Repair of impacted scent gland - graphic

I noticed some swelling recently in one of my big female ball python's tails. I could palpate at least three hard, pea sized masses. Her right scent gland was impacted so I brought her to our vet clinic. We doesn't generally see reptiles, but my boss loves surgery and learning new procedures so he researched treatments and decided that surgical removal was the best option. The material was solid and there was no way to express it. She was pre-medded and kept on iso for the procedure. We ended up taping the trach tube in - tying didn't work with nothing to tie around.

Anyway, I documented it while I breathed for her.

Intubated


Close up of swelling past the vent.


Still won't express under anesthesia


Prepped (making due with the tape...)

Oops. I linked the same pic to all the next comments. I'll try again
Close up of swelling past the vent.


Still won't express under anesthesia


Prepped (making due with the tape...)


Making the incision and dissecting the tissue

Right scent gland.






Scent gland removed


Closing

Opening the gland.


Hard material


After



She came out of it well and looks good today. I will update this as she heals.

Oops. I messed up again. The cutting open the scent gland one's probably overkill anyway...

Nice April! I'm glad your kiddo is okay. Thank you so much for sharing! Did the doc use any post-operative pain medications or antibiotics?

PS: I wanna see the scent gland cut open....I guess i've been a vet tech for way, WAY too long....LOL.

Originally Posted by JordanAng420

PS: I wanna see the scent gland cut open....I guess i've been a vet tech for way, WAY too long....LOL.

And I've been a biologist for far too long! I want to see it too. Were you able to determine what the masses were? Was it fecal material?

Ok, here's the pic I missed.


We didn't do anything further with the material. It just smelled like concentrated snake musk - It was like a dog getting a plugged anal gland, except the material hardened up to the point of not being able to be expressed. We aren't doing post-op antibiotics, but she got an injection during surgery. For post-op pain control, she's getting oral meloxicam.

I realized that I needed to update this. My boss who did the surgery went out of town, so she had the sutures in a bit longer than 2 weeks. She shed and passed a lot of normal stool in the meantime. Everything healed well, and she looks great! She did not cooperate for me trying to hold her tail with one hand for a picture. Here's the best I could do - she looks a little crooked because of the way she's moving. Everything lined up normally when she's not squirming to get away.

That healed up great. Kudos to the vet! Thanks for sharing.