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Guess That Bump!

I'm a little late to this thread but if treating medically (i.e. the cream) I would also agree with switching him to paper towels. One of my corns had an abscess that burst open so I was treating that with betadine baths and such, and it was MUCH easier to deal with paper towels than to try to deal with the aspen chips she is normally on.
 
Zombiegirl, I love the name and your avatar...thanks for your reply and the suggestion. I hope your snake healed completely from her abscess. Did it look ANYTHING like the pictures of Adderal's lump?-
 
Thanks!! That's my username for a few reptile forums :) her lump was not like his sadly, I may have posted a thread on here when I first noticed it...I am on my phone so will try to find it to link tomorrow. She did heal from it but will have quite the scar I think...it burst a pretty big hole :( I could see muscle and such...we did antibiotic injections and betadine baths, I'm curious to see how his lump goes...did the vet suggest surgical removal?
 
Thanks for the link to that...I hope that healed completely; gorgeous animal. And that did look like a good many of the abscess images I saw on Google search.
 
No, vet did not suggest removal as if its a tumor, proximity to the eye would involve removing the eye, and that's a huge operation in snakes and he is thinner than he ought to be...he thinks he should shed every two weeks or so (that has been the case for a long while before this lump appeared...I think its part of his brain damage) so what he eats is going towards constant sheds, not weight gain. I am pleased your snake healed...was the scar as bad as you thought it would be?
 
Hi all. Update on snake. Two days ago I found him chewing on his water bowl (yes, he is addled still), and figured he was just extra hungry. He ate a good healthy meal, 10 crawlers, and then vomited two of them. One of them, he vomited while in his water bowl and I am betting he managed to aspirate some water. This was two days ago...

Now, he is open mouth breathing...and managing to fill his mouth with aspen wood shavings which I remove. His trachea looks a bit swollen. There is no obvious redness, no mouth rot, nothing yucky, no goop. His respirations are silent. No wheezes, no clicking sounds, no bubbles coming from his nose or mouth. At times, when I see him breathe, he will "rear up" and open his mouth extra wide.

In NORMAL snakes, as we all know, open mouth breathing is a very, very bad sign. He is, however, not a normal snake. I do not know if he is in respiratory distress or in pain...which is why most snakes open mouth breath, or this is some new phase to his brain damage that is just evidencing itself. Anyone want to guess?

Its Sunday. No vet is open, except emergency vet and I bet they cant handle exotics. And, my exotics vet is only in on Saturdays...
 
It would be worth a phone call to see if the er clinic could see exotics...I know some that do.

Can I ask why he was fed 10 "crawlers"? That seems an awful lot to me
 
Of course you can ask :)
When I was at the vet with him last time, the vet said that the little mouselings were not "gram for gram" as calorically adequate as the normal sized mice. And, he is a full grown rat snake at about 4 and a half feet...and too thin. So, I have been trying to increase his feedings each time. This last time we hit 10. If he pulls through, I will draw back to eight little ones. I hope that helped, and thank you so much for your reply.

He does have some extra heat on him...part of my hesitation in bringing him to an emergency vet where I don't know if the person does exotics is that the stress of the trip alone could kill him in far more discomfort than dying in his cage where he is warm, comfortable (I hope) and "knows" his environment (OK, complete anthropomorphizing; but I do wonder if normal snakes can know their own enclosure).

Thanks again!!
 
Why did you... just... increase his prey size instead of feeding so many? My largest corn snake is actually on weanling rats. My typical sized adult corns are on x-large mice.

Honestly, I hate to say it, but I personally think you should euthanise him. They don't show discomfort in ways we're used to seeing. My old snake, Ratbait, had weak bones... and we discovered this after I'd euthanised him because he couldn't find the water bowl on his own anymore, and I kept finding him upside down. He had bones that were freshly broken, in all the stages of healing, and some that had clearly broken repeatedly but he showed NO signs of it. If you have to force-feed a snake because of senility, you've hit the point where it's time to let them go. Especially as he's also unable to eat enough to maintain body weight.
 
Because he has to be force fed. Its hard to shove full size mice down a snakes throat. Its far easier to shove little mice down a snakes throat...easier for me, less trauma for the snake.

Read the thread. It explains the whole story.
 
Hey Shiari,

Oh...I did interrogate my veterinarian about this, when it all first started happening, and again when I brought the snake to the vet for the mystery bump on his head. BOTH times, the vet said he was not suffering, not in discomfort and there was no need to euthanize him. I think its wonderful you mentioned that, I know that's a hot button for so many, but like you, I think its cruel to keep an animal alive that is suffering; my vet...a reptile vet...said at most, Adderal was confused.

At any rate....its now a moot point. I found him dead in his cage. His mouth position was closed.

I think his mental functions had deteriorated so much he didn't know how to digest that large meal?

I thank everyone so much who responded on this thread....Shiari, Axis1. ZombieGirl, I have to check back for all the names but I will acknowledge you all.

Sincerely,
Lyreiania
RIP Adderal
 
DollysMom,Hypnoctopus, Daddio,thank you so very much for your input on this thread...it was very much appreciated...and may your own snakes fare much better than my poor departed Adderal.
 
I'm so sorry for your loss. You did all you could for him and much more than many who are not so tuned in do for their snake. Adderal was a very good snake and I know he will be sorely missed.
 
Lyreiania said:
DollysMom,Hypnoctopus, Daddio,thank you so very much for your input on this thread...it was very much appreciated...and may your own snakes fare much better than my poor departed Adderal.
Click to expand...

Sorry to hear about Adderal :(

It might be my time to think about Earlene's comfort in life. She repeatedly spit out her mouse yesterday. She has lost some weight also.
 
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