Blockage Removed

[guidofatherof5]

This w/c female T.s.parietalis (Red Sided Garter Snake) was brought to me a little over a year ago.
She has been doing well but discovered she has a blockage of some kind just above her cloaca (vent).
I tried to flush the blockage out with a warm water enema. I failed to improve her situation and decided to let her rest a few days to see if my efforts had helped her push it out. I also didn't want to hurt her in my attempt to help.
Today I let her soak in a warm bath for about an hour. She was able to pass a small amount of fecal matter but still had this blockage.
I knew that I needed to be more aggressive with this blockage or she would surely die. Doing nothing wouldn't help her.
With the help of my daughter Gabby I once again got out my irrigation syringe and some warm water.
With Gabby holding most of her I worked with the lower 1/3rd. With some hard pushing on my part I was able to flush the blockage out.
She is still rather swollen and I hope she will make a full recovery over time.
I don't know what the blockage was but I do know one of her last meals was turkey heart.
No other snakes have shown any ill affect from the turkey heart to date.

http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//757/medium/blockage.jpghttp://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//757/medium/blockage1.jpg

[EasternGirl]

That's pretty yucky...but I'm really glad that you were able to flush some of it out of her....I hope she is able to recover. Poor thing!

[katach]

Great job getting that taken care of Steve. I hope she recovers quickly!

[guidofatherof5]

*UPDATE*

I allowed the blockage material to dry out some, then took another look at it.
It did appear to be turkey heart. I'm not sure why she had trouble digesting it or why it became a blockage.
She did eat a night crawler this evening so I'm hoping her digestive tract will handle it better.
My thought is the sooner I get food through the system the sooner she'll return to normal. Sort of a cleansing meal.
For the next week she will get a daily warm water bath in the hopes it will keep things moving.
Any ideas or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Spankenstyne]

Could it have been an undeveloped baby? I had a sand boa that had similar & ended up having to palpate and help work out several large hard undeveloped babies. They looked a lot like that pic & stunk horribly. They had been in her for probably close to a year and were very much like malformed hard rubber balls that were partly broken up. Regardless though it's dirty work and you did well.

[Spankenstyne]

Oh nm just saw the update after I posted. Might be a good idea either way to have only worms for a couple of weeks while she recouperates.

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks Chris. Worms and/or fish for the near future since they are high in water content.
I want to keep things moving. ;)

[PINJOHN]

Great job steve i really admire your tenacity, Chris has covered my intended suggestion, that exit area is bound to be a little tender so nothing too challenging....you had without doubt come to this conclusion your self, but i thought i'd say it any way :p

[chris-uk]

All I would suggest is the restricted diet you've already decided on.
Question about the blockage though - did it come out without any bleeding? If so, that's a good sign that there was no damage to the rectal lining (looking at the photo it looks like a blockage right at the end of the digestive tract). When other snakes have passed the turkey heart is the feces as "intact"? It just seems to have retained a lot of structure rather than having been digested.

[guidofatherof5]

I strongly suggest everyone getting one of these irrigation syringes. They come in very handy.
Blockages, flushing out eyes and wounds, etc.
I went to my dentist and he gave me a couple for free.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/syringe.jpg

[guidofatherof5]

She passed this evening.

[katach]

I have one from my wisdom teeth extraction a few years back.

[ScimitarX]

So sorry steve :(

[EasternGirl]

Oh no...I'm so sorry to hear that Steve...you tried your best to help her. Rest in peace girl...

[kibakiba]

Sorry to hear it Steve. You did the best you could.

[guidofatherof5]

Sorry to hear it Steve. You did the best you could.

I did all I knew to do.
Not sure if I hurt or helped.
Not very happy with the situation/outcome.

[kibakiba]

Well doing anything more with the area, could have caused her a lot more discomfort. I'm the kind of person that doesn't like having to make those decisions, I weigh out the pros and cons for too long.

[snakehill]

So sorry!!! :(

[chris-uk]

From the photo you posted I'm of the opinion that no action would have killed her, by taking some action you gave her a chance.
Sorry to hear she didn't make it.