Difference between revisions of "Snake Necropsy"
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{{review}} | {{review}} | ||
__TOC__ | __TOC__ | ||
+ | [[Image:Organ_position_+labels.jpg|250px|thumb|right|'''Organ positions''' © RVC]] | ||
==External examination== | ==External examination== | ||
# Measure and weigh the snake and examine the external features. | # Measure and weigh the snake and examine the external features. |
Revision as of 15:22, 21 August 2010
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External examination
- Measure and weigh the snake and examine the external features.
- Check the skin for bite wounds, bruising, bleeding, ulcerations, burns, swellings, scars, retained shed and ectoparasites.
- Examine the nares, spectacles, eyes, oral cavity and cloaca.
- Assess the musculoskeletal system for body condition and palpate for pathology of the vertebra.
Internal examination
- Open the coelomic cavity. Split the fat body in the median line to expose the organs. Check for fluid.
- Examine all organs in a systematic manner - liver, gall bladder, spleen, pancreas, heart, large vessels, thyroid, lung, oesophagus, stomach, small intestine, large intestine, kidneys, gonads, adrenal glands and eventually the brain.
- Open trachea, lungs, heart, oesophagus, stomach and the intestinal tract, and section other organs as necessary.
- Take swabs as appropriate including heart blood, liver, spleen and kidney.
- Take sterile smear of heart blood for staining.
- Put liver, lung, kidney, spleen and intestine in both formal saline (transfer to 70% ethanol after 48 hours) and frozen in sterile container.
- Make impression smears of different parts of intestines.
- Take a sterile sample of any abnormal gut contents, make a smear in saline.
- Wash the gut contents out in saline, examine for signs of parasites.
- Inspect the gonads to sex definitively