Prolapsed rectum

A local person that bought a mojave from me last summer texted me last night asking about a snake with "its intestines hanging out". Immediately, I thought of a prolapsed rectum, which it turned out to be, and it happened to be the mojave I produced dealing with it. I've never seen a prolapse or dealt with one in person, so with whatever quick research I could do, advised him to make sure his enclosure was spotless, try to keep the swollen area moist, and to get to a vet. Well, he got to the vet today, and was told that the snake needed surgery. Unfortunate situation, to say the least. The vet, who I also use, told this person that a prolapsed rectum is caused by feeding too often and/or feeding prey items that are too large, dehydration, stress caused by errors in husbandry, or a combination of all. I have read about using a sugar/water paste on the swollen area, neosporin, preparation H, etc...and help massage it back down and bandage it hoping it will go back into place, but felt it was not my place to inform the person to try such methods, as I can't speak to the effectiveness of them. I'd like to hear if anyone has experience this on their own. I also attached the pic of the prolapse that the person sent me last night...

http://i1216.photobucket.com/albums/...J/prolapse.jpg

I posted this so that...

A) For those who have never seen one, this is what a prolapsed rectum looks like. Not a pretty sight.

B) I'm all for cute pics, new pick ups, breeding pics, etc...but let's face it, bad things happen. Granted, this didn't happen to me, but why wait to talk about bad things until they actually happen to one of us?

C) It makes me rethink feeding even further. I only feed once a week, regardless of size, except for females that have bred...they get offered every 4-5 days, but smaller meals. So what I often think about is why, when balls easily thrive off of one feeding weekly, and can thrive on even less food, do people feed more, especially when they are young? This is not me being critical of anyone who feeds every 4-5 days, though I don't see any benefit to it other than the snake will grow faster. Sausage butts are cute and all, but seeing that a big blowout of feces, or passing waste too often can potentially lead to the picture above, is it worth the risk just so a snake grows a little faster? Balls digest much more slowly than, let's say, colubrids, who eat and then crap 2-3 days later. Balls can easily have 2+ meals in them between passing the waste.

Again, this is just open for discussion, and I'm not criticizing anyone or anything, as I truly don't know one way or the other. Would still also love to hear anyone's personal experiences with prolapses. From the reading I've done on them, they can be an easy home fix, though if it's a recurring problem, obviously something needs to be done aside from sugar and/or Preparation H.

This can also happen if substrate sticks to the spurs when breading and is taken up when they retract. feel so sorry for that BP hope it gets better soon.

The vet we go to had to treat a red tail with a prolapse, and she also recommended a lukewarm sugar water bath, that is supposed to reduce the swelling.I remember seeing the red tail, not much larger than a hattchling, and had only been eating pink mice, which makes his situation unlikely to be large meals, and his prolaps stuck out about half the length of one of my fingers. He also needed surgery to tuck it all back in.

I have had luck with a prolapsed hemipene and water based lube (like you would use for probing) Alto keep it moist, and then put our boy in a very clean tub, changing paper towels out regularly.

Maybe you fan also discuss this with the vet, and your findings? Your vet may agree with some methods that may help the snake.

I haven't dealt with a snake prolapsed rectum, but I have in mammals. The sugar thing does really work. Fill a small container with sugar. Dip the prolapsed hind end into the sugar. Wait a day or so and it will be gone. In the animals I have done, it was unnoticeable that the prolapse even happened.

I'm wondering if this home remedy is effective in reptiles as well as mammals?

Hope that little mojo gets better. Looks painful :(

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Originally Posted by Anatopism

and she also recommended a lukewarm sugar water bath

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Originally Posted by satomi325

The sugar thing does really work. Fill a small container with sugar.

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As good as my vet is with reptiles, he is equally as bad when it comes to food. He advised the person against the sugar treatment, saying it would promote bacterial growth, where in actuality, sugar is very bacterial resistant as far as food things go. It also works along the same lines as salt, where a highly concentrated sugar solution will draw water away, which would lead to the swelling of the prolapse to go down.

I'm no Vet, but I have a hard time believing that large prey items are the cause of this problem. There are a lot of people out there who probably over feed, and you don't hear about this happening too often. As far as the husbandry goes, that snake looks to be in pretty good health other than the prolapse.

I coud see large prey being an issue, but only to exacerbate something the snake may have been prone to anyway. This happens in all animal types occasionally, including humans.

I have dealt with a prolapse on my friends chrondro. what I did was put sugar paste on the effected area let it sit for 30 mins or so and gently pushed it back in with the blunt side of a probe. We put her in a tub with damp paper towels for a week I did this about 6 months ago and she seems to be fine now she is eating a crapping just like normal. You could definitely injure or kill your snake trying this yourself so do so at your own risk.

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Originally Posted by Slim

I'm no Vet, but I have a hard time believing that large prey items are the cause of this problem. There are a lot of people out there who probably over feed, and you don't hear about this happening too often. As far as the husbandry goes, that snake looks to be in pretty good health other than the prolapse.

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You don't hear about it happening that often, but truth is, we have no idea how often it happens...sure it's not mites or RI, but we don't know. I'd venture to guess that those who participate in snake/reptile forums are in the vast minority of those who actually own reptiles.

As far as too large of a prey item causing this problem, I would think it's entirely feasible. Give a snake a meal that is too large, and it is automatically going to pass a larger amount of waste. Whatever may be coming out with that larger amount of waste, whether it be bacteria, undigested hair, etc...could easily irritate what is a rather sensitive body part. Same goes for feeding too often. Let's say a snake eats 2,3,4 times, goes into shed, and after shedding let's all that waste out in one shot. That could potentially cause a good amount of stress to the rectum.

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

I'd venture to guess that those who participate in snake/reptile forums are in the vast minority of those who actually own reptiles.

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I used to think this as well, but honestly, the majority of Ball Python owners and quite a few breeders don't have an online presence.

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Originally Posted by Slim

I used to think this as well, but honestly, the majority of Ball Python owners and quite a few breeders don't have an online presence.

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That's what I was getting at, sorry if my wording was a little off...We, online, are in the vast minority of keepers, therefore we know so little as far as how common/uncommon something like this is.

Make a sugar paste and apply it to the prolapse, Then use few layers of gauze and wrap it up, Keeping the gauze moist. Changing it Daily and the sugar should cause shrinking so itll go back in.

Tell the owner this snake cant be bred

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Make a sugar paste and apply it to the prolapse, Then use few layers of gauze and wrap it up, Keeping the gauze moist. Changing it Daily and the sugar should cause shrinking so itll go back in.

Tell the owner this snake cant be bred

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Rich, the snake is at the vet's for the weekend and will be having surgery done. Out of curiosity, because I simply don't know, why can't a snake that's had a rectum prolapse breed? Of course I'm assuming that it will physically be able to breed, but what makes it so that it shouldn't?

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

Rich, the snake is at the vet's for the weekend and will be having surgery done. Out of curiosity, because I simply don't know, why can't a snake that's had a rectum prolapse breed? Of course I'm assuming that it will physically be able to breed, but what makes it so that it shouldn't?

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Your risking another prolapse. If he locks a female, and she decides to pull away, she can cause more problems

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Originally Posted by RichsBallPythons

Your risking another prolapse. If he locks a female, and she decides to pull away, she can cause more problems

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Thanks Rich.

Never seen it on a snake. Ouch poor baby. Had to deal with it in a chicken, unsuccessfully though, hers was too bad because the other chickens had got at it. They see weakness and get ruthless. Hope they fix it ok, and def don't breed.

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Originally Posted by bclose93

This can also happen if substrate sticks to the spurs when breading and is taken up when they retract. feel so sorry for that BP hope it gets better soon.

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Spurs do not retract after breeding. They are external. This would not be the cause.

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

You don't hear about it happening that often, but truth is, we have no idea how often it happens...sure it's not mites or RI, but we don't know. I'd venture to guess that those who participate in snake/reptile forums are in the vast minority of those who actually own reptiles.

As far as too large of a prey item causing this problem, I would think it's entirely feasible. Give a snake a meal that is too large, and it is automatically going to pass a larger amount of waste. Whatever may be coming out with that larger amount of waste, whether it be bacteria, undigested hair, etc...could easily irritate what is a rather sensitive body part. Same goes for feeding too often. Let's say a snake eats 2,3,4 times, goes into shed, and after shedding let's all that waste out in one shot. That could potentially cause a good amount of stress to the rectum.

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While too large of a prey item can be the cause, more often than not, the animal ingested some bedding, and the bedding caused an urate impaction. While I have not dealt with a prolapsed intestine, I have dealt with a prolapsed hemipene. In the case of a hemipene, I would suggest a sugar paste application. The reason being in general a pene prolapse is due to fluid being trapped in the pene, and the sugar will be hydrophilic and absorb the moisture in turn shrinking the pene. In some rare cases (which we believe in my worst case) the pene is twisted, thus causing the vein to be twisted and pinched and not allowing the blood to drain after breeding. In this case, you would have to get the vein untwisted and clear so that the blood will drain.

In your case, I would say it is intestinal, and I would apply preparation H. While I have not done this, I would highly recommend this attempt prior to surgery, as the surgery will be irreversible. The Preparation H is a great first attempt and will not harm the snake, so long as too many treatments aren't applied. I always get nervous about a vet that wants to perform surgery, especially since 99% of vets know almost nothing about herps. Hopefully this vet does.

Good luck, and I hope my post was at least somewhat informative.

Thanks for the info Tim! If the snake were still in my possession and this occurred, I probably would have tried to mend it before going to the vet, however, the current owner was just not confident enough to try anything. Not at all a knock on him, as experiencing something new can throw some owners for a loop. The vet he went to is a very good vet though and has performed multiple surgeries on reptiles. I'm confident that he knows what he's doing, otherwise I would not have recommended him.