u/No-Bookkeeper912

my sweet girl cinnamon had a prolapse on tuesday. I just finished her 4x2x2 enclosure and was about to put her in it, but when I picked her up she seemed super defensive. And then I saw a HUGE prolapse. I was devastated because i’ve seen horror stories about people losing their sweet babies to them.

It was about 8pm when I noticed. I immediately called every vet around (15+). Unfortunately, exotic vets are hard to come by where I live, especially places that are open at that time. After calling every emergency veterinarian clinic I could find, I started to lose hope. They finally recommended me to one that was 2 hours away & I knew I had to go or she wouldn’t make it. Since the tissue can dry out & become necrotic I looked up ways to keep it fresh & pink until I got there. I did a sugar soak while I got a quarantine tub ready & gently applied water + sugar paste to the exposed tissue.

They said it was a very large prolapse so it was hard to get back in. After 3 hours of waiting, they came back and told me they were successful!! I got to take her home and keep a close eye on her. I scheduled a follow up appointment the next day. The vet said she should be able to heal on her own, but if it comes back out we will have to do a surgery/put stitches in to keep it in place.

I want to spread awareness for unexpected circumstances for ball pythons that require emergency care, and hopefully help anyone out who has/might have this problem. Definitely do your research if you are questioning your ball python’s health. I did a lot of research on health risk factors & still learn more every day. The second you have a pet in your care, you are expected to do everything in your power to help them in situations like this.

I’m so happy that my sweet girl is doing better. I unfortunately did not get a picture of the prolapse to show how big it was. Picture of cinnamon and the custom 4x2x2 background for attention!

Any recommendations on how to keep her as comfortable as possible are appreciated! (: