Chondroma - the hits keep on comin

[Big Thunder]

My third post since owning my BP for one week:

Just spoke to my vet. Symptoms and research plus consults with colleuges seem to indicate my girl has a trachea chondroma. Not good! Anyone ever heard of this? Seems there is not much literature on treating this. If anyone has had experience, please let me know, or chime in.

[joepythons]

My third post since owning my BP for one week:

Just spoke to my vet. Symptoms and research plus consults with colleuges seem to indicate my girl has a trachea chondroma. Not good! Anyone ever heard of this? Seems there is not much literature on treating this. If anyone has had experience, please let me know, or chime in.

It might have helped if you posted this info in the same thread you started about having issues with your snake.Until i looked at your other thread i had no idea what you were talking about

[Big Thunder]

Thanks - I am having RI issues with the snake. I'm learning by reading about those issues through this site. My question pertains specifically about Chondroma. I searched and I think I may be the first user to post about it. I do appreciate your comment.

[2kdime]

First I've ever heard of it.

I looked it up and it appears to be a benign tumor?

I'm very interested in knowing how your vet determined this.

I'm also interested in how knowledgeable he is in herps.

[dr del]

Hi,

So did this turn up overnight when you were feeding - if so did you mention this to the vet?

That would be one heck of a fast tumour development.


del

[Big Thunder]

No, it did not turn up overnight. The snake has been in respiratory distress since I acquired her. My vet, who has nearly 20 years experience with herps has run some diagnostics in attempts to determine the underlying problem. The snake shows signs of RI, and is being treated for RI; however, she is void of normal symptoms (mucus, froth, etc) associated with RI. To confirm the Chondroma lateral x-rays and a procedure similar to a tracheal intubation are needed.

[JLC]

I think Joe's comment was just meant to let you know that a connection to your original thread would help people follow the story better. I do understand your desire to start a new thread because the issue is new and rather unique. Here's a link to your other thread that describes the medical problems you've been experiencing:

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...d.php?t=112079

With so many new threads being created each day, it's hard for folks to read them all...and even when they do read them, they may not remember who posted it and not connect your new thread to your original story.

ANYhow....I've been doing this (running this forum) for a very long time, and I can honestly say that I don't think I've ever seen this particular issue brought up or discussed. Some of the big breeders who work with thousands of snakes might have seen something like this. You might consider dropping an e-mail to a few and asking about it if you have specific questions you'd like to find answers for.

I'm very sorry your first experience with these beauties is fraught with so much illness. I hope for healing....but I also hope that this doesn't put you off of owning other snakes in the future. 99% of the time, when purchased from a reliable breeder, these animals are very healthy and hardy.

I commend your efforts to take care of your baby, and I pray it all works out!

[mason]

The other thing for the vet to consider is that snakes who have had long standin/repeated I issues can develop scar tissue and other damage to their lung and respiratory tract.