Help!! Belly swollen, no energy, protruded cloaca

http://img.tapatalk.com/188e0709-4eae-b178.jpghttp://img.tapatalk.com/188e0709-4ebe-efb4.jpgI have been gone for a day, and when i checked on my hatchling he/she wasnt good, major swelling, and when u pick it up and if any pressure what so ever is applied its vent opens, i have a gut feeling i am too late, any ideas, i dont wanna lose this baby :(

Its only 5 days old, home is perfect for heat, humidity, has 1 hide that it never uses, black rack and in a shoebox. No shed, siblings are fine.

Vet visit immediately
Ive never seen something like that on here

She needs a vet for sure but like you suspect, it almost looks too late. Keep us posted, I definitely wanna know what is going on, this will be interesting to hear as I have never seen something like that.

Sounds like hard belly. It's hardened yolk inside the belly of some hatch-lings. Sometimes they get over it, and sometimes they don't, but there is no cure. Vet. visit for sure.

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Originally Posted by maze031

sounds like hard belly. It's hardened yolk inside the belly of some hatch-lings. Sometimes they get over it, and sometimes they don't, but there is no cure. Vet. Visit for sure.

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Gut feeling was right, this one didnt make it through the night. Crappy way to wake up.

dang sorry to hear.

Im so sorry. Was she one of the lessers?

That sucks. Sorry you lost that one. Being my first year I am trying to mentally prepare for these issues too:(

Would you have the stomach to do an autopsy?

I am really sorry to hear as well. I would just be super curious to find out what happened.

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?

Yes I do, but I don't have a clue how, other than a very layman's guess of "underdevelopment issues".

I have found the pics, and posted a hard belly specific thread:

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hon-hatchlings

Wow, that doesn't look anything like egg yolk, it looks like some sort of mass, or growth. Has it ever been biopsied? Has one of these snakes ever been surgically explored to find out if that thing is attached in there, or what exactly it is?

Im really sorry for your lost. But thanks for sharing the pictures. Its my first time seein this hard belly phenomenon and I know sharing this kind of pictures would evetually end up helping other keepers and breeders out there.