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paralized? and dying corn

G

gob144

New member
I noticed a lump on my corns spine in two places a few weeks ago. I took him to the vet 2 times and all he says is it looks like an injury so leave him be for while. The lumps seem to be getting worse slowly and my corn can barely move his tail end half. When ever I put him in his home he goes into his hide but his tail half never goes in. I put him on the floor to see how he is moving and he seems to be dragging his tail half around. Hes not totally paralyzed though because when i pick up his tail half the tail will move slightly but very slowly.

I don't know what the hell to do now i cant keep taking him to the vet it isn't cheap. I'm starting to think i may have to get him put down.
 
Sounds like either way, the vet is your only option. Worsening paralysis following a possible injury doesn't sound good. My feeling is that if it was a survivable injury, then the paralysis would be getting better as swelling or inflammation goes down.

I think you need the vet's advice. Sadly I suspect you're right and you may be looking at euthanisation. Let us know how it goes.
 
Can you take him to another reptile vet? It doesn't seem like your current vet is giving you any real help at the moment.
 
there no specialist vets any where near where i live. Its such an upset i researched for months on snake care and corn snake care, I'm so frustrated I was looking forward to having a corn for so long and its not even been a year. Puts me snakes altogether now.
 
another thing is i have no clue how he could have ever gotten the injure that got to be one of the worst parts. I cant picture him doing it to himself but iv never seen him do anything that would cause such an injury.
 
Poor little guy. That is strange how he could get such an injury.

Wished I could suggest something, but I'm just as clueless as you are on this one.
 
he eats frozen thawed in a seperate feeding container. he is still eating just fine. Hes shedding right now but its not going to well because he isnt mobile enough to get all the shed off.
 
he is still eating just fine. Hes shedding right now but its not going to well because he isnt mobile enough to get all the shed off
Click to expand...
Is he pooping OK as well? That might indicate that the paralysis isn't catastrophic.

The basics for his survival will include him being able to get around enough to:
1) Move freely between the warm and cool temperature zones
2) Swallow
3) Digest
4) Poop
5) Shed

If he seems to have having problems with any of these, then you need to think about whether he's going to be able to live a decent life.

1) could stress him to the point where he stopped eating. Being unable to move to a warm area could prevent him digesting. Potentially life-limiting.

2), 3), or 4) would be fatal.

5) may not be an issue if
- a) you're able to help him enough to complete the shed and
- b) doing that doesn't stress him unduly

Also, even if he can survive with some limitations, you need to ask yourself whether he has an acceptable quality of life.

Without a reasonable reptile vet, you have some potentially difficult evaluations to make.
 
"even if he can survive with some limitations, you need to ask yourself whether he has an acceptable quality of life." - Bitsy

And that's what it really boils down to.

I agree that your current vet is probably sadly unable to help, and I realise that it is not the most affordable thing, but if it were me in your position (and I would like to stress that point again, IF it were me) I would travel further afield to a specialist vet, whatever the cost, and give this snake one more chance at survival. I keep almost deleting this next part, but, if a specialist vet then recommends euthanasia, at least you won't have the dilemma and emotional heartache of doing it yourself.

I wish you both the best of luck. Don't torture yourself over the how's and why's - it's not your fault. And he COULD still get better.
 
He seems to be having trouble doing all the above listed things. He just shed and he got the shed off of hes head and a little behind his head but didn't get any more than that off. I have to check if hes pooping, He use to always poop 3-4 days after eating and im taking him to a vet today so hopefully i can get some sort of idea as to what i should do.
 
I feel so bad for the little guy. I hate it if you might end up putting him down. It makes you feel so helpless.

I hope there is some way you can save him. And I feel for you, I do.
 
Let us know how it goes with the vet. I really hope the outcome is better than I fear but it doesn't sound like he can manage the basics for survival.

I'll be thinking of you and sending you and snakie all good wishes...
 
UPDATE: I took him to the vet. The X-rayed him, He does seem to have 2 small fractures in his spine. He now has 2 cast on each of the areas. Were are going to keep casting him once a week for about a month and a half and hopefully he gets some mobility. On a lighter not he looks very funny with a cast ill take some pics. I really hope he recovers enough to not have to be euthanized.
 
That's great to hear that the vet is trying all he/she can to get your little guy over this. And kudos to you for hanging in there with him and not giving up on him. He's very lucky to have found you.. you obviously care very much for him. I will pray that he recovers and is able to stay with you in this life.
 
I have a snake that is partially paralyzed for about the last third of her body. She eats, sheds, poops, climbs, swims just fine. As long as your snake can eat and poop, you can deal with the rest.
 
That sounds very hopeful - it's an enterprising vet that can manage to get a cast on a snake! Great that he's willing to try as well. Fingers crossed!
 
Yea im happy hes trying something, He said no promises that he will heal from a month of casting but its better than trying nothing at all. I hope he recovers to, hes my pride and joy. The casting is done with some sort of tubing. the Vet puts a plastic tube over the area and cast that in place to limit mobility. The vet isnt a specialist but he owns a red tailed boa and has had problems so hes done his homework to get his snake up to proper health and take pride in working on snakes now.
 
UPDATE: My snake either seems to be getting some mobility in his back half or he is learning to cope with out using it. He is eating fine the cast has been doing well keeping him immobilized where he needs to be. Its looking more hopeful than i could have imagined.
here's a pic of how goofy he looks.
IMG_0811.jpg
 
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