Hognose with mass/lump

Went back and looked at my records, she laid slugs March 2018. So that’s how long this egg has been in there.


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:O Wow! Your little snake is a big trooper! I'm glad she's okay and survived this ordeal! Thanks for posting all this, I am glad it's a happy ending

Seems easier to bump this to keep it all together. The Hognose did fine through most of 2019 after passing those slugs finally. November 2019 I noticed she had yet another lump! She wasn't struggling to pass it and I gave her awhile hoping it would pass with soaks but soon became clear we had another issue.

Back to the vet, more xrays, looks like another [emoji1639]! They try to get it out, do an enema, lube, fluid drained from the egg. They can't get it out. It's definitely starting to block her from passing feces so I've stopped offering food until this is cleared out, she's not happy about this at all.

I brought her back in last week, vet drained more out, more stuff up the butt, they could not get it out and ended up prolapsing her a little trying which went back in right away but caused some bleeding. They recommend a vet with more experience saying she may need surgery. I'm pretty rural so had to call another five vets between 3-5 hours away to find one that could help us out.

Today I trucked her down to a new vet. Waiting in the room for the dr, I check on her again and am greeted by a horrendous odor. [emoji1785] She finally just passed them after 2.5 months of struggle. We do another X-ray just to make sure but looks like just blocked up feces left.

I'm happy she passed them again but definitely concerned why this an issue, one piece was an encapsulated egg, the other just looked like layers of tissue. But why do they get stuck in the same spot when she clearly can pass them?

First X-ray of this round

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Also I've given in and am calling her "Eggy" now, the vets all seem so baffled that my snakes aren't named.

Her in the vet office, right when I smelt it.

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No idea why...poor little hoggy! I have middle-aged unbred Florida rat snakes (Yellow x Gulf Hammock x ?) that every year produce double clutches of eggs, like 2
dozen or more for the first clutch & upper teens for the second clutch...some are clearly slugs while many others look like good eggs (& in fact this year I incubated
the good ones & THREE of them hatched!? :O ). These big girls make me nervous, I wish they'd quit producing eggs... Years ago, I lost a nice Calif.desert king to
egg-binding & she'd never bred either. Years further back, I had a rat snake that had an ectopic pregnancy (the eggs were not in the oviducts) & I was fortunate to
find a vet that successfully spayed her- that solved the problem. Good luck with yours...

I was also going to suggest spaying since it sounds like she has an internal issue that prevents eggs from passing easily.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I was also going to suggest spaying since it sounds like she has an internal issue that prevents eggs from passing easily.

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Problem is no vet really wants to do it at this point, being such an invasive surgery. I guess we will see if it continues to be an issue with her. This vet was going to look into whether anyone had tried hormone treatment, like a des implant that they put in various animals already. It would likely cost me nearly 2k to get a spay on her between vet costs and travel expenses so that's worst case scenario but if it gets to having to open her up at all I'd rather have it done and avoid more repeats.

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

Problem is no vet really wants to do it at this point, being such an invasive surgery. I guess we will see if it continues to be an issue with her. This vet was going to look into whether anyone had tried hormone treatment, like a des implant that they put in various animals already. It would likely cost me nearly 2k to get a spay on her between vet costs and travel expenses so that's worst case scenario but if it gets to having to open her up at all I'd rather have it done and avoid more repeats.

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Since the surgery doesn't need to be done immediately you can call around to the exotics specialists nationwide, do a consultation, see what they suggest to stop her from cycling, etc. I know that SEAVS gets reptiles shipped in from all over for treatment.

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

Problem is no vet really wants to do it at this point, being such an invasive surgery. I guess we will see if it continues to be an issue with her. This vet was going to look into whether anyone had tried hormone treatment, like a des implant that they put in various animals already. It would likely cost me nearly 2k to get a spay on her between vet costs and travel expenses so that's worst case scenario but if it gets to having to open her up at all I'd rather have it done and avoid more repeats.

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It doesn't help that she's such a small snake either. FYI, when I had a snake spayed I lived in So. Calif. & took her to the vet who had both a private practice & also worked for the Living Desert Zoological Park in Palm Springs, so you might check with nearby zoos to find someone they can recommend who doesn't work exclusively for them. I don't recall what the surgery cost me (it's been quite a few years) but I guarantee it wasn't anything like 2k...nearest I can recall it was about $500 & was a total success.

Good luck!

I really wish the weather was nicer, shipping her would expand my options and be a ton easier. Multiple vets recommended I take her to Como Park Vet in St. 80, which would be at minimum two separate overnight trips, they need an exam before surgery and won't do them same day. I was told they would be the most expensive option. Cedar Lake Pets is slightly closer and can do same day, they quoted me 900-1300 for surgery + exam. There's exotics vets in Garrison and Fargo, both about four hours from me I'd have to call back and see what they would charge, one place was overbooked for a long time and the other recommended the vet we ended up seeing. Or I can cross the border and go to Winnipeg, the exchange rate would help me a little. On the plus side I have located several new exotics vets within driving distance.