Retic Colon Surgery

Two days ago one of our reticulated python females had to have surgery for an obstructed colon. We took her to Stahl Exotic Animal Veterinary Services (SEAVS) in Fairfax, VA last week after the area about 12" in front of her vet became hard and she felt like she had swallowed a tennis ball. Initially the vet thought she was just constipated, but exercise and massaging the area failed to improve her condition so we authorized surgery. What was found surprised all of us; left untreated she would have died, as she had an infection in her colon wall that was blocking anything from passing. That portion of the colon was removed and the healthy ends were stitched back together.

I've created a photobucket storybook with comments on each picture from the surgery at:
https://s477.photobucket.com/user/efillc/library/Snakes/Retics/Nova%20Surgery

Nova will be at the vet for a few weeks for post-op. She will also need to be tube fed carnivore care for several months while her colon heals, and she's on antibiotic shots for a while as well.

Pretty amazing stuff. Glad the 'tic survived

Yikes! Glad it was caught in time. Any clue on the cause and what's the trick to getting them to sit still?

LOL, getting them to sit still is easy - better living through chemistry. Yes, there is "happy juice" available for reptiles.

We got word last night that the histopathology results are in. No worries about cancer or an infectious disease like crypto. In layman's terms Nova had something called Pseudomembranous Colitis. How she got it is a complete mystery. Fortunately her prognosis at this time looks great.

Update: NOVA had her first whole prey meal since the surgery last week (two large mice).  If all goes well and she passes them normally then she can finally come home.

ETA: NOVA came home on 3/23 and will be on three jumbo mice every five days for the next few months. The vet said she could eat that evening so we went ahead and fed her - gotta love that retic food response.

FWIW watching a retic eat mice is rather ridiculous! Think popcorn chicken LOL!