Help!! Belly swollen, no energy, protruded cloaca

Yeh it was one of the two lessers. I woulnt know what i was looking at. And having the stomach for it woulnt be a problem

Hey sorry to hear she passed overnite. Was a nice looking snake for sure

Sorry to hear she didn't make it.

I'm sorry the little girl didn't make it.

I would still suggest to take her body to a vet to get a necropsy.

Simplex, I'm sorry you lost that little one, but thank you for posting the pictures and information.

I've never seen that type of condition before, we are all better educated should it happen again in the future.

Sorry for your loss. :( thank you for sharing.

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Thank you all. Considering taking the body to the local university for research

It does look like hardbelly.

There have been a few threads on it in the past and it is mentioned in some of the books out there.

It's just one of those problems that crops up - it's not like you did anything wrong or caused it in any way.

Gutted for you though. :(


dr del

Unless the vet has specifically dealt with that in the past, successfully, it is unlikely they would be all that helpful.

You used to see it every season in the farmed baby balls from Africa. Less than 1% of those babies had the issue. Even more rare is to see it in u.s.c.b. hatchlings.

It is a hardened mass in the GI tract that they will NOT be able to pass on their own. "Waiting it out" does not work.

Sometimes you can use your thumb to carefully pass it through the vent, most of the time that fails, and sometimes while doing that it splits the baby right up the middle as it passes. It is never a fun thing to deal with.

Even after a successful pass, the hatchling is unlikely to eat on its own. I would say only 10-20% live more than 2 months after the pass of the hard mass.

The hatchlings with the hard belly are often odd patterned and visually exciting, which leads to even more disappointment when they pass. I've got pics on this from years ago, maybe I will try and dig them up...

Robyn,

Do you think the funky pattern and the "hard belly" is somehow linked? Maybe like megacolon in rats for example?