Graphic pics from clutch 3

Well last week we had clutch #3 come out of there shells. Turned out to be 6 nice little babies. 1.3 normals and .2 Mojaves. One was a little boob egg the other a nice big fatty. \
The big girl had some problems though that had to be corrected. For what ever reason her belly was not fully sealed and part of it had started to heal folded in on its self. I had to sew up her belly, cut the folded part, keep her heart in and then sew up the newly corrected unfolded part. All in all it went fairly well. I really didn't think she was going to make it. After I made the first cut I thought I had made the wrong choice, but today she is still looking very good. I maybe should have made another cut because it looks like she may still have a small hump still. If I had though I don't think I would have been able to keep her heart in at all, it was hard enough trying to keep it in with the cuts I did make. Any ways here are a few pics of the clutch and her.

the whole clutch
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...1/100_2635.jpg

before
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...1/100_2617.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...1/100_2620.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...1/100_2625.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...1/100_2624.jpg

After un-folding and sewing back up.
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...1/100_2631.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...1/100_2632.jpg

http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...1/100_2634.jpg

6 hours post op
http://ball-pythons.net/gallery/file...rs_post_op.jpg

It's been almost a week now and she still looks good, so we have high hopes she'll be fine. I put some diluted iodine on it and I spray her down with Chlorhexidine every day or two to make sure the wound stays fairly clean. I'll post more pics later as time goes by until she is fully healed.

I'm glad she's doing well! Thanks for sharing and definitely keep us updated on her progress.

Way to go! She looks great :) Did you learn from the King in his "guts" video by chance? lol

lol that video is a very helpful video, but I just really went by common sense. You can look at it and see what needed to be done.

You did a great job from the looks of it! On a side note, I happened apon this thread while eating my lunch (not that it hurt my appetite or anything) but what possesses one to open a thread that says "graphic" right in the subject when eating? lol :gj:

WOW!!! Incredible job! Hopefully they little one pulls through for ya!

:bow: :bow:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by PghBall

You did a great job from the looks of it! On a side note, I happened apon this thread while eating my lunch (not that it hurt my appetite or anything) but what possesses one to open a thread that says "graphic" right in the subject when eating? lol :gj:

---

That's too funny! I have done the same thing before and was like ummmm that didn't go as planned.


Thanks!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Ch^10

:bow: :bow:

---

:bow::gj::bow:, GREAT WORK!!!

Thats pretty good work

Very cool to save the snake. :gj: Are these issues genetic? Will you make sure that if the snake survives it ends up in a great pet home? I'm entirely curious what people do with animals like this. :confused:

Regards,

B

Wow thats amazing i always wondered if there could be birth defects but you fixed it thats awesome. When she pulls threw will she eventually heal over multi sheds and loose her scar? and will she still be able to eat ok?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Simple Man

Very cool to save the snake. :gj: Are these issues genetic? Will you make sure that if the snake survives it ends up in a great pet home? I'm entirely curious what people do with animals like this. :confused:

Regards,

B

---

No, the issue isn't genetic. She just didn't develop properly for what ever reason. We did have a couple heat spikes during the incubation period which may have caused the issue. She will more than likely stay here with us but who knows.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Akren_905

Wow thats amazing i always wondered if there could be birth defects but you fixed it thats awesome. When she pulls threw will she eventually heal over multi sheds and loose her scar? and will she still be able to eat ok?

---

Things like this do happen at times. There are birth defects in humans that happen quite often that we just don't hear about or see. The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG) says that 3 out of every 100 babies born in the United States have some kind of major birth defect.

She will always have a scar now, but of course it will only be viewable if you turn her over and look, but it shouldn't be too noticable. Hopefully she lives and functions just like any other normal female ball python. She should have no problems eating or anything else.

Major props to you! I want to get into breeding at some point but stories like this make me wonder if I would have had the presence of mind and the ability to know what to do and do it correctly. I don't know if I could have kept my cool in a situation like that.

Kudos man for giving her a chance!

I love seeing this. It's more common than people think. One of my hatchlings this year needed some assistance too. His umbilical area didn't close enough out of the egg and an inch long portion of his (stomach?) had come out. I had to gently put it back in and since it was such a small area, a bandaid wrapped around it held it in until it closed and the bandaid slipped off a couple days later.

Wow!!! Great job and good luck!

Sent from my MB611 using Tapatalk

way to go it's amazing to see what a little common sense can do to improve her quality of life congrats on the help and clutch

Great work. :gj: She looks much better.

Great work! Just in case I ever have a problem, what type of thread did you use to sew her up?

Great looking clutch by the way. I'm so happy the little one is doing well. Great job!:)

Great op job , I really appreciate when people post threads like this because I feel people that are new to breeding or that are considering breeding need to see this side of the business and that its not all glitz and glitter , thank you for posting and again great job!

Wow, that's pretty amazing. How did you know what to do? I don't think I could have performed surgery in the same situation, I would probably have to call my vet and have them do it.

Great job! I haven't had to do major surgery like that yet but I've had to stuff intestine back into a female I kept out of last years clutch. It healed perfectly with no issues or helper stitches! It always makes me happy when people save the little guys instead of culling them. For a newborn running to the vet is often much more stressful and some vets automatically think to euthanize. Sometimes the best thing to do is keep a level head and sew the little buggers up! Congrats on the successful op! Great job

I am glad she is doing good for you... Please keep us posted...

Wow! Excellent job. :) :gj: :gj::gj::gj: :)

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by koloo921

Great work! Just in case I ever have a problem, what type of thread did you use to sew her up?

---

Actually we have a box of surgical sutures. It had at one time 12 individual Chromic Gut absorbable thread sutures. 3.0 metric 27inches. The needles are 3/8 circular and pre-threaded. It has actually come in pretty handy and has been used a few times. You can actually order them online like on ebay around $10 or so.
You can actually just use regular needles and thread also. I believe that RD used just regular thread in his video.

Thanks for the comment. :D

Good luck with that little girl! I hope she pulls through, she's beautiful!

awesome work! Hope the little fellow will make it... please post more of it development.

Oh, man. I had to get stitches once and it did NOT feel good. Poor baby :(

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TessadasExotics

Actually we have a box of surgical sutures. It had at one time 12 individual Chromic Gut absorbable thread sutures. 3.0 metric 27inches. The needles are 3/8 circular and pre-threaded. It has actually come in pretty handy and has been used a few times. You can actually order them online like on ebay around $10 or so.
You can actually just use regular needles and thread also. I believe that RD used just regular thread in his video.

Thanks for the comment. :D

---

chromic cat gut is not suitable for reptiles... and i'ts out of production since maybe 10 years..
I guess u never used any anesthetic....

Anesthetic does not work very well on reptiles and can have adverse effects....

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quality_Snakes

chromic cat gut is not suitable for reptiles... and i'ts out of production since maybe 10 years..
I guess u never used any anesthetic....

---

Chromic Catgut or Chromic Gut is still produced. It has been used on reptiles. It is not sugested to be used for internal suturing. We have used it before with no ill affects. No we have not ever used any anesthetic on a snake.

If you used any sort of an anaesthetic on that baby, it would almost certainly be dead now.

Yeah, it probably hurt like hell for a few minutes. But that snake can go on now and live a lot of years, and it won't be bent like a boomerang, and it will be able to be normally active.

I once underwent two major orthopedic surgeries. I did have anaesthesia for the surgery, but there was not a thing that they could give me afterwards that would touch the pain. I'm genetically resistant to most anaesthetics, heck, I woke up during one of the surgeries, even with a nerve block. Morphine and dilaudid and all, it did not even touch it. I was in agony for several days after each surgery.

Every minute of pain was worth it. I can walk, and I would have spent the rest of my life in a wheelchair if I didn't go through those surgeries. I've been given 13+ years of the kind of life I value in exchange for those several days of suffering.

Sometimes pain can't be avoided if you want to have any sort of a life in front of you. A snake might just be a snake, but his little life is the only one he has, same as ours. He has a life ahead of him now. I figure that is a lot kinder than doing the "humane" thing and ending it.

I hate to see anything suffer--man or animal. But darn it, life is worth suffering to possess.

Snakes do not have the same nerve receptors mammals do. They can obviously sit on a malfunctioning uth and get thermal burns and cook themselves alive, or get eaten alive by a prey item, so a few helper stitches doesn't ever hurt. Considering the fact that without them this little one would Have died, I'm sure a few minuetes of weird discomfort is much Better.

Exactly. This is an argument I've made multiple times. Reptiles can feel pain, but certainly not in the way that mammals do. If they did, it be very detrimental to them. If they were overcome with pain from a wound in the wild, they would be less likely to escape to a safe place.

It takes a much higher dose of anesthesia to work on a reptile as it does to work on a mammal. It also takes much longer for reptiles to cone out of anesthesia once under. It also affects their internal organs and functions in a different way than it does with mammals.

Some reptiles release a chemical inside their body when under stress that can kill them. This effect can be increased with the use of anesthesia.

Remember Steve Irwin? He constantly talked about this. They never used anesthesia on their crocs. It was safer and less stressful this way. Just secure their legs and mouth, and cover their eyes.

[QUOTE=Foschi Exotic Serpents;1572176]Exactly. This is an argument I've made multiple times. Reptiles can feel pain, but certainly not in the way that mammals do. If they did, it be very detrimental to them. If they were overcome with pain from a wound in the wild, they would be less likely to escape to a safe place.

It takes a much higher dose of anesthesia to work on a reptile as it does to work on a mammal. It also takes much longer for reptiles to cone out of anesthesia once under. It also affects their internal organs and functions in a different way than it does with mammals.

x2
Even wonder why it's hard to find a herpetologist that will do surgery on a reptile . Most of them just tell you there is nothing they can do. It's way to hard on a reptiles body to be put under. Not sure the exact percentage but a lot never make it through the procedure. They also take much longer to come out of it. With the topic being discussed I would do the same in a heart beat. I wouldn't hesitate to suture an animal back up. If you don't like it or dont believe in it then don't do it . Not trying at all to sound like a jerk just sayin...
To the OP great job. Looks good and keep us updated on the little guy.

Hoping that he/she's ok!

Good luck!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Quality_Snakes

chromic cat gut is not suitable for reptiles... and i'ts out of production since maybe 10 years..
I guess u never used any anesthetic....

---

Chromic gut, which is essentially purified bovine collagen, is still available. While it can induce slightly more inflammation than other sutures, I would think that it would be an excellent choice in this situation as it is an absorbable suture, thus saving the snake from the added trauma of suture removal. Why isn't it suitable for reptiles?

To the OP: Great job!

awesome job

Great job on the stitches. :gj:

Nice job! I hope the snake has a long happy life! :)

Any updated pics yet?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by TessadasExotics

Hopefully she lives and functions just like any other normal female ball python. She should have no problems eating or anything else.

---

First of all, I wanted to say that you did a great job. As to the comment I quoted, it is my opinion that if it absorbed the yolk and passes it's first stool with no issues, then all of the internals are working correctly, and she should be fine. My only bit of advice is to feed it once it shed, but feed it a relatively smaller meal than you normally would, to prevent unnecessary stress on the wound area from stretching around a larger meal.

Can't wait to see the progress pics,