Solana - Our Scaleless Sunglow Motley Corn

I'm so glad you got this done AND that she's doing well. You & your vet are right to worry some about her skin healing, but with you keeping an eye on things, she'll probably be fine.
I'm glad you fed her more before the surgery- that was a wise decision. :gj:

I've had a couple snakes over the years like this- that keep churning out eggs. It's awfully hard on them, & on us -worrying about egg-binding potential, especially as they age.

I had one snake "spayed" many years ago (not for the same reason- she had an ectopic pregnancy- no way to pass the stuck egg) & she was fine- thanks to a very skilled & caring vet.
In later years, I was not living near a vet I could trust to do this, so I "lived with" the yearly egg-issue.

Solana is doing great! Her stitches come out next week. She has had 3 fuzzy's and one small mouse in the past 4 weeks. She has not gone into shed yet, but is eating, going to the bathroom, and seems alert and healthy. I am very relieved.

I'm very glad to hear that! :gj:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

I'm very glad to hear that! :gj:

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Thank you, Bogertophis!

I am too! Seriously, aside from the stitches and scar, you wouldn't know she had surgery. She is really thriving and has shown no ill effects behavior wise. She is acting like herself. Alert but calm and docile. She pretty much hid the first week or so but after getting a couple of fuzzy's in her, she's been looking for food. She was ready when I offered the third fuzzy. Last night it was a small adult mouse. She usually eats 25G +/- adult mice. My guess was that the one she ate yesterday was 18-20g. No issues. Once the stitches come out, I'll go back to adult mice but probably every 10-14 days instead of weekly. I fed weekly leading up to the surgery and the past 4 feedings because they were much smaller meals and she getting strong again.

I'll try to keep everyone posted on how she does post stitches and what the vet says. However, no news is probably good news!

Veterinary medicine for snakes & other reptiles/exotics has come a long way. :cool: Unless you're not in a larger urban area...the availability in more rural locations is another matter.

Solana saw the vet today and he said she looks great and can start eating her regular size meals (adult mice), go back to higher humidity when in shed (she hasn't shed yet since the spay), and overall, is doing great. However, he did not remove the stitches. He said they may come out with a shed, but more likely, he will take them out in 4 weeks.

She is scaleless and although he thinks the incision looks like it is healing well, he does not want to rock the boat. He would rather wait a little longer.

In general, fantastic report, and she seems to be acting normal. I will offer a F/T adult mouse ASAP.

Sounds like you've got a very capable & caring vet there.

Solana has her sutures out this coming Tuesday.

She is doing amazing. Frankly, I am more bothered by her incision and stitches than she is. I think she will shed soon, which is good, especially since I can keep humidity up now when she does go into shed.

The vet thought she was healing great 3 weeks ago and Katie thinks she is looking good now. I get grossed out easily and I still don't like touching Solana anywhere near the stitches. However, I fully support her body when I take her out and happily remove her to clean, etc. I just haven't gone out of my way to see/touch them.

She has been eating regularly and normally and going to the bathroom regularly and normally as well. She did eat an adult mouse without issue about 10 days ago. I will feed her again when the stitches are out. She will be back on a schedule of an adult mouse every two weeks.

Her behavior, temperament, demeanor, etc. are all as they always have been. She is calm and docile and easy to handle. She, seemingly, is showing no changes or ill effects from the surgery.

I haven't posted pics of her incision and stitches yet, but I wanted to now, especially since she is doing so well. Also, her breeder, Don Soderberg, was asking to see them as well, so we took pics today when I cleaned her tank.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...54d780bbf.jpeghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...c3e8c9711.jpeghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...7586c0c8e.jpeghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...d923c156c.jpeghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...8680d9a28.jpeg

So glad she's healing up nicely. :gj:

Solana's stitches came out without incident. The vet is incredibly happy with how she is doing and she is cleared for normal snake duty.

I am hoping for a shed soon and I am curious to see how everything goes with that and how she looks post shed. The incision scar is still pretty gnarly.

Regardless, she is back to her chill self and eating and going normally. All I can ask. The vet was surprised how chill she was when he removed the sutures. In general, that's Solana, she is not a real wiggly worm like Figment (my other corn snake).

Thanks for keeping us updated.

Solana had a great shed (with some help - soaking). She got all the shed off fine except for around the incision/scab. The vet said to keep soaking her and it worked. All the shed came off as did the scab. He is very pleased with how she looks (I sent him the pics below).

She is doing great. I am very relieved.

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...67a536a27.jpeghttps://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...90fbbf868.jpeg

SURPRISE!

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/cach...075bfe758.jpeg

I don't even know what to say. I found these eggs when checking on her the other day. She is clearly going into shed again (which makes sense).

I spoke to the vet and he thinks (as I did - but honestly have no idea how this works) that these are eggs that were already produced as she was producing when he spayed her. He is pretty confident this is a one off thing. I am bringing her in next week (hopefully after shed) to have him examine her.

The good news is she (as far as I can see) passed them easily and she is not egg bound. She seems fine (I've checked on her a few times) and is staying in her hide because she is in shed (normal for her).

That is wild! :O

I am glad she passed them and hopefully there aren't any more!

WHAT??? :O Hope you get some good answers...

That is BONKERS. When females are bound and determined to cycle, they go.

Many years back, I had a rat snake "spayed" due to ectopic eggs- I wonder??? (She never had any more eggs afterwards, I might add.)

Would love to know what your vet says after her upcoming visit. :D

Update:

Solana saw the vet yesterday. He is very confident that the eggs were already produced and had he made a larger incision would have (likely) seen them. He made an incision as big as he needed to remove the egg producing parts.

Having said that, he was rather surprised that she laid any.

He did ultrasound her and there do not appear to be any eggs in her as of now. We also decided to have her back in March for an ultrasound to see if she is producing (which we do not expect). We will then do an ultrasound again the following year and if still not producing, are probably in the clear.

No eggs now, high confidence he got all the egg producing parts, and the fact she only laid 4 eggs (it has never been less than 11) and the way they looked gives us a high degree of confidence this was a one off.

In the meantime, she shed and is doing great, looks beautiful and healthy, and is her normal calm and docile self.