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Gallbladder aplagia in baby bci

SpectreBCIs Oct 10, 2008 05:16 PM

First off thank you to everyone that posted a reply to the listing below. After asperating 8 cc of bile out of the first 3 month old, the vet still thought the best thing to do was euthinize the boa and do a necropsy. The bile did have bateria in it which he said was unusual and the liver was slightly off color, not as red as he thought it should be.

The gallbladder was severly distended, and from he could tell had no duct leading to the small intestine. Other than that everything else seemed unremarkable. He took tissue samples from all the organs and brain and will get a histology report in about two weeks. Also the bile will be cultered to see what's in it.

From what the vet is saying, he has never heard of this in a baby bci. He thinks it was congenital, but there are 3 in a clutch of 24 with this problem. The parents were bought seperately from different breeders in different states. The father was a ghost, and the mother was an albino het anery. Based of the fact that 3 of them appear to have this problem, he said the two should not breed again.

The second boa had 7 ml of bile asperated and I took him home. He looks normal now and I will wait a few days before I try and introduce food again. Depending on what the histology report says, or if he just gets distended again, I will determin whether to put him down too. The vet would like to publish his findings, so if the other boas do not get better, we will document the necropsy with photos, and I will try to share them with the group.

Again, thank you to everyone that responded below. Again here are the pics of what he looked like before the vet.

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Scott

Replies (4)

jscrick Oct 10, 2008 05:38 PM

Sad for the boa(s), but good to know.
Thanks,
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

BrownsBoas Oct 10, 2008 05:49 PM

Unfortunately knowledge sometimes only comes from sacrifice. Thank you for posting your findings for us all to read. Please keep us posted on how things go with the baby that had the bile aspirated.

Thanks,

Al Brown/Brown's Boas

LarM Oct 10, 2008 05:53 PM

Thanks for the report ,strange out come. Hope this isn't something more serious that endangers the rest of the group of babies.
. . . . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

SpectreBCIs Oct 10, 2008 06:06 PM

Right now the vet doesn't think so. Obviously I am keeping the other two boas quarantined until we get the results back. He thinks that it was either an obstuction of the bile duct or a congenital defect that didn't allow for the gallbladder to connect to the small intestine and therefore be able to release bile.

Again I hope it doesn't come to it, but if after being asperated the boa still won't eat and just gets distended again, I will have necopsies done and will post pictures. Thanks you all for your kind words.
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Scott

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