“Baby Girl”, a Coastal Carpet Python, was brought into the clinic early January 2008 after having laid 13 eggs. Her owners were concerned as there was still a visible ‘bulge’ in the lower part of her body. She still seemed fairly bright in herself but they were concerned that an egg was still stuck inside her.
After a gentle examination from our veterinarian, it was confirmed that there was not just one egg stuck – but six! The lowest egg was collapsed and the contents sucked out via needle and syringe; five to go. It was decided that Baby Girl would have a precautionary antibiotic injection, a hormonal injection to hopefully get everything moving and a vitamin injection to boost her up again. There was only a 50% chance this would work but it was worth a shot.
Three days later, Baby Girl was back to see us. The eggs had moved a little, but they were still stuck. It was decided that we would perform a ‘caesarian section’ to remove them. Baby Girl was admitted, and anaesthetised for surgery.
After she was anaesthetised, an incision was made in her lower body to remove the eggs. The first 3 eggs had to be removed via 2 incisions as they kept slipping away from us. The other 2 eggs were so close to her vent there was concern we could damage her permanently if an incision was made in that area. So the eggs were removed by carefully manipulating the vent open with cotton buds and forceps and expressing the eggs out.
After quite a bit of suturing, Baby Girl recovered from her anaesthesia and was placed back into her warmed vivarium. Baby Girl recovered very well from her operation and went home on a course of antibiotics and pain relief. Eight weeks later she was back for a revisit, obviously no worse for wear! She had healed up beautifully and was still willing to be our friend – which is always a bonus!
