Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My little hatchling with the protruding yolk sac finally shed, this morning he looked absolutely wonderful, and I was convinced that all was well... then a few hours later, I found the paper towel was bloody and saw the following. Should I freeze this poor baby?

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~Sasheena

Thats too bad. Looks like its either going to require some expensive surgery that may or not work. Probably whats best is to put the snake down via freezing. Its quick and probably painless.

Keith

Thanks for the advice Keith. I froze it. it was the cutest of the bunch, but between asking for advice and looking back again a few later, well... lets just say it was best to put it to sleep. Too bad.

Poor lil guy. Such a cutie.
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~Sasheena

Wish I'd seen this post earlier. Even though a vet bill would have been somewhat expensive, this problem could have been treated very easily with a few stitches. Its amazing what snakes in the wild can go through and survive. They're immune systems and healing abilities are just incredible. Of course, you'd also be forced to wonder if there were any other congenital defects present.

Van

We named this snake "pre-pip" because it seemed to crawl out of its shell a bit early. I don't think this was any sort of defect, just an overanxious hatchling. Poor thing. If I'd had a crystal ball and known the events of today, then earlier, when it first shed, I would have given it a bandaid or something else over the navel, but once I found out what was going on, this poor baby was crawling along, leaving long strands of itself behind on the substrate (slightly damp paper towel). Between the photograph and the decision to put it down, it went from a slight amount of stuff hanging out, to near it's own length in intestine mangled and dripping blood. Yes, I imagine that a superstar veterinary surgeon could have mended the poor thing, and I know that there are those will condemn me for the following attitude, but my husband and I are both high school teachers, our last paycheck was in May, our next one will be the end of August, we're buying a house, and we have three kids. Sadly, we do not have the funds to give a tiny hatchling snake veterinary surgery. If a baby snake in our care cannot survive the hatching process, then so be it. I could have let the baby crawl around it's enclosure, unraveling itself, but enough was enough.

Anyway, sorry, just a bit upset. I raise my own mice, feed em to the snakes, etc. Don't like to be so much in the company of death. Today before I realized what I would have to do with little Pre-Pip, I euthanized 150 mice, which was stressful as it is, and then I immediately had to euthanize the snake right afterwards. Yesterday another of the hatchlings escaped from the "hatchling" rack we bought. Been a bad week overall. Bound to get better, but I'm sort of bummed. While we have had another snake escape without ever being found, this is the first snake we've had die on us, and my heart breaks over this, even though I know that it, too, happens.
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~Sasheena

You know what, Sasheena? If you keep and breed snakes, this sort of thing is going to happen from time to time. I've had the same thing happen on a few occasions over the years. There's not a whole lot you can do when that happens. It happens with wild hatchlings, too and they just generally die on their own. It's nature, and she's a little harsh sometimes. Stop beating yourself up over it. It was really beyond your control.

It's not as simple as something like a prolapsed cloaca in a big boa that you can fix with a drawstring suture. Sometimes baby snakes will hatch a little prematurely or haven't completely developed whan they pip or something like that and the umbilicus will tend to pull part of the intestines out as the baby is separating from the egg. It would be damned difficult to repair it in a sanke that small, not to mention the fact that a procedure like that would require general anesthetic which is very problematic in itself in baby snakes.

Sorry, I hope I didn't come off as criticizing with my post. Coming from a family of teachers (and farmers), I understand your plight. Just take comfort in the fact that it wasn't your fault. My first snake death was when a hatchling black milk escaped and took up residence in my laundry basket. Know how I found out? It fell out of the dryer.

Sorry for your loss, it was a nice looking cal.
Van

You didn't come off too harsh, I was just stressed and distressed, my first real snakey loss ever, and hard to believe my little baby with the perfectly alert eyes, wonderful little tongue flick, and gorgeous pattern was not going to make it. Having lost another hatchling (as in escaped) yesterday, losing this one today, and doing the necessary euthanize/freeze of mice, just sort of all jangled my nerves.

I was in the mouse room though, and while I was watching the last hatchling shed for the first time, glanced down at my feet, and there just slithering up to me, was my little lost hatchling. So I feel better, and life moves on. I know it will happen. When Queenie laid her clutch in April I was convinced they were all duds, then I was convinced that one was a problem egg and wouldn't hatch. When the hatchlings were pipping, I was was convinced that it was dead-in-the-egg, and when it finally came out to see the world, I was happy to see this oft-worried-about snakey, and so BEAUTIFUL too.... alas, I suppose my worries were true, and he didn't make it. But SEVEN out of eight DID make it, and THEY are little miracles!

Thanks for the word of comfort, they REALLY help.
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~Sasheena