Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know they are just feeders, and one shouldn't get attached, but I do. My breeders are my pets... till they have to depart. Well, today I notice one of my weanling breeders had a poop sticking out of her fanny accompanied by a swelling just above it. I suspected constipation and thought I'd help her out and dislodge it. When I tried to pull it out it was stuck fast so I gave a bit more of a tug. In doing so she struggled and all of a sudden her belly ripped open as easily as if it were made of toilet tissue.... and a load of poop was exposed. She barely made a peep when it happened...probably relieved that the pressure was off, but I ended up having to kill her because of it. Poor thing. It looked like she had been plugged up for a week with the amount of poop that was in her.

Ok, so I guess it upset me more than I thought, and I just needed to talk about it. I hope you don't mind that I shared it with you.

MissHisssss.

>>I know they are just feeders, and one shouldn't get attached, but I do. My breeders are my pets... till they have to depart. Well, today I notice one of my weanling breeders had a poop sticking out of her fanny accompanied by a swelling just above it. I suspected constipation and thought I'd help her out and dislodge it. When I tried to pull it out it was stuck fast so I gave a bit more of a tug. In doing so she struggled and all of a sudden her belly ripped open as easily as if it were made of toilet tissue.... and a load of poop was exposed. She barely made a peep when it happened...probably relieved that the pressure was off, but I ended up having to kill her because of it. Poor thing. It looked like she had been plugged up for a week with the amount of poop that was in her.
>>
>>Ok, so I guess it upset me more than I thought, and I just needed to talk about it. I hope you don't mind that I shared it with you.
>>
>>MissHisssss.
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Sonya

I'd heard about megacolon having something to do with a lethal (extreme)pieball gene... but just never experienced it. It just amazes me how this little mouse acted absolutely normal, when all the time it was filling up with poop. OUCH. Anyway, thanks Sonya for responding.

MissHisssss

Most animals that are routinely preyed upon by other animals don't exhibit signs of sickness until the very end. Its a survival mechanism to keep predators at bay. Obviously, it doesn't work with things like broken legs, large infected gashes, etc.. but in instances where there's something internally wrong, many prey animals won't show it, trying to bluff the predators into believing they're healthy and capable of defending themselves.

That's a very good, and logical, explaination. And very helpful too. Thanks for sharing.

MissHisssss.