Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The last egg of mine finally decided to join us a week late. However, he has a swollen belly where the umbilical cord is and the cord is still attached an also looks a little swollen. Is there anything to do besides crossing fingers and waiting?

Here are a few shots.

That's an uncommon situation you have there. It's usually associated with other problems and the general prognosis for this snake is not good. Obviously the snake is disproportionately sized for its yolk.

First, embryos 101. That mass is generally called a yolk. It's attached to the snake by a yolk stem. Since these animals are not umbilically attached to their mothers the way mammals are, we use the above terms. Just getting that out of the way so when I give you directions, we'll be on the same page.

I doubt you've seen much progress from yesterday to today. Even if you have, you must remove the yolk surgically. The germs that are entering your snake right now by way of the yolk and stem were never meant to be in your snake. This is very dangerous, no matter how clean you think you're keeping the immediate environment. This opening must be closed immediately. The snake is obviously incapable of absorbing it.

If that snake was here, I'd pull on the yolk VERY SLIGHTLY until I was able to see the yolk stem. It will be approximately 20% the diameter of the yolk parts you're seeing now. If you pull anything out more than 1/2 inch, stop pulling. With clean sharp scissors, sever the protruding mass. Hopefully, you'll be cutting stem only to disjoin this mass from the snake, but even if you cut into the yolk parts, this must happen now.

There will be some bleeding, but don't worry about that. Put the snake on WET (not damp) paper towels and completely cover the container so NO light is penetrating. The snake must have darkness, seclusion and quiet for several hours. The opening should close in that amount of time. After it's closed, you can move the snake to the neonatal quarters you have chosen. Except for occasional examinations two to three times per day, give it as much privacy as possible. It must be able to hide in the darkest place you can offer it.

Good luck and write to me if/when you have other questions.

Don Soderberg
Cornsnakes@aol.com
South Mountain Reptiles

Heres a new picture of him tonight. I have him on a dry towel now to try and dry out the yolk stem from your suggestion. Got him in a cabinet so hopefully he will enjoy a nice dark quiet day tomorrow.

Did Don say a dry paper towel, or a really wet one?

It that yolk stem gets dry and hangs up on the towel before the wound is healed, the snake can pull out its own intestines. I'd be extra careful with him until that wound heals. THEN take pictures for everyone.

Good luck!
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

Don and I had a long chit chat back and forth via email and it would have been hard to cut and paste all the information exchange that led to that conclusion. But he did ok today on the dry towel, but nothing really dried out and he looked pretty much the same. Don figured that growth wasn't going to dry out today because it looks to have some blood supply keeping it going in the photo, and in person. Well tonight it was time to get ER on that growth. Got out my Craftsman 150/230 watt solder gun, put a new clean tip on it, and my wife's nicest, sharpest cutterbee scissors. The plan was a biopsy with cauterization afterwards to stop the bleeding. Well I took a large cut out of the growth, and it looks like the appearance of a blood supply was false. The snake didn't react to the growth being cut, and there was no bleeding. It looks like it was all clear yellowish fatty tissue, and I think I got it all off to his belly without incident. No need for the solder iron (wasn't looking forward to doing that, well any of it for that matter). Applied some triple antibiotic gel to the wound and have him back with a damp towel. And as always, tonights photo of him post-op pre-antibiotic.

I told him aspen bedding. Many people translate this to paper towels and paper towels are not safe for this therapy. Thanks for bringing that up, Darin. NO PAPER TOWELS for that therapy.

Don
www.cornsanke.NET
South Mountain Reptiles

Bad Rick, I see what you mean. The aspen would have been a much better choice. I guess I stressed the dry part and didn't really think of the guts pulling out.

All you can do is wait. Don't put it on paper or naything it can dry onto and stick.
Unfortunately, that one looks like it may not survive.
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...and I think to myself, "What a wonderful world."