Corn Snake Has Hard Lump - Page 3

Scubadiver59 · 07-29-18, 04:52 AM

My vet recommendations were “no feeding” during antibiotic treatments—all three of my snakes were off food during treatments. You better check first before feeding. Remember, the patients can go for a few weeks with no food and still survive!

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neon Aurora

I find it hard to believe she's impacted since she has been pooping no problem. But yes, I'm going to try giving her a meal.

My sister never heated her. When I started taking care of her, I gave her heat. She was kept with a warm spot of 88-90 F and the cool end is usually around 70. There is a pretty decent temperature gradient in between that (measured with temp gun). Since this happened, I raised her warm spot to like 92-93. So she has had good temperature conditions for a couple months now, so through many feedings.

The lump is probably between 1/2 and 2/3 of the way down. Like I said, the organs in that area are the pancreas, stomach, and intestines.

Neon Aurora · 07-29-18, 02:00 PM

My vet told me to try feeding her something small. Should I not?

Scubadiver59 · 07-29-18, 02:30 PM

Three times I was told not to...not until the shots were done.

When’s the last time ur snake ate? If it was in the last month, you will be okay for a few weeks while the medicine works.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neon Aurora

My vet told me to try feeding her something small. Should I not?

Neon Aurora · 07-29-18, 03:46 PM

Alright, I'm fine with not feeding her. I'm not worried about her starving to death or anything. She's gone on hunger strikes longer than this before.

Neon Aurora · 08-06-18, 10:57 AM

Well, no luck, guys. Today is the last dose of antibioitics and nothing has changed.

Been giving her warm soaks and she has been pooping during some of those, so doesn't appear to be a blockage either.

Back to the vet to find out what to do next.

kudzu · 08-06-18, 11:46 AM

Poor thing. Thanks for trying to help her.

Neon Aurora · 08-07-18, 10:10 AM

Vet appointmnt at 3:15 today.

I'm holding her right now and can't help but notice she is occasionally taking some rather loud breaths. Not sure what that is all about.

craigafrechette · 08-07-18, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neon Aurora

Vet appointmnt at 3:15 today.

I'm holding her right now and can't help but notice she is occasionally taking some rather loud breaths. Not sure what that is all about.

I'm sending all my best wishes your way.

Neon Aurora · 08-07-18, 04:46 PM

Just got back from the vet.

The vet and I agreed that the lump actually looks a bit larger than before, so that's not good news. She also lost 30 grams since our last appointment. Also bad news.

There is some good news, though. I guess they called up their ultrasound guy and he was really excited because he's never gotten to do an ultrasound on a snake. They're getting some people together for the experience for education and he's going to do it free of charge! That is excellent, because still not my snake.

Her ultrasound will be tomorrow afternoon. I got her a fuzzy today (small meal for her) but am going to hold off trying to feed her until probably Thursday. I don't want her to regurgitate or for the meal to affect the efficacy of the ultrasound.

kazz · 08-07-18, 05:26 PM

Neon Aurora, good luck. Hope ultrasound will helps to make a diagnosis .

craigafrechette · 08-07-18, 07:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Neon Aurora

Just got back from the vet.

The vet and I agreed that the lump actually looks a bit larger than before, so that's not good news. She also lost 30 grams since our last appointment. Also bad news.

There is some good news, though. I guess they called up their ultrasound guy and he was really excited because he's never gotten to do an ultrasound on a snake. They're getting some people together for the experience for education and he's going to do it free of charge! That is excellent, because still not my snake.

Her ultrasound will be tomorrow afternoon. I got her a fuzzy today (small meal for her) but am going to hold off trying to feed her until probably Thursday. I don't want her to regurgitate or for the meal to affect the efficacy of the ultrasound.

Sorry to hear of the lost weight and that the lump seems larger.
However, that's great news that they're doing an ultrasound free of charge, and super cool that they're making it educational too.

As always, good luck!

Neon Aurora · 08-08-18, 09:27 PM

The ultrasound was really cool. He went all over her body and I got to see her heart beating and stuff. All we know so far is that it is some kind of mass and that it is completely solid, not fluid filled. He said it kind of looks like liver tissue but he didn't have a great idea of what he was seeing. Apparently there is not much literature on imaging in snakes and other reptiles. I've seen ultrasounds on horses, dogs, and cats, but this looked very weird. Her scales created weird patterning on the image which made it even harder for me to see what was happening (not that I can usually tell much anyways, no training here).

He took clips of the ultrasound and is taking them somewhere else to get some more opinions and do more research. Once he has more information, he wants to do some more diagnostic work next week. Probably an ultrasound guided aspiration so we can find out what kind of cells are in the mass. All free of charge. Everyone there is really interested in her case. They said they are starting to see an increasing number of reptiles being taken to the vet and they want to learn more about how to diagnose and treat them. They are using her to learn how to better help other snakes and reptiles in the future.

Honestly, this is very cool. I guess I kind of hit the jackpot as far as helping this snake goes. Seems like these vets really want to diagnose her for educational purposes. I'm glad that, if it something deadly like cancer, that this experience can be used to help reptiles in the future.

I'm going to feed her in the morning. I got her a fuzzy because they instructed me to feed her something small to see what happens.

I'll keep updating! I hope you guys are finding this as interesting as I am.

She was such a good snake. She let us turn her upside down and just kind of hung out like that until we were done.

ClockwerkBonnet · 08-08-18, 11:55 PM

I'm starting to wonder if you took any photos during the ultrasound or not. It's OK if the answer is no.

We wish the best for your snake and for the vets who are just starting out on caring for reptiles.

craigafrechette · 08-09-18, 05:05 AM

This really is so cool. And on multiple levels, starting with you, @neon aurora. You made a tough decision to help that snake in the first place, and it's clearly paying off.

Then there's the vet level of cool. Thats awesome that they're willing to do all this work as a free-of-charge learning experience for themselves and their staff.

Lastly, there's the cool part that the snake may unknowingly be helping future herps be properly diagnosed using this technology and education.

So, cool. And @neon aurora, you should be proud of yourself for all you're doing for this animal.
...and to think, it's not even your snake!! Kudos to you!

kudzu · 08-09-18, 08:06 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by craigafrechette

This really is so cool. And on multiple levels, starting with you, @neon aurora. You made a tough decision to help that snake in the first place, and it's clearly paying off.

Then there's the vet level of cool. Thats awesome that they're willing to do all this work as a free-of-charge learning experience for themselves and their staff.

Lastly, there's the cool part that the snake may unknowingly be helping future herps be properly diagnosed using this technology and education.

So, cool. And @neon aurora, you should be proud of yourself for all you're doing for this animal.
...and to think, it's not even your snake!! Kudos to you!

Ditto! Everything Craig said.