Prolapsed Cloaca- insects?

[Arirang]

Hello, all,

A bit of a grim post. Before anyone asks, no, I was unable to take pictures and am not going to disturb her to try.

Nagini, my python, has been very healthy up until now. I went to feed her and I noticed what I now believe to be a prolapsed cloaca- what looks like a blockage of internal tissue extruding out of the vent/cloaca (I'm no expert on their anatomy; this is what I Googled after seeing it for ten seconds). She did not seem to be stressed or in pain, and tolerated handling (I touched her before I saw the anomaly). I do not know how serious a prolapse is, if that's what I'm looking at. There seemed to be small insects/mites crawling on the tissue, which freaked me out more than anything.

I have not handled/observed her in the past few days. She just had a very successful shed, and it seems she shed a second time just now (I believe I saw another skin in there). She switched hiding places; the shed was in her usual spot, she was in a different spot she sometimes goes to.

I cannot afford an emergency vet (and I don't believe the local emergency vet sees reptiles anyways), but I placed a call with my herp vet and will try to get her in tomorrow.

Basically, what I need to know right now is, should I be preparing to say goodbye? Also, what did I do wrong here that could have prevented this?

[Bogertophis]

Definitely get her to vet A.S.A.P.- it's serious but not necessarily the 'end'...though I've never heard of a prolapse with insects! Do everything you can to
keep the tissues HYDRATED until she is seen by the vet....this is ESSENTIAL:

Use a sugar & water paste on the prolapsed tissues, or hemorrhoid cream, to help shrink the tissues. Probably best to let the vet re-insert it, as it might take
a couple stitches to keep it in, etc. ALSO, keep the tissues moist- you can use KY jelly or mineral oil on it, until she is seen by the vet. Waiting too long to get
her to the vet can result in the need for surgical removal & a much worse outcome, which is best avoided (obviously).

How old is she? ever bred or reproduced? No way to tell if anything "you did" could have caused or prevented this. Some causes of prolapse include stress,
parasites (-possibly the "insects" you're seeing?), constipation & dehydration, over-feeding (& power feeding).

Keeping my fingers crossed for her.

[Arirang]

She's quite young, not overfed or powerfed, never bred. I think she's a male, but I've referred to her as female from the start, and her name is Nagini, so...

The insects, I believe, are mites. I had a mite problem with my hermit crabs once, so I recognize them. It just alarmed me because I associate that with, like... imminent death. But she seems fine, otherwise. I did skip her feeding tonight, obviously, as it looks painful and I didn't want to aggravate it by trying to push food through it.

Man, this timing is horrible... She was supposed to be part of a petting zoo I'm doing for my church's harvest festival

She's going to the vet first thing in the morning. I've cleared it with my job- that's the nice thing about working at PetSmart, they work with you on this sort of thing.

[Bogertophis]

... I did skip her feeding tonight, obviously, as it looks painful and I didn't want to aggravate it by trying to push food through it...

I'm sure your vet will tell you NOT to feed her for 3-4 weeks so this area can heal...so I'm very glad you did not feed her tonight...that would be a big mistake.

Keep her prolapsed tissues moist (as suggested above) and do let us know how it goes at the vet's...I hope she makes a good recovery.

[Arirang]

So good to know that it's not as serious as I feared... My first reaction was impaction (since it's bulging) or some sort of weird hernia (which I guess it sort of almost is?)

I'm going to take the humidifier from my (dearly departed) hermit crabs and set it going for her habitat, on full, to keep things moist. That ought to be sufficient, right? She doesn't ever like to sit in water or bathe and doesn't like to be sprayed. I also definitely don't want to try to wrestle her out of her hiding place right now- unless it's easier in the morning, the whole thing is going to the vet with us tomorrow.

Thank you all- I'll keep you posted.

[Arirang]

The prolapse retracted overnight and I got her to the vet. He said she is one of the healthiest snakes he has ever seen, apart from that, and she pulled through the surgery very well (he said she even woke up quickly from anaesthesia). She was given a clean bill of health and was even cleared to still attend a petting zoo event I'm doing at my church's harvest festival on Saturday. She goes in Monday to have her sutures removed, and she's on antibiotics until next Friday, and then we can finally put this behind us. Her next feeding will be two Wednesdays from now, and we're supposed to scale back from smalls to fuzzies, as he thinks the cause was inefficient digestion.

When we got home, I put her back in her tank. She took a victory lap, then darted under her water dish as normal and poked her face back out to thank me. She's gonna be okay.

Thank God. I don't know what I'd do if I lost her this early... I know a good daddy never ranks his children according to favorite, but she's probably second only to my rabbit. Depending on the day, sometimes the cat is also up there.

The vet bill was not pretty, but better than most vets. Guess this means I have to put off buying that thing for my favorite MMO... Oh, well. Worth every penny.

Thank you all for your support!

EDIT: Confirmed, she /is/ female. I just won $20 off that bit of info.

[zina10]

Glad to hear it went so well.

Honestly, though, I would not be taken her to any event, cleared or not. Her body did suffer some trauma, then she had a procedure and she is also on meds.
What she needs now is rest and complete privacy, no stress whatsoever.
Obviously it is up to you, but I wouldn't put her through this additional stress at this time.

[Bogertophis]

Glad to hear it went so well.

Honestly, though, I would not be taken her to any event, cleared or not. Her body did suffer some trauma, then she had a procedure and she is also on meds.
What she needs now is rest and complete privacy, no stress whatsoever.
Obviously it is up to you, but I wouldn't put her through this additional stress at this time.

I totally "second" this advice ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ I'd not take her anywhere for quite some time.

Arirang, what was the deal with "insects"? And if the prolapse retracted on it's own, what was the surgery for? Just a couple sutures to make sure?
Glad to hear you got her taken care of today, I hope her recovery goes great now.

[Arirang]

Vet found no parasites. Maybe I was just panicked and saw spots or something.

[Bogertophis]

Vet found no parasites. Maybe I was just panicked and saw spots or something.

I can understand the panic, for sure ...maybe just bits of substrate that stuck on? Anyway