Reptile & Amphibian Forums

several months ago I posted with pictures of my sunglow boa that looked like his hemipenes were swollen, I took him to the vet and he had an internal abscess just south of the penes that needed to be removed and he was put on antibiotics, well a month or so after I pulled the stitches it is back but looks like it's trying to pedrude out where the stitches were, so off to the vet again. This time he squeezed out all the puss cleaned it up and lanced the wound and left it open for me to clean with betadine and he's determining which type of antibiotic to prescribe this time.

Just thought I'd share this experience with everyone.

Here's a pic of the little trouper, he's an 06 and about 5 1/2'

Thanks
Zack
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Zack Greens Reptiles

Wow, he's a great looking boa, too! I hope everything finally gets resolved this time. It's good to hear that you seem to have a fairly reliable and knowledgeable vet to go to.

Good luck!
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Stay United!

I'm still not sure if it's weird that my best friend is a two year old boa named Ronin. He's quiet, non-judgemental and listens... what more could you want?

Thanks Brandon, he's pretty good I think, I hope everything goes well and he recovers, I have to give him injections every 72 hours and for the first week clean the wound with a betidine s mixture and squeeze out any puss that builds up and all, then the second week I gotta do it every other day and then depending how it looks to wean off from it. I'm really hoping he will still be able to breed after all this but even if he cant atleast I'm doing all that I can to get him healthy and keep him that way. And its good experience incase I ever have an issue like this or if others do to learn from it.

Thanks
Zack
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Zack Greens Reptiles

Hey Zack.
Sorry to hear that the problem is not resolved. I mentioned when you originally posted that I had a male that ended up with an infected vent gland. Have you been able to rule that out. From my vets description, the inside of the gland is a "honeycomb" like structure that is nearly impossibe to clean or express fluid from. If I were in your place, I would do my best to exhaust this option. If it is the cuplrate, it can be removed with no ill affects to the boa, according to the vet I used.
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Jeff Carr
West Coast Constrictors
www.westcoastconstrictors.com

Hi Jeff, as far as a vent gland, I'm not quite sure what that is but the infection is just south of the hemipenese so I would think that'd be too far down as the vent itself is a good 1 1/2-2" away, he's a smaller male so that's about midway from the vent to the tip. I'm wanting to get a good picture of the open wound as I find it rather interesting yet disturbing at the same time. The past few weeks he didn't use much of his tail at all for anything and was kinda limp but after it got drained he held on to those newspapers pretty darn well with it when I took him out to give him his shot, lol.

Zack
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Zack Greens Reptiles

Did the vet say what could have caused it? Fungal,bacterial. What meds are you giving it?

No he didnt say what could have caused it, as far as the medication I forget the name of it and I'm not home to look but it's in individual vials that need to be kept frozen untill I need to use it and then thaw it out at room temp, I think it starts with a Z. and I'm giving .6CC's every 72 hours.

Zack
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Zack Greens Reptiles

probably Fortaz, that's what I'm using on one of my boas right now and it also has to stay frozen and be given every 72 hrs.

Good luck with your boy, sounds like he's in great hands!
-April
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'There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness."' -Rainshadow

Thanks April, Yes I believe that is it, knew it had a "Z" in there somewhere.

Zack
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Zack Greens Reptiles