Blockage Necropsy

[guidofatherof5]

A couple weeks ago one of my young female T.s.parietalis(Red Sided Garter Snake)was suffering from a prolapsed cloaca.
She spent one night in a moist box and the prolapse fixed itself.
About a week later I felt a blockage. It was about 3 inches from her cloaca. This would explain the prolapse. I fault myself for not ckecking her immediately for a reason why.
I attempted to push the blockage out many times but it wouldn't budge. I even gave her a mineral oil enama to no avail.
She started losing weight and I could see she wasn't going to make it so I was forced to euthanize her.
Her name was Bighead and she was sweet girl.
I then performed a necrospy on her to see what the blockage was.
In hindsight I feel I should have been more aggressive in my attempts to remove the blockage.
The blockage was about the size of a peanut. It was moist and the consistency of putty/mud.




*BE ADVISED THESE PHOTOS ARE GRAPHIC*











http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/blk.jpghttp://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/blk1.jpghttp://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/blk2.jpg

[katach]

I'm sorry for your loss Steve. Can you tell what the blockage was? Substrate? Fur?.....?

[guidofatherof5]

I'm guessing it was fecal matter. Sure smelled like it.

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

ugh thats awful.... sorry Steve... :(

[guidofatherof5]

She was small and I didn't have the equipment I needed to treat her the way I wanted.
I'm going to work on that problem.

[dieselbaby]

So sorry Steve. She had a good life while she was with you.

[guidofatherof5]

So sorry Steve. She had a good life while she was with you.

She was a nice little female and I am sad to see her go.
Being smaller then her siblings might have been an indication of other issues.
In any event I will miss my Bighead.

[d_virginiana]

Sorry to hear that. :(

[PINJOHN]

really hated to hear of you losing bighead, not nice at any time but when its a young snake it leaves you with the big question, WHY,
but you set out do something about finding out, and then shared the knowledge with us all, and now we all have added a little to our snake keeping lore , don't ever change Steve you are one in a million

[chris-uk]

deleted half post from posted from phone

[chris-uk]

Could you see any problem with the intestine near the blockage? Inflamation or a twist?
Sorry for your loss, and thanks for sharing the knowledge so that wd might be able to help another snake in a similar condition.
Couple of questions - how do you give a snake an enema? And what would you have done with the right equipment?

[guidofatherof5]

Could you see any problem with the intestine near the blockage? Inflamation or a twist?
Sorry for your loss, and thanks for sharing the knowledge so that wd might be able to help another snake in a similar condition.
Couple of questions - how do you give a snake an enema? And what would you have done with the right equipment?

I didn't see any swelling or twists.
To give the enema I used a curved tip irrigation syringe.
A very small endoscope would have given me a look at the blockage.
Being able to get a sample of the blockage would have allowed me other options that I didn't know of.
In hindsight I think a warm water enema found have help remove the blockage.

[chris-uk]

That would have to be a tiny endoscope, and the size of sample you could safely remove would be tiny so it may not have been enough to make a postive ID. You may be correct about a warm water enema, hindsight is a cruel thing.
I would have expected some inflamation around the area of the impaction - a lack of any damage there may indicate that there was an issue with bowel motility. I don't suppose you got any really close up shots of the bowel walls? I don't have a frame of reference for snake bowels, but I have a frame of reference with human anatomy.

[guidofatherof5]

No I didn't get any other photos then the ones I posted. Sorry.