Fred the egg bound corn snake

Fred's owners initially thought he was male. then one day they found a pile of eggs in the enclosure with Fred and some swellings along his body. They soon realised that Fred was in fact female and thought that maybe Fredrica would be a better name. A few days later when the swellings had not gone they brought Fredrica to see Catherine. Catherine confirmed that Fredrica was female and  the swellings that could be seen were eggs still inside her. At first treatment was attempted with injections to help the passage of the remaining eggs. This did lead to two more eggs being laid but there was still one obvious swelling.

Repeat injections did nothing more and so it was decided that Fred needed surgery. So she was admitted and Catherine anaesthetised her. Her scales were scrubbed carefully to prepare her for surgery. Once everything was ready Catherine made an incision over the egg, she found that Fred's uterus had twisted around the one remaining egg and so there was no wonder that she couldn't lay it. The egg was removed and the uterus was straigthened out and closed.

Her skin was also closed with sutures (stitches).

Reptiles always recover slowly from anaesthetics but she started waking up and moving around later that afternoon and so was allowed to go home. The sutures had to stay in place for several weeks but the wound healed well and eventually the sutures were removed. Fredrica's friends were then all brought in so that Catherine could determine their sex. Fredrica is now kept well away from the male snakes.