Hatchling with Prolapsed Innards

[PtDnsr]

So this was my last flourescent hatchling - a full day after the one before came out. I thought at a very quick first glance that it had more yolk to reabsorb but obviously that wasn't the case at a closer look. The pictures aren't the best - they make it look dried out when it wasn't/isn't. This guy hatched a week ago and hasn't shed yet although the rest of the clutch has. I tried to push it back inside but when I did that he started to musk and in contracting muscles more innards started to come out so I quit REALLY quickly. Right now I'm just keeping him really humid/moist and on a bare bottom cage. I'm not bugging him too much because I don't want to stress him and make him musk again. We'll see what happens. He's still active and alert - not moving a ton that I can tell but he shows interest and strikes when I go near the cage. I'm hoping it will resolve on it's own although I don't have much hope, but we'll see what happens. Let me know if anyone has any ideas - I've e-mailed Connie as well since she's good with snakes and medical things.

~Katie

 

[Jay@PJCReptiles]

I had the same thing happen to one of my babies this year Katie. I think it is due to detatching itself from it's yolk sack to soon inside the egg before it decided to emerge. This is just my guess, but I did think it was quite odd. I saw another thread not to long ago that pertained to the same thing. My baby did not make it and I am pretty sure the baby in the other thread did not as well. :shrugs: Hard to tell exactly what went wrong but mother nature has her way of making herself be known.
Jay

 

[PtDnsr]

I don't think the little guy will make it but who knows :shrugs: I just thought it was interesting and thought you guys might enjoy pics. The funny thing was that it wasn't even swollen around the area at all - just a little bit sticking out. I'll keep this updated as I can.

~Katie

 

[PtDnsr]

Update!

So I checked on the little guy today. He managed to shed but got it stuck on the last little bit of his tail because it bunched up (but got it past the prolapsed gut - go figure). Ate his (really tiny) meal too so I upped his heat a bit and put a towel over his container to give him lots of calm time. Still feisty and striking and alert. The pics I took didn't come out too well because it was just me there. Doesn't look any worse or any better so who knows. :shrugs:

~Katie

 

[JenC]

Wow that sucks. I really hope he gets himself fixed up. Hopefully you'll wake up and he'll be better. Kudos for holding onto him and giving him hope.

 

[Mrs InsaneOne]

Don't know how I missed this thread... Sorry to hear about the little one,but at least he shed most of the way and there's no swelling. Let us know if he/she has any troubles passing waste since it ate though and good luck with the little fella...


Jenn

 

[Eriathiel]

Wow I really hope he makes it! Its a good thing that he's alert... Good Luck! Keep giving updates!

 

[PtDnsr]

New pics!

So I managed to get some semi-decent pics today. The thing is as active as ever - took me a bit to calm him down but he didn't try to musk which is good, no more guts pushing out. No clue what's going to happen with this guy - we'll see if he manages to pass food and if he does we'll see what else I can do.

~Katie

Shot from above (sorry about the coloring - bad lighting)

 

[Nanci]

If he was a human baby they'd make him lay on his back and gravity would gradually allow/force the innards to go back in. I see that at work maybe two to four times a year. They make a protective bandage around it, usually attached to the cover of the "viv" to keep it straight up from the opening in the abdomen.

Hope he does ok. Have you consulted a vet?

Nanci

 

[Spork]

I've seen two other threads about this happening and both did not make it but I hope that this little guy does! Thats pretty strange how the shed made it past the innards! If his meal passes then thats gotta be good news keep us updated!

 

[PtDnsr]

Update!!!

I had left this little guy alone hoping not to stress him out. Didn't feed him last week either to give it some time to see if his prolapse would correct itself. Lookie what I saw when I got him out today.

No clue what's going on with this guy but I fed him today and he gobbled it up for his second meal. His skin is kinda dry like hasn't shed so I'm going to keep an eye on him - I'm still not convinced on his first shed. Feisty little bugger. No clue what happened. I had found a maggot crawling out of the opening a week or so ago and thought he was a goner (only one that I saw and I got it off of him). The cage wasn't dirty at all so it didn't come from that. Maybe it was eating dead tissue and that helped bring the prolapse back inside? No clue. I'll keep you gys updated!

~Katie

 

[dionythicus]

Maggots certainly can be beneficial. Looks like its slowly healing. Good luck!

 

[Nanci]

Wow, he looks great! My mom was of the generation when they used maggots to clean wounds. She had them put on her knee when she fell off a swing set...

Nanci

 

[Eriathiel]

Thats great! I hope he continues to improve! He's a fighter!

 

[jaxom1957]

I had left this little guy alone hoping not to stress him out. Didn't feed him last week either to give it some time to see if his prolapse would correct itself. Lookie what I saw when I got him out today.

Wouldn't it be something if all he ended up with was an "outie" belly button?

 

[Kryos]

We had something very similar happen with a baby leopard gecko that hatched out this year. She had torn internal tissue by prematurely tearing off her umbilical cord. We rinsed the protruding tissue with a saline solution, slathered it in polysporin, and got her off to the vet first thing in the morning (We're lucky to have excellent exotics veterinarians here). She weighed in at 2 grams, and was just over an inch in total length. The vet gassed her out and examined the tissue, finding it to be abdominal fat. He cinched it off, and put a single suture in with the smallest needle they had in the clinic. I shed her myself for her first shed, to make sure she didn't tear the suture out, and assist fed her for several weeks, as she would not eat on her own. She's now over 2 months old, and healthy and feisty as can be, and gobbling down everything in sight! Besides being smaller than usual for her age (I suspect her energy was going into knitting herself back together!) and a small scar on her stomach, she's none worse for the wear, and is growing into an exceptionally beautiful little leo.

The vet said the cause was likely fluctuating incubation temperatures (which makes sense as my friend who was incubating them had to move right in the middle of incubation), resulting in this congenital defect. He also said that with hernias, they don't knit together properly if you stitch them together like you normally would, as it's an actual parting in the muscle of the abdominal wall. So with larger animals, like puppies, they cut a bit of tissue away on either side and then stitch. Besides the fact that this would be nearly impossible with our gecko, due to the size of the patient, there is also a major vein that runs smack down the middle of their ventral surface - hitting that would mean instant death. So he overlapped the stitch when he sewed her closed. It seems to have done the trick so far...I'm still hoping the gecko turns out to be male, so she never has to test how well she healed with ovulation...

Anyways, snakes are different once again, but I thought you might like to hear a bit about a fellow scaley with the same condition who did make it! Best of luck with your little guy, and keep us posted!

~Kryss~

 

[Mrs InsaneOne]

Sure looks like he's doing well! Glad to hear he's holding in there as well as he has!


Jenn

 

[PtDnsr]

Thanks guys! I'll keep you updated!

~Katie

 

[antsterr]

well, how about this one. This was that last to hatch from my first clutch ever. This little guy is about 4 days out of the egg now, he's very alert but yikes! this looks terrible.

Kind of disheartening to have something like this happen on your first clutch.
Well, I've he's got 13 healthy brothers and sisters and my second batch is half ways hatched right now, all looking very healthy. Should I just give this one some time or should I stuff it's prolapse in side it and put a band-aid around it or take scissors and cut it off? It looks like it's drying up and breaking off or something. It's sad. Maybe I should just give it a quick and painless death.

 

[Nanci]

I just read that for turtles who are slow in absorbing the egg sac you are supposed to put KY jelly (or whatever else is water soluble) on it to keep it moist. That would probably work really well on snakes, too. Katie's little guy started out looking horrible- look at him now!

Nanci