Posted by:
BrandonSander
at Mon Mar 7 20:40:24 2005 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by BrandonSander ]
Don't worry. Tumors are not poisonous, toxic or whatever else you may be thinking.
A tumor is simply a mass of cells that are essentially dividing/growing uncontrollably. They can be made up of just about any tissue in the body. Every cell in the body has a type of "kill switch" encoded in it's DNA. The basic priciple is that one of two things will trigger the "kill switch": either the cell will reach a certain age and trigger it OR it will begin dividing rapidly. Cells are only supposed to divide at a certain rate for a cetain period of time. This is the bodies way of protecting against tumors and cancer.
If the kill switch is damaged or lost during cell division and the cell survives you end up with a cell that can divide many times (sometimes very rapidly) basically without anyone at the controls. Each of the cells it creates during mitosis will also have this ability (or disability-depending on how you look at it) meaning that the mass of cells will begin to grow exponentially. Cancer treatments tend to focus on those cells (and tissues) in the body that grow the fastest and this is the reason some people lose their hair during chemo therapy (which isn't restricted to the use of radiation treatment).
So, now that I went off on that tangent.....your snake will be fine. Consuming a mouses tumor basically means your snakes ate a little extra tissue of some kind whether it was cartilage, skin, fat, or even bone. Don't worry.
Now if it's belly turns pink and it's eyes turn blue you've got other problems.........j/k!
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Sometimes, things are exactly as they appear...sometimes.
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RE: Worrid about my snake. Please help! - BrandonSander, Mon Mar 7 20:40:24 2005