Pastel Leopard ball python
Darrell has a severe jaw deformity. Darrell had surgery on his jaw for an abscess several months ago at the Center for Birds and Exotic Animal Medicine (CBEAM). Unfortunately the surgery didn’t seem to work and his abnormalities came back. His owner asked us to take him in becasue she could no longer take care of him. He also had severe mite infection when we took him in so we wonder if perhaps husbandry was less than ideal and contributed to his illness.
We aren’t yet sure if we are going to be able to save him but we’re giving him some time in our ICU to see what he does.
UPDATE: Darrell has been transferred to our Snake Haus East location for further care. Nicky performed a second surgery on 2/8/19 to take biopsies and debride the swollen area. Large amounts of abnormal tissue were found that resemble combination of necrotic debris and glandular tissue. Samples were sent to the lab for histopathology and we will need to wait for those results before knowing what our next step needs to be. Darrell is recovering well. Stay tuned for the next update.
We apologize for the somewhat graphic nature of these photos. Please don’t be alarmed – Darrell was under full general anesthesia during this procedure and is now on good pain meds and antibiotics during his after care.
UPDATE: Darrell has now had a second surgery to remove the rest of his abnormal tissue. He came through surgery with flying colors and is doing well. Stay tuned for more updates. We are hopeful this was the last surgery that he will need. The video below shows how we monitor his heart rate while under anesthesia. You can see the Doppler probe and his heart beating!