BP needs medical attention!

I would like to start by saying that I am going to make an vet appointment asap for this girl, but in the meantime, just wondering if anyone else has seen/heard anything like this.

I got this yearling spider female about 700g. Got her in a trade a little over 2 months ago. She seemed healthy and all at the time. Kept her for about 6 weeks, to ensure all was good, then I started putting her on my table at the shows. About 2 weeks or so ago, we noticed that she looked like she had a kink in her about midway down the body. I took her off the table and back in my racks. Now I just checked on her today and noticed this "kink" has gotten larger. It is a large ring all the way around her body. The only way I can think to describe it is like a rib that is 50% larger than all her other ribs.

Has anyone experienced anything like this? She seems otherwise okay. She is acting like herself, she is eating, it does not seem to hurt her when I touch it or anything.

Oh my... it is just one rib or does it feel more like a mass? Unfortunately it sounds very much like a tumor. Hopefully the vet can address whatever it may be and save her.

I would say it is a perfect ring all the way around the body that is about 1/4" in diameter. I am not sure how thick bp ribs are, but I would assume that it would have to be a few ribs length.

Bummer. Hope its not a tumor, but I suppose whatever it is, I am sure I will find out that it is not good.

It could also be dislocated/broken ribs which tend to heal in a lump over time. While ugly they aren't generally life threatening unless they are transient and they can be easily addressed by a vet. Please keep us updated on your girl!

http://i871.photobucket.com/albums/a...ps700ce22d.jpg

Best pic I could get...she went frantic spider on me, but you can get the idea, that bulge you see on the sides goes all the way around

It does look a bit odd to me but it seems that a simple xray will be diagnosic. However, if I was to take a guess it looks like a foreign body. Any chance that could have happened?

Wow! And maybe it's a trick of the light combined with her blushing, but it looks like the bump may be on her spine as well? Is it also on her belly?

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Originally Posted by Wizard

It does look a bit odd to me but it seems that a simple xray will be diagnosic. However, if I was to take a guess it looks like a foreign body. Any chance that could have happened?

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What do you mean by foreign body? Like, did she eat something she should not have? If so, I would say no, I have her in a rack that only has sanichips and her waterbowl, no other furniture.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Wow! And maybe it's a trick of the light combined with her blushing, but it looks like the bump may be on her spine as well? Is it also on her belly?

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No trick of the light. It does wrap around her. Think swallowing a mini hula hoop. Her belly seems to be the worse looking area.

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Originally Posted by shadowsnakes

It could also be dislocated/broken ribs which tend to heal in a lump over time. While ugly they aren't generally life threatening unless they are transient and they can be easily addressed by a vet. Please keep us updated on your girl!

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I hope you are right. I did not see any way to be optimistic here, but you gave me at least a glimmer of hope. Guess we'll see what the vet says.

Pg 4 of this thread has x-rays of broken ribs due to shipping if you need a comparison: http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/foru...d.php?t=360527

When you traded for her, did you ship the snakes to each other or was it a hand-off? Just trying to figure out how her ribs could possibly have been broken if indeed that's the issue.

It was a face to face hand off. I always check them thoroughly in these situations. That is why at first I was completely baffled on how I missed this, but now it is apparent this is something that has happened since I have had her and I have no clue what has caused whatever is going on.

Just got back from the vet. Took some x-rays and determined that it is osteomyelitis in the spine, and the swelling from this is pushing outward on that rib. Good news is some antibiotics should treat the infection and she should live a full and happy life. Bad news is the damage to this point has been done and is not exactly reversible therefore she will not be a breeder, which is fine since I had already come to that conclusion when I thought it was a kink.

What a unique situation. Did the doc say the swelling would go down at all, or will she just have the hula hoop for the rest of her life?

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Originally Posted by adamfritzsche

Just got back from the vet. Took some x-rays and determined that it is osteomyelitis in the spine, and the swelling from this is pushing outward on that rib. Good news is some antibiotics should treat the infection and she should live a full and happy life. Bad news is the damage to this point has been done and is not exactly reversible therefore she will not be a breeder, which is fine since I had already come to that conclusion when I thought it was a kink.

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What kind of damage are we talking about, exactly? Osteomyelitis is just an infection. Granted, it's a serious infection that can be lethal, but I've never heard of it doing any damage genetically. Assuming that's the kind of damage you're concerned about, I don't know that I'd give up on breeding her completely. If I were in your shoes, I would consider going ahead and breeding her once the infection clears up and she's ready to breed otherwise. By all means, have a back up plan, but I'd say breed her, hold back one or two hatchlings, and sell the rest. Obviously at a lower $ and will full disclosure of moms illness, but I don't think it would be an issue, long term. I would also put her in strict qt until I had some idea as to the sourse of infection.

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I know I'm really new here but I thought I'd chime in just because I have a little bit of experience in this... I had a Chinese water dragon with osteomyelitis in his lower jaw. It can be a serious infection but once it's treated with antibiotics and the infection is gone, I agree your BP might still have that swelling around her ribs. My CWD still had lumps on his jaw long after the infection was taken care of. My vet said it was calcified scar tissue.
http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps7368a125.png
I would second getting a culture done because it took forever to get the right antibiotics for Jazz ^ here and he suffered long for it.

Don't take my word for it because I have basically zero experience but I wouldn't put stress on her by breeding her when she has had an injury like that, regardless on whether or not it's genetic. I wouldn't want to risk her carrying eggs, myself.

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Originally Posted by Thalasuchus

I know I'm really new here but I thought I'd chime in just because I have a little bit of experience in this... I had a Chinese water dragon with osteomyelitis in his lower jaw. It can be a serious infection but once it's treated with antibiotics and the infection is gone, I agree your BP might still have that swelling around her ribs. My CWD still had lumps on his jaw long after the infection was taken care of. My vet said it was calcified scar tissue.
http://i803.photobucket.com/albums/y...ps7368a125.png
I would second getting a culture done because it took forever to get the right antibiotics for Jazz ^ here and he suffered long for it.

Don't take my word for it because I have basically zero experience but I wouldn't put stress on her by breeding her when she has had an injury like that, regardless on whether or not it's genetic. I wouldn't want to risk her carrying eggs, myself.

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Jazz is adorable.


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Originally Posted by patientz3ro

What kind of damage are we talking about, exactly? Osteomyelitis is just an infection. Granted, it's a serious infection that can be lethal, but I've never heard of it doing any damage genetically. Assuming that's the kind of damage you're concerned about, I don't know that I'd give up on breeding her completely. If I were in your shoes, I would consider going ahead and breeding her once the infection clears up and she's ready to breed otherwise. By all means, have a back up plan, but I'd say breed her, hold back one or two hatchlings, and sell the rest. Obviously at a lower $ and will full disclosure of moms illness, but I don't think it would be an issue, long term. I would also put her in strict qt until I had some idea as to the sourse of infection.

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Well, after the doc showing me what the infection has done to the spine, which shows that the spine in that spot has practically been eaten away, I don't think it would be wise to ever breed her and on top of that I never intended to keep her anyways, as I have a few bumblebee females. So I still intend on selling her once she has recovered and as such I would definitely not sell her to any one as a future breeder.

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Originally Posted by adamfritzsche

Well, after the doc showing me what the infection has done to the spine, which shows that the spine in that spot has practically been eaten away, I don't think it would be wise to ever breed her and on top of that I never intended to keep her anyways, as I have a few bumblebee females. So I still intend on selling her once she has recovered and as such I would definitely not sell her to any one as a future breeder.

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Good point. It's a shame, she looks like she's got a gorgeous pattern. Check your inbox.

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Just so everyone is clear about what I meant, my comment about breeding her after her illness was assuming that the concern was for genetic issues in further generations. Considering the extent of bone deterioration in het spine, breeding her wouldn't be right. She needs to be a well loved pet

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