CITRUS COUNTY CHRONICLE (Crystal River, Florida) 21 July 06 Snakes Alive! Snake requires surgery after swallowing golf ball (Cathy Kapulka)
Photo at URL below: Midway Animal Hospital veterinary technicians Lisa Capo and Eric Stokes prepare to X-ray a yellow rat snake that swallowed a golf ball. Veterinarian Dr. John E. Peterlin said that the snake most likely mistook the golf ball for an egg. (Cathy Kapulka)
A yellow rat snake’s recent choice of food left it slightly handicapped.
The snake most likely mistook a golf ball for an egg and swallowed it.
Brian Lampe, who is a volunteer with Nature World Wildlife Rescue, rescued the snake Thursday afternoon from inside a chicken coop in Inverness.
“I’ve done over 300 rescues,” Lampe said. “This is the first time I ever saw a snake with a golf ball in it.”
The owner of the chicken coop places golf balls in the coop to deter her chickens from pecking their own eggs. She realized one of her golf balls was missing and then spotted the snake with a bulge in it, according to Diane Mick of Nature World Wildlife Rescue.
Midway Animal Hospital veterinarian Dr. John E. Peterlin said the snake would not be able to pass the golf ball, so surgery was required to remove it.
“Without surgery, the snake would die,” Peterlin said. “Hopefully, we will be able to help this one and get it back to its home safely.”
Peterlin said late Thursday the snake was out of surgery and doing well. He said Nature World would pick up the snake for rehabilitation today.
Peterlin said the golf ball was a Top-Flite XL.
Peterlin said snakes heal slowly because they are cold blooded. Recovery time from the half-hour surgery is expected to take about three weeks. Once recovered, the snake will be returned to the area where it was found.
Peterlin said that yellow rat snakes, which are native to this area, are non-poisonous, very docile and are cousins of the grey rat snake.
“We don’t get to interact with wildlife and see them every day,” Peterlin said. “But they are a part of our lives.”

DER SPIEGEL (Berlin, Germany) 21 July 06 Schlange verwechselt Golfball mit Ei
Photo at URL below: Röntgenaufnahme der Unglücksschlange: Golfball statt Ei (AP)
Homosassa: Eine Geflügelhalterin in der Stadt Homosassa im US-Bundesstaat Florida hatte die Schlange in ihrem Hühnerstall entdeckt und den Mitarbeiter einer Tierschutzorganisation um Hilfe gebeten. Die Frau hatte nach Angaben der Zeitung "Citrus County Chronicle" mehrere Golfbälle in dem Stall ausgelegt, um zu vermeiden, dass die Hühner ihre Eier zerpicken. Bei einem Rundgang bemerkte sie, dass einer der Bälle fehlte, und fand dann die Schlange - mit einer seltsamen Wölbung im Leib.
Die Schlange sei operiert und der Golfball entfernt worden, berichtet das Blatt. Dem Tier gehe es den Umständen entsprechend gut. In etwa drei Wochen wird das Reptil sich vermutlich von der unverdaulichen Mahlzeit und dem Eingriff erholt haben. Danach soll die Schlange wieder in die Freiheit entlassen werden.
Einen Tag zuvor hatte ein Python im US-Bundesstaat Idaho eine spektakuläre Rettungsaktion verursacht. Die Schlange hatte eine Heizdecke gefressen - inklusive Kabel und Bedieneinheit. Das Tier hatte die Not-Operation ebenfalls unbeschadet überstanden.
http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,428003,00.html
Snake requires surgery after swallowing golf ball