Want to see something cool (and unsettling on my part)?? Bet you never see photos like this in the forums, LoL!



These are the Radiographs/X-Rays of my WC Gravid Female, who I have been affectionately calling "Lucky." Please keep in mind that these films have been edited only in contrast for visibility purposes -- when you convert the DiCom image to a JPeg it looses alot of its image quality, and if you don't have an amazing HD screen or a screen meant for viewing Radiographs you're even worse off!! Also, in all of these photos the caudal end (or tail end) is towards the top, and the cranial end (or head end) is towards the bottom. The "R" stands for right side. These photos are looking down on the snake, so her back is up (there should have been a "DV" tag in these photos meaning Dorsal to Ventral, but there were cut off).

I purchased Lucky from Ian G and she is quite gorgeous for a big fancy normal. I know a lot of people are against the WC Gamble, but Frank hand picked her out of a tub of normal gravids with a hope to have our own eggs. We are new to the breeding game (though we are not new to keeping snakes) and last year was had no luck with the only 3 females we had up to size. We are having better luck this year, at least I hope.

As Lucky is a WC import, I have no idea when she ovulated, but we were starting to get concerned that she should have laid her eggs by now. She's lost her glow and she's shed TWICE since we've had her... so0o I took her in to my animal hospital to have her looked at by our exotics vet expert -- is she still developing and I am worrying over nothing? Off-chance that she re-absorbed her follicles?? Is she egg-bound??



The ultrasound was very inconclusive as far as a stage in development in the eggs, but these were the X-Rays. The X-Rays only take a 40 cm film, so it was impossible for to get her wriggly self straight and get an accurate number of eggs, but there are at least 7.

However, if you look at the zoomed in rad below, you can see why we are worried. About 10 or 12 vertebrae up from her vent, she has about 8 or so broken ribs. The white blotchy/ghost-like things in that area we are assuming to be slugs.



The breaks all look very old and healed. At this point I can only hope that she's just not ready -- otherwise, she has broken ribs and slugs blocking the healthy eggs way out. Fortunately, the broken slices of ribs all seem to be on the outer part of the rib cage, so there are not fragments floating around in laterally in the middle. For now she is getting a BID/twice-daily calcium supplement until she lays. If she does not lay soon, I might have to consider Surgery.

If anyone out there is able to shed some light on this, GO FOR IT!! All help is appreciated. Even ideas in diagnostics ideas are appreciated. I know some vets wander these forums! Until than, here are some photos of the outside of her, let me know what you think!







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Cheers!
• Chelsea Lynn Gardiner
(and Frank M. Wood)

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