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Bound snake...

senorsnake Sep 11, 2008 06:12 PM

We have a boa who is badly slug bound.. unfortunately my emergency fund was tapped when I had a surgery myself recently, so I can't afford to get her one. We've been trying to get her to pass them ourselves, because we don't want to have to get her put down.

We've been gently massaging her back end and soaking her in warm water for about 5 hours a day for the last couple days. Is there anything else we can be doing?

Also, at least one of the slugs seems hard as a rock- I can feel them when I gently massage- but I haven't been pressing hard at all because I don't want to cause damage.

Last year she gave birth prematurely to.. I think it was 5, premature babies. Shes a large snake, so we were surprised that she had such a small clutch-- could this be bound up from last year and they've calcified and just now giving us problems?

She isn't eating, but is alert and active otherwise.
-----
1.1 96, 04 Het Albino - "Suzie" & "Lumpy"
0.1 03 Poss. Het Albino - "Ami"
0.1 05 Super Salmon - "CreamSicle"
0.1 04 Anery Het Snow- "Squelchy"
1.0 04 DH-Sunglow - "Dwayne"
1.0 06 TH-Moonglow - "Gargamel"
1.2 01 BRBs- "Gobball", "Larva" & "Tofu"

Replies (3)

AshLopez Sep 12, 2008 12:44 AM

Sorry to hear about your snake.

Unfortunately there is No Home Remedy for Egg Bound ?Ovum Bound snakes.

If I where you I would bite the bullet and schedule a vet appointment.

These are the Commitments we make before we even think about owning a boa.

Good Luck.
-----

Ashley Lopez's Black Forest Constrictors.

blackforestconstrictors@gmail.com

WWW.BLACKFORESTCONSTRICTORS.COM

charmer Sep 12, 2008 08:47 AM

And if you have decent credit, some... or quite a few, vets work with credit or loan companies and will set you up to fill out paperwork and get approved; it's exclusively for vet visits. My Mother had to do this with her dog, and I almost had to do it with my own animals. At my vet it was called Carecredit or some such thing. Perhaps this is an option? You can always question some clinics in your area who have reptile experience to see if credit is a possibility. It isn't provided 'by' the clinic themselves, but they should have info on hand if they work with someone.
I have not yet *knock on wood* had a slug-bound boa, but I have not heard of an entirely successful home remedy yet...
Good luck!
-----
Steph S.
Boas...
1.1 Albino boas (Loki & Hope)
1.4 07 Het. albino boas (Petty & Lady,Sierra,Madeline,Lola)
0.1 Reverse stripe poss. het albino (Cookie)
0.1 Salmon/hypo (Scarlet)
0.1 Anery poss. het snow (Missy)
1.0 Anery (Reno)
1.0 Probable Super Salmontine(Kahn)
0.1 DH Sunglow (Bonnie)
1.1.1 Hypo het anery
1.0.1 Het. Anery (Guy & ?)
0.3 Normals (Ophelia, Sasha, & Lulu)
1.0 Surinames (Solomon & Surreal(deceased)
1.3 Hog Isles (Mr.Orange & Peaches, Tang, Isis)
0.0.1 Central American (Sassy)
1.0 ATB (Satan... seriously!)
Pythons...
2.1 GTPs (B., Monty & Jewel)
0.0.3 BPs (MJ, Precious, Houdini)
1.2 Carpet Pythons (Jackson, Charlotte, & Cassandra)
0.1 Blood python (Akaia)
Misc.
1.1 Mandarin Ratsnakes (Jack & Jill)
1.0 Boxer/Pitt Mutt (Tyson)

BillyBoy Sep 12, 2008 02:42 PM

Couple of options here - as one poster suggested, CareCredit might be an option and is typically a 6 month, same as cash deal. If you're truly tapped out with no resources and looking at either letting her die slowly or having her put down, you could try some more aggressive massaging. I had this happen to one of my big amazon tree boa girls last year. I took her to the vet, and the vet and I worked on squeezing out the dead babies, one by one. She (my vet) also put her on a round of antibiotics to make sure massive sepsis did not set in. The plan was, to work out a few of the dead babies every few days, and it worked. Over the course of two weeks, I massaged out 11 fully formed babies and a few slugs to boot. She's a tough old girl and recovered fully.

Obviously, the best thing to do is get her to a vet, but if you're stuck and it's not looking good, I say go for it. You may end up doing some damage, ending her breeding ability or possibly worse, but if it ends up saving her life, then it's a good thing. It's a tough decision to make and I wish you the best.

>>We have a boa who is badly slug bound.. unfortunately my emergency fund was tapped when I had a surgery myself recently, so I can't afford to get her one. We've been trying to get her to pass them ourselves, because we don't want to have to get her put down.
>>
>>We've been gently massaging her back end and soaking her in warm water for about 5 hours a day for the last couple days. Is there anything else we can be doing?
>>
>>Also, at least one of the slugs seems hard as a rock- I can feel them when I gently massage- but I haven't been pressing hard at all because I don't want to cause damage.
>>
>> Last year she gave birth prematurely to.. I think it was 5, premature babies. Shes a large snake, so we were surprised that she had such a small clutch-- could this be bound up from last year and they've calcified and just now giving us problems?
>>
>>She isn't eating, but is alert and active otherwise.
>>-----
>>1.1 96, 04 Het Albino - "Suzie" & "Lumpy"
>>0.1 03 Poss. Het Albino - "Ami"
>>0.1 05 Super Salmon - "CreamSicle"
>>0.1 04 Anery Het Snow- "Squelchy"
>>1.0 04 DH-Sunglow - "Dwayne"
>>1.0 06 TH-Moonglow - "Gargamel"
>>1.2 01 BRBs- "Gobball", "Larva" & "Tofu"

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