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Repair of impacted scent gland - graphic

April Homich

April Homich

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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
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Close up of swelling past the vent.
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Still won't express under anesthesia
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Prepped (making due with the tape...)
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Oops. I linked the same pic to all the next comments. I'll try again
Close up of swelling past the vent.
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Still won't express under anesthesia
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Prepped (making due with the tape...)
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Making the incision and dissecting the tissue
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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.
 
JordanAng420 said:
PS: I wanna see the scent gland cut open....I guess i've been a vet tech for way, WAY too long....LOL.
Click to expand...

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.
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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.

P1156473.jpg
 
Awesome, I'm not a Vet or Vet-tech, but I love learning! It's more arsenal to add to one's store of knowledge about the snakes and possible complications and solutions.

Thanks for sharing!
 
Awesome. Thanks for sharing that! I have a female Corn Snake that is currently having issues with her scent glands. Her's are expressible so far though. I'll keep this thread in mind should she have to have her's taken out.
 
This was a good find. I just had to take my hognose snake to the vet today because he had swelling and had to have a scent gland expressed. I didn't even know this could HAPPEN lol
Do you know what the cause is?
 
Thanks for the posts, it's very interesting to see unusual conditions like this.

Would you mind posting details of anaesthesia? The vets where I am have no reptile experience, and it would be great to have on file in case of need....
 
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