Part 2 - This guy...

[xdeus]

Out of all of my hatchlings this year, I would have to say this seemingly normal looking Het. Pied Cinny affected me the most.

If you're not aware of hard belly, take a look at this thread. It's when a baby snake does not absorb its yolk and it becomes a hard mass inside of its body. I've read that some people think it can happen if you take the snake out of the egg too soon, but that certainly wasn't my case. I let most of my snakes pip on their own and come out on their own unless there is a problem.

When I discovered that the snake had hard belly, I was hoping for the best in that he would absorb it or perhaps I could work it out of his cloaca. Unfortunately the mass was much too large and it wouldn't budge. It was probably the size of a small walnut, which is huge for an undersized hatchling.

For reasons I don't want to get into in this thread, I did not want to take him to our local herp vet. I have studied reptile medicine on my own and this condition particularly, and had access to veterinary supplies as well as excellent resources such as this book. So I decided to perform the procedure with my wife's assistance.

The procedure went reasonably well, but the snake was so small and the yolk mass was so large that I didn't give him much of a chance to survive. However, day by day he slowly improved. The wound started healing, but he still didn't have his first meal and would only strike his prey defensively. When he was strong enough I had to assist feed him, but he managed to get it down and it stayed down. Still, I wasn't sure his internal organs could process food until he finally defecated.

It has been over a month and a half since he hatched and has just shed for the second time and taken his second meal on his own so I think he's going to be okay. I would definitely not condone just anyone attempting this procedure, but I wanted to share my story to let everyone know that even the worst case of hard belly can have a positive outcome.

Thanks for taking the time to read my story.