Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just got back from the white plains show and I had the pleasure of hand picking 3 ch babies from a bin of 500.....

One of the babies had a hard belly and the vendor let me have it for free. He said there was a chance that if I pushed out the hard yolk that she might make it.

Has anyone here ever dealt with this problem before? Any info would be awesome.... I really want to give this little girl a shot at life...

Thanks
Raul

Raul....George at GLK Herp was able to push out the unassimilated yolk from an 04 baby, but I would think there's a rather high probability of injuring the snake in the process...on the other hand, these babies don't stand much chance with a retained 'yolk plug', so there's that...I think if you're gentle and work slowly, as I'm sure George did, you may be able to do it...hopefully George will comment and give his experience...good luck...Scott

Hi Scott,

Is there any kind of enema solution that might be helpful in this situation?

Thanks, Christy

....mineral oil, actually given orally (ie..1/4-1/2 ml) will lubricate the gut and maybe help with passage of the yolk plug...as an enema, it might be harder to administer...sjm

Hi Scott,

I was thinking of teasing a small tube like a feeding tube up through the vent and up until it hit the obstruction, and then using a syringe to squirt some fluid up in. Your way sounds easier - I guess either or both might be better than nothing.

Christy

It died in my hands last night and the mass didnt move an inch!!!

I was thinking about using something to try and lubricate it but it was way too late. I cut the snake open cause I wanted to see for myself what I was dealing with and I was shocked! The mass was huge! I dont think that it would have passed without ripping the snakes vent.

It looks like the snake in the pic George posted used some of the yolk before it became a mass. My snake had a lot more than that in its gut....

I am done with trying to save c/h babies that are in trouble. I am 0 for 3 in that category. 2 years ago I adopted 2 c/h females that had not fed for 4 months...... One died the night I got it home. I got the other one to eat twice.... once on its own and then it just died.

On the other hand of the 20 or so female c/h babies I have aquired over the years all of them feed great and some have even bred for me at 18 months. I just like to get fresh blood everyonce in a while....

Thanks for all the help guys!
Raul

Hi Raul,

I sure wish she had made it for you. I've had a mixed bag with rescuing imported babies in bad shape - I think it's very cool that you tried with her.

Maybe the discussion you generated will be a help to someone else later on.

My best this season, Christy

Raul, sorry she didn't make it Bro.

Quig

I remember Sean at EBN described this last year too. basically my understanding is that it's undigested hardend yolk and you need to work it down by kneeding it with your fingers through their digestive tract to get it out. If it doesn't come out, she's gonna die so you really don't have anything to lose by trying.

Mark

>>Just got back from the white plains show and I had the pleasure of hand picking 3 ch babies from a bin of 500.....
>>
>>One of the babies had a hard belly and the vendor let me have it for free. He said there was a chance that if I pushed out the hard yolk that she might make it.
>>
>>Has anyone here ever dealt with this problem before? Any info would be awesome.... I really want to give this little girl a shot at life...
>>
>>Thanks
>>Raul

Just gently push.... Ok I will keep you guys posted...

Raul

Nope no science... Just gently massage the mass toward the cloaca. Just be careful not to go to fast and rip something. The one that I did this to last year had to be assist fed for a while but eventually started eating on its own. Here is a pic of what I got out, the mass weighed 12 grams and the snake 45 grams.

George Knaack
GLK HERP

what the heck is that?

....THAT is an unassimilated 'yolk plug'.....sjm

That's not anything I'D fry up ANY morning, Sunday or otherwise!!

np

LOL, Ditto!!

Quig

np

I never mentioned frying the thing up... You know I still probably have it in my freezer (don't ask why) so if you want I could bring it and a hot plate to the next swap and you could give it a try..... LOL..... You never know if it's good something positive could come out of these hard bellies after all....

George

...fundraiser for PIJAC...now THAT'S a sound idea lol!!!

np

np

leave it be! those six egg i cooked came from an imported yelly belly with a hard belly. it never went away, but didn't seem to has any effect on her.

I'm guessing that would have been a different ailment than what we are talking about here. The impaction from the hardened yolk completely fills the intestines so I don't think unless the mass was passed either naturally or with help there is any way it would survive to adulthood. If you look at the picture I posted and the size of the mass in comparison to the snake you can see there is no way the snake would have been able to defecate.

George Knaack
GLK HERP