• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

Reticulated Python Colon Surgery

Unfortunately there's a sad update to this story. Last week Nova started having issues with getting backed up/unable to pass feces. We took her to SEAVS and they got her cleaned out, but over the few days they had her for observation they noted issues with her back third becoming paralyzed, with a loss of muscle control in her tail, she could not close her vent, etc. We gave her a few more days to see if things would improve, but she then showed increasing signs of pain in her body just before the paralysis point.

They theorize that there may have been some nerve damage due to the surgery, and her nerves may have been torn or stretched away from the spine when they had to do the intestine resection. While the problem wasn't evident immediately post-op, it became an issue as she grew longer and thicker.

So, we made the tough decision to have her euthanized.

Since her particular case was included in the recently released edition of Mader’s Reptile and Amphibian Medicine and Surgery, Dr. Stahl will be doing a necropsy on her as a follow-up, in case he finds anything useful to include in a future release of the book.
 
Very sorry to hear. Heartbreaking...
 
Very sorry to hear that. :(

I hope it is some consolation to know how much you and she contributed to veterinary knowledge by letting us know all the details though.

Re the tail paralysis - I had a snake with a similar problem after a heat wave (the snake died the next day). I'd never heard of it before, but I imagine nerve damage was a very likely factor in that case.
 
Thank you Melinda

I think I might be in your situation at the moment: one of my Fiji Boas, Samael (1.8m 2.5 kg not sure how old but I've had him for over 10 years), has two hard lumps in his gut, about 8 scales above his cloaca.

It does not appear to be causing him pain or discomfort, and at this colder time of the year, (we are coming to the end of our southern hemisphere winter) they fast, so there is no danger of him eating and causing more trouble right now. He would start to eat again next month if all was well, so I do need to get this sorted out if it is possible.

I have tried warm water soaks and belly massages, but cannot move or change them. The next step would be to force feed him a little mineral oil, or try an enema, and failing that, surgery.

We don't have specialist reptile vets in Fiji, but I am sending useful links, including your photobucket album, to the few vets we do have, and while I'd be delighted if anyone had any hints of tips for us, I'm primarily posting here to thank you, Melinda, for posting this up, it's going to be very helpful in informing vets here if we can try to do something for him.

BTW, this is the same snake that had a severe respiratory infection in 2017 and went off feed for 1.5 years after that, so he's not my simplest snake, see thread http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/forums/showthread.php?t=640431
:face_palm_02:
 

Attachments

  • snake impactions.jpg
    snake impactions.jpg
    363.4 KB · Views: 226
Hi again Melinda.
Do you still have your photo bucket story on file? I went back to photo bucket but the link is no longer there. I should haver saved it the first time.
My snake still has his problem, and although you don't think it's the same thing, I'd like to show our local (non herp) vets what a scan of a blockage can look like.
Many thanks
 
I'll just upload them here. The Photobucket account was my husband's and when he moved over to Instagram he kind of stopped using it so I think they clobbered it.
 

Attachments

  • nova01.jpg
    nova01.jpg
    183.3 KB · Views: 155
  • nova02.jpg
    nova02.jpg
    120.7 KB · Views: 173
  • nova03.jpg
    nova03.jpg
    154.6 KB · Views: 182
  • nova04.jpg
    nova04.jpg
    109.4 KB · Views: 166
Next set of pics
 

Attachments

  • nova05.jpg
    nova05.jpg
    142.3 KB · Views: 168
  • nova06.jpg
    nova06.jpg
    145.1 KB · Views: 173
  • nova07.jpg
    nova07.jpg
    144 KB · Views: 175
  • nova08.jpg
    nova08.jpg
    324.6 KB · Views: 178
More pictures
 

Attachments

  • nova10.jpg
    nova10.jpg
    246.1 KB · Views: 163
  • nova12.jpg
    nova12.jpg
    219.1 KB · Views: 160
  • nova11.jpg
    nova11.jpg
    262.5 KB · Views: 148
  • nova09.jpg
    nova09.jpg
    316.8 KB · Views: 157
Almost done...
 

Attachments

  • nova13.jpg
    nova13.jpg
    214.6 KB · Views: 149
  • nova14.jpg
    nova14.jpg
    163.9 KB · Views: 154
  • nova15.jpg
    nova15.jpg
    151.3 KB · Views: 163
  • nova16.jpg
    nova16.jpg
    134.8 KB · Views: 148
All done and sewn up
 

Attachments

  • nova17.jpg
    nova17.jpg
    267.2 KB · Views: 157
It's like taking your car to the mechanic

Just back from the vet with good news. :D

He took three X rays, as below, and decided that the blockage is contained within the intestines, but there was no torsion, so we were pretty sure it was impacted faeces, not a tumour or a twist, making it possible to consider giving him oral laxatives.

We were just discussing laxative possibilities (anyone have an opinion on Mineral oil or Lactulose laxative in snakes?) when he started to pass urates.

That was messy but good news, but then there was a little blood in the urates, and a visible inversion of rectal tissue, and he passed a decent size stool, soft on the outside but dry and impacted on the inside. I've rarely been so happy to be pooped on :eek:

So, it's pretty obvious he had impacted faces for some reason, and we are hopeful that with the help of some mineral oil, which we are trying to source now, we may be able to shift the rest of it. The remaining lump is much smaller and softer and is nearer the cloaca than it had been, so we will continue with bathing and handling to keep him moving, and wait for another stool before we try feeing again.

I'm sure we are both much happier this morning - 3 - 4 months of constipation can't have been nice for him.

(Please excuse my rings in one of the X rays - the local vets aren't too thrilled to hold a snake still, so I had to do it myself)
 

Attachments

  • Lateral.jpg
    Lateral.jpg
    163 KB · Views: 150
  • Semi lateral.jpg
    Semi lateral.jpg
    201.8 KB · Views: 163
  • Ventral.jpg
    Ventral.jpg
    227.4 KB · Views: 154
He passed a second stool that afternoon after another hour's soaking and massage, so now he's just going to rest for a few days before I try feeding him again.

I don't want to hijack your thread further, so I'll start a new one and detail the process I went through with Samael, in the hopes that someone else might find it as useful as this thread was to me. (Our newly certified surgical intern vet was fascinated by the surgery photos, thank you).

On that note, did you ever get / can you post the necropsy results of your python?

bcr229 said:
Since her particular case was included in the recently released edition of Mader’s Reptile and Amphibian Medicine and Surgery, Dr. Stahl will be doing a necropsy on her as a follow-up, in case he finds anything useful to include in a future release of the book.
Click to expand...
 
Helenthereef said:
On that note, did you ever get / can you post the necropsy results of your python?
Click to expand...
I did not get anything in writing. The vet did say that the internal and external incisions had healed very well and there didn't seem to be a lot of scarring, which is why they were thinking nerve damage that became evident or worsened as she grew.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top