Unfortunately there's a sad update to this story. Last week Nova started having issues with getting backed up/unable to pass feces. We took her to SEAVS and they got her cleaned out, but over the few days they had her for observation they noted issues with her back third becoming paralyzed, with a loss of muscle control in her tail, she could not close her vent, etc. We gave her a few more days to see if things would improve, but she then showed increasing signs of pain in her body just before the paralysis point.
They theorize that there may have been some nerve damage due to the surgery, and her nerves may have been torn or stretched away from the spine when they had to do the intestine resection. While the problem wasn't evident immediately post-op, it became an issue as she grew longer and thicker.
So, we made the tough decision to have her euthanized.
Since her particular case was included in the recently released edition of Mader’s Reptile and Amphibian Medicine and Surgery, Dr. Stahl will be doing a necropsy on her as a follow-up, in case he finds anything useful to include in a future release of the book.
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