Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 2006 blood boa has been stopped up for weeks and is in discomfort. I've tried exercising her in warm baths and massages but to no avail.

I'm planning to insert a catheter to her stomache and fill her up with about 150ml of soapy water. She's 5.5 feet in length and weighs approx. 6-7lbs.

Does anyone have any better ideas?

Sorry, I can't help you with that, never done it or read anything on it. I hope you made a mistake in your wording.....

"I'm planning to insert a catheter to her stomache and fill her up with about 150ml of soapy water."

Not sure on the affects of soapy water being used as an enema, but IMO it's NOT a good idea to put "soapy water" in her stomache. Unless you have somebody in the know telling you what soap and what concentration to use, I can't see ingesting soap as being good for any animal.

Maybe it's time to see a vet?
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (05/26/2009):
36.51 BRB
29.42 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

told me to do...he called it guerrilla style but that it works.

vet tell me the same thing a week ago for a female that looked to be blocked and in labor. I wondered too but he worked at NCSU vet teaching hospital and now at the NC zoo. I haven't tried it yet but may still have to in the end. No pun intended.
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Ty Hege
Rat Race Solutions
www.ratracesolutions.com

I shouldn't even comment but I somehow don't believe this would be the correct approach.
I agree with Dave ,As I understand your statement you are going to insert the tube in
the mouth and cause the Boa to ingest soapy water ?
I'd be more apt to approach this problem from the other end.
Take into consideration Boas can go for weeks without defecating
with no adverse affects.
Although You are there looking at your Boa and its condition/appearance ,
so I can't make an informed comment really.
I have helped younger Boas work plugs and gas out of there system with warm bath soak.
Then after soaking using hands on manipulation of the problem
working it right down to the vent very slowly
Sorry I can't ad any good advice.

. . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

I appreciate the advice. I had a conversation with my vet today aobut this...he is a reptile specialist and jsut had a procedure where the urates were too big and couldn't be passed. The snake was getting extremely ill...it was a zoo that brought it in. He inserted a capheter and used an enema. It worked.

My boa hasn't defecated in 6 weeks. Her last meal was 3 weeks ago. She is in much discomfort and i can't take any risks. I asked my vet what to do and that is exactly what he told me...it sounded odd to me which is why i posted this thread to seee what you guys thought.

I"m definitely weary now and will call my vet about this. I'll keep you posted as to how she progresses.

Could be a simple misunderstanding....from which end will the soapy water be introduced?

Catheter implies from the vent but you indicated stomach in your post. Maybe you meant bowels or intestines?
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (05/26/2009):
36.51 BRB
29.42 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

.
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Ty Hege
Rat Race Solutions
www.ratracesolutions.com

.
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Ty Hege
Rat Race Solutions
www.ratracesolutions.com

I've had to work huge urate stones out of a couple Boas as well.
The three Boas I remember having to perform this on were all fems.
In all the cases the vent became terribly stretched ,it took a day or so for vent recovery
In one case it took several days for the fems vent to recover.
I became worried but a little Neopsprin she recovered and is alive
and well that was at least two years ago.
I believe in my cases my humidity was probably lower than I
thought,that led to the problem but I can't be certain.
Your vet sounds experienced I would call back and
be certain of the details.

. . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

definately do not go into the stomach. the impaction will be in the bowel, not the stomach. also, it is important to get the urates out,if thats what is causing the impaction, as too much build up of urates (uric acid) can give your boa gout disease. i would have an xray done to see what things look like in there. enemas, only go in through the rectum (in mammals) and the cloacal vent (in reptiles). we had a constipated african rock python come into my emergency hospital, and all we did was give it a warm water enema, with what is called a 18 french, red rubber catheter. you should have seen the amount of feces and urates that came out of this 15 foot afrock.
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retic is king of kings

1.0 Tiger Retic
1.0 Albino Tiger Retic
0.1 Striped Tiger Retic (het albino)
0.1 Salmon Boa
1.0 Albino Boa
0.1 False Water Cobra

totally misunderstood the vet. I thought it was weird pushing a capheter down to the stomache...instead he meant to say up the rectum about 8 or so inches.

So, i massaged her in warm water for about 15 mins...then inserted the capheter into her rectum and administered about 90 ml of a solution containing warm water and an enema...glycerin to be exact...and held held her tail up for about 10 mins all the while massaging her and letting the solution drip down and get absorbed.

Then i let the tail down and massaged her and BAM those pellets came firing out like little cannons...and she let them all go.

I could have swore i saw her smile once she released =)

Wasn't pretty work at all, but i can rest much easier now.

Glad to hear you "worked it out"

Now I'm really glad you posted!! Could have been more harm for your boa than help.

Glad it all came out in the end
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count (05/26/2009):
36.51 BRB
29.42 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Good News Glad to hear it !
Dave beat me to the punch
" Glad it all worked out in the end " !
LOL, ha , ha

. . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

Nice to see another animal out of harms way! Great work man!!
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Kenny Bowman

"Symetry Exotics"
Honesty is the only route to TRUE respect, anything else is unacceptable....