolapsed area in sterile water will cause it to shrink and retract back inside the body, but I don't recall where I read that or if it was a reliable source. I'm going to keep an eye on her for the next hour or so and see what happens. Anyone else have experience with this?

Prolapsed_Oviduct.JPG


~Ronda
 
Is the egg out now? If so, then you can try sprinkling a bit of sugar on the oviduct. It helps to pull the excess water out of the oviduct in order to shrink it. Then you can apply gentle pressure to massage it back in.

This is one of the ways a prolapsed uterus is treated in dogs, cats, and cattle. I've seen it used many times during my years working for a vet. I don't see why it won't work on a snake as well.

I wouldn't leave her like that long. If the sugar doesn't work, then I would get her to a vet as soon as possible. If she still has retained eggs, then I would take her to the vet...period.

Good luck and please keep us posted.
 
I had this happen to my Aztec this year. I put her in a slightly warm water soak and it went back in. I boiled the water first and let it cool to just barely warm. I cleaned a rubbermaid box with bleach and hot water and let it air dry. I let her soak for about and hour. She was egg bound and had to go to the Vet anyway the next day. The Vet told me I did the right thing. I sure hope she is ok.
 
Thank you for your concern. I checked on her again (about 10 minutes after the above photo was taken) and there were TWO eggs now outside her body, inside the prolapsed oviduct! Ack! I removed her from her laying box, rinsed her oviduct with room temp bottled water, and put her on damp paper towels. While rinsing her off, I noticed the end of one egg peeking out of the oviduct, so with very little pressure the first egg came out.

Sugar! I was thinking there was something I was supposed to add to the water. Thank you for the reminder! I dissolved sugar in the bottled water until there were no crystals left, and gave the mass another rinse. It did seem to shrink some, but the egg was still no where near the exit of the oviduct. Grasping the egg with wet paper towels, I was able to massage it towards the opening of the oviduct, and it eventually came out. Whew! Another rinse with the sugar water, and all but a small lump of the oviduct retracted. The remaining lump (about the size of a large green pea) appears to be filled with fluid, and would not retract.

Ugh. At least 10 more eggs to go. Will post another update soon.

Ronda
 
Wow, glad it worked. I'm going to add that info to my handy dandy notebook that I keep in the snake room. Sterile water and sugar. I hope the rest of the laying goes better.
 
Wow good luck with the remaining eggs. And thanks for sharing the photo. Its great to see those photos for those of us who have never had this experience.

bmm
 
We don't ever dissolve the sugar at work. It works on the principle of osmosis. Water likes particles, and by placing the sugar crystals directly on the oviduct you are increasing the amount of particles on the outside of the oviduct. This should draw out the excess fluid.

I am glad you got it to go back in some. I would try plain sugar if it is not completely back in, though. You may have to take her to the vet anyway, if she can't push the rest of her eggs out without prolapsing her oviduct each time.
 
Great info Ronda!

That's the kind of info that is good to have ahead of time.

Good luck with the rest of the eggs!
 
CornCrazy said:
We don't ever dissolve the sugar at work. It works on the principle of osmosis. Water likes particles, and by placing the sugar crystals directly on the oviduct you are increasing the amount of particles on the outside of the oviduct. This should draw out the excess fluid.

Click to expand...

I was just curious if they need antibiotics after all that. Mine had antibiotics because she had to have other things done. Do you think the risk of infection is high?
 
From what I've seen, usually they do send home antibiotics with dogs and cats. I think it is more of a caution thing. Even if the area is "clean," it can still take germs, small bits of dirt, or dust back in with it. I am not sure with snakes, though. I've never actually seen a prolapsed oviduct on a snake. All in all, I think it would be a good idea for this girl to make a trip to the vet. "Better to be safe than sorry!"
 
Update

After passing the two eggs that were inside the prolapsed oviduct, and getting most of the oviduct to retract back inside the snake, she laid one more without incident. The remaining bit of oviduct went back inside after laying that third egg. There are several more eggs inside her that have not yet moved down to her vent.

I agree that a trip to a *knowledgeable* herp vet is a good idea. Unfortunately the nearest herp vet (50 miles) that I'm aware of has always said something along the lines of "Interesting.... I've never seen anything like this before..." whenever I bring a snake to her. I've taken 3 snakes to her in the past 8 or so years, and all three died. I seem to have better luck drawing from the knowledge and experience of my fellow snake keepers. However, if anyone knows of a great herp vet somewhere between Tacoma and Seattle in Washington, please let me know!

I do have antibiotics handy, but don't want to begin administering them until after she is finished laying.
 
Thanks for the update

I am glad the third egg came out OK. Hopefully she will lay the rest without incident.

I guess I am lucky to live in an area where there are several knowledgeable herp vets. I hope you will be able to find one!

I agree that you shouldn't administer antibiotics until all of the eggs have been laid.
 
Thanks for sharing!

This has been a really interesting thread. Glad to hear everything worked out.
 
Well, I don't have a completely happy ending yet... she still has six eggs or so in her. The very first egg to be laid (before the prolapse) appears to be the only good egg in the clutch. Every other egg looks a little too yellow (although they aren't slimey like slugs usually are). Anyway, these are the biggest darn slugs ever, and manual palpation isn't getting us very far. She's exhausted, I'm exhausted from worrying... I'm keeping my fingers crossed for that happy ending!

Ronda
 
I'm sorry to hear that she has been unable to pass the other eggs so far. You may have to resort to "deflating them" or finding a GOOD herp vet in your area to treat her for egg-binding (hopefully no surgery).

I'll keep my fingers crossed, too! I hope you get your happy ending!
 
I'm sorry to hear this news. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed that things turn around for the better.

My female that became eggbound had about 8 eggs left in her after the ones that were causing the problem. She had a large egg at the vent and then 2 small eggs stuck together side by side behind that one. We aspirated the large one and the 2 side by side ones and gave her a shot of Oxytocin. I brought her home and she passed the large (now deflated) egg but would not pass the mass that was the stuck together ones. I took her back after a couple of days and left her at the Vet. They aspirated a couple behind the trouble area in hopes that relieving some pressure she would go on and pass them, they gave her more Oxytocin too. That didn't work either that mass was stuck and she was so tired. The next step before surgery was manual palpatation. They gave her a very small dose of something to relax her but not put her under and were able to push all the eggs out. She stayed on a few more days so they could watch her and give her antibiotics. She is fine now, but that experience sure scared me!!
 
Would salt do the same job? I mean if you are working by the theory of osmosis, surely salt would be ok to use too? Just wondering as I am trying to get as much info as possible before I start breeding next year.

I hope the rest of the eggs come out OK Rhonda! thank you for sharing this thread with us...its been so good to get some more information!
 
I would think it would be fine to use sugar on a prolapsed hemipenes, too. We use sugar on male dogs and cats at work when they have this problem.

As for salt, it would work, but it would be MUCH more irritating to the delicate tissues. I would stick with using sugar.

Ronda...how did this situation turn out?
 
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