Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a yearling boa that impacted at its cloaca with a lump of what appeared to be urates. I left her alone for a while to see if it would pass - it never did so I massaged most of it out. In doing so her cloaca bled a little and it looks stretched out and will not resume its normal shape. What should I do? Some type of suppository/enema? Shots of antibiotics? Keep her off feed? Soak her? Other? Suggestions are appreciated.

That would be Prolapse and see a Vet please

TnK

If there is any exposed tissue, apply pure honey to it and tuck it back in with a q-tip. The sugar in the honey will cause the tissue to shrink and also has natural antibiotics in it. This is a common treatment for prolapse in green tree pythons and was passed on to me by my reptile vet.

I should add that any exposed tissue can not be let to dry out. If this happens or has already happened, that's bad news! Call the vet now. If you need to buy some time until you can get the honey, put the snake in a container lined with very moist paper towels and only a little ventilation so the tissue will remain moist. Then when you get the honey, you can apply it and return the animal to its normal enclosure lined only with newspaper so no substrate sticks to the tissue. If the problem does not resolve itself within 24 hours from the application of the honey, then see a vet.

Advising novice keepers that dont know the difference between compaction,impaction,prolapse or any other animal health issue should be refered to a Vet for proper animal care,granted the honey trick does work but nothing replaces hands on experience afforded by a Vet visit.

TnK

>>I should add that any exposed tissue can not be let to dry out. If this happens or has already happened, that's bad news! Call the vet now. If you need to buy some time until you can get the honey, put the snake in a container lined with very moist paper towels and only a little ventilation so the tissue will remain moist. Then when you get the honey, you can apply it and return the animal to its normal enclosure lined only with newspaper so no substrate sticks to the tissue. If the problem does not resolve itself within 24 hours from the application of the honey, then see a vet.

Assuming he is a novice, you would be right.....however....he is no novice.....I know who he is.. but thanks for the 2 cents.

I appreciate all of the feedback and should have been more specific about her condition. There is no prolapsed tissue, just stretched out and, since it was bleeding, probably damaged on the inside and exposed to bacteria. I am very busy this week and can't get to the vet right away but I have the honey and will try that until I can get her proper treatment. Thanks again.

Since there was some bleeding, I would use antibiotic creme such as Mycitracin applied in and around the area.

No harm no foul,he fixed it

Peace

>>Assuming he is a novice, you would be right.....however....he is no novice.....I know who he is.. but thanks for the 2 cents.