Reptile & Amphibian Forums

This beautiful amel. stripe female was laying a clutch of mostly infertile eggs (6 good and about 15 bad). I awoke to this, I assume this is the oviduct which prolapsed out. It sort of appears twisted and I cannot find an opening to it. It is just a soft red blob extending from the cloaca.

To make matters worse, there is at least one more egg still inside. I gently pushed the egg up away from the cloaca with the hope that it would draw the "blob" back in, thinking that it is the oviduct. This had no effect. She is currently sitting on paper towels saturated with sugar water (I've heard of this for prolapsed hemipenes).

I'd take her to a vet but there is not a qualified one any where near me, the local ones have an abysmal reputation when it comes to reptiles and cannot even properly sex a snake.

She is probably my favorite corn, always a fantastic eater and problem free. I feel that she will likely die and I am just sick about it, any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks, Dave

I understand the love of snakes, but why would you own an animal that you didn't have professional back-up on? I hope that's not taken as a dumb or cruel question.

reptile vets are not as common as other mainstream vets. To say a person shouldn't own something becuase a care provider is not readily available IMO is a not so intelligent comment.

How many people in this world have children but don't have a qualified pediatrician sitting right under their nose.

Russ

Sorry Russ, it's one of the things I checked on before I bought my first herp. That was probably pretty unintelligent according to your way of thinking.

that is the thing about the forums...you post and others comment. I just used your own words in my response. Do I think you are dumb.....no. You have your opinion and I have mine and fortunately....like a$$holes they mostly stink

No harm done but I got to tell you I'd die if I had to give up my snake collection of 100 plus animals soley because there was not a qualified vet. Did I mention I did stay at a Holiday Inn Express last night...

Russ

... although you are right in your own way. I live in the Middle East region. Sadly, there are no qualified reptile vets anywhere in the country. And there is no professional back-up, there is no back-up at all for that matter, not even support and compassion from vets or anyone else. You’ve got to learn many things yourself in such situations. I have only myself to count on and help from you, guys. Often this is how one comes up with new methods, theories and research. Tragically, yes, sometimes at the expense of loosing an animal.

I understand your situation, Dave. You are still lucky enough to have highly qualified reptile vets in your country, although few and far between. I hope you’ll manage to locate one and he’ll be sympathetic enough to help.

I wish you all the best.

Natalia

Not trying to judge, just hard to understand. My nephew has asked me to help him buy his first herp. Finding him an appropriate vet will be high on the list of things I help him do. Sorry your offended. Good rep vets are hard to find.

>>Not trying to judge, just hard to understand. My nephew has asked me to help him buy his first herp. Finding him an appropriate vet will be high on the list of things I help him do. Sorry your offended. Good rep vets are hard to find.

So if you don't have any qualified herp vets in your area you should't get a herp?

If that was the case 75% of us, or more, wouldn't have herps.

You got mad at Russ's responce to your post when your original post was much more abbrasive then his.

by the way...I know moe about my snakes, turtles and bearded dragons then the vets in my area.
I took one of my bearded dragons to the only vet, out of about twenty, in my area that was even willing to look at her.
He supposedly knew a lot about them...yeah right.
He asked about the beardie's hubandry, which was a good question, but when I started explaing the tank set-up, temps, feeding schedule and foods he looked at me as if he hads never heard of what I was doing.
You want to know what freaked him out?
The fact that I keep her basking platform at a temperature of 105 to 110 degrees and that I feed her mixed greens, vegies, rep cal pellets and other goodies as well as wax worms, butter worms and silk worms. No crickets.
He basically thought they thrived in a constant 85 degree tank and a diet of crickets.

I know that is kind of off topic but it is an example of resources available.

so should I get rid of my snakes, turtles and beardies?
I don't think so.

-----
Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes

I had this problem last year Dave. Like you, I was doing the morning checks and found that she'd had this problem during the night. I need to say up front that even with the help of a knowledgable vet, I lost her. Anyway, this is what happened and I hope it gives you some pointers.

Firstly, the vet cleaned and replaced the oviduct. I didn't see it done, but it involved a blunt instrument and a lot of water-based lube. The risks of a potential rupture are obvious. The vet gave her an antibiotic shot in case of infection and a calcium shot to give her a boost. She still had three eggs inside her, but the vet was happy to give her a couple of days to recover and try to pass them naturally.

After two days she'd regained some strength but the eggs hadn't moved. As far as I could see, a stricture had formed in the oviduct and this was blocking the eggs. The vet confirmed this and concluded that the eggs wouldn't pass naturally.

He had her in for a procedure the next day. Firstly he planned to see if the contents of the eggs were still liquid. If so, he was going to try aspiration and then to manipulate the deflated eggs past the stricture and out. He was very wary of this, as he has lost snakes to septicaemia where the egg contents had leaked into the oviduct. If the eggs had solidified, the he was going to operate to remove them.

Unfortunately, she passed away the morning he was due to operate. PM showed that one of the eggs had already leaked. She'd had an infection for some time and it was likely that the egg leak had happened either during the initial prolapse or as the vet replaced it.

Anyway, that's my sad tale. I hope it helps give you some ideas of what to do. Even more, I hope that someone else can help with a more optimistic piece of advice. The best of luck.

Kel