Lifesaving surgery on python after it swallowed very unlikely meal

WARNING, GRAPHIC CONTENT: A Queensland vet has had to perform surgery on a hungry snake to remove an unusual item from its stomach.

HerpVet, a reptile vet at Greencross Jindalee Veterinary Clinic, posted a video and images of a coastal carpet python on Facebook, which had been brought in by a local snake catcher earlier this week.

“You can’t make this stuff up,” Josh Llinas, the operating vet, wrote.

“This wild, coastal carpet python, was brought into the clinic by a local snake catcher after it was found in a home having ingested a slipper.”

He added it made for “one of the most impressive radiographs” he's seen.

“Surgery was performed under general anaesthetic to remove the foreign object, in a procedure called a coeliotomy and gastrotomy,” the vet wrote.

“After removal of the slipper, the stomach was closed in two layers, the body wall muscle was closed and surgical staples were used for the skin.”

Dr Llinas added the snake was given fluids, anti-inflammatories and pain killers after surgery and “woke up well”. The snake will go to rehabilitation in the coming days.

HerpVet later posted video of the surgery and added the slipper was removed with “minimal effort” but “care was taken to minimise the risk of spillage and contamination of the surgical field and new gloves and instruments were used for closure”.

Dr Llinas told Yahoo7 the procedure, which involved an incision about 15-20cm long, is "fairly routine", but "this was one of the strangest objects" has has removed from a snake's stomach.

"The slipper was in the stomach for about 48 hours prior to surgery," he said.

"If it was not removed or the snake did not regurgitate it up it would have been life threatening."

He added as far as he was aware the shoes were not kept.

It’s not the first coastal carpet python admitted to HerpVet with a weird item in its belly so far this month.

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• 'Not the best alarm clock': Woman woken by huge snake at 4am

• Family destroys yard to catch deadly snake lurking under home

Another one was admitted by a local snake catcher after being found with a tennis ball in its stomach.

Vets tried to remove the ball by lubricating the digestive tract but that wouldn’t work. The vets eventually removed the ball by performing surgery known as a gastronomy.

That snake is also expected to make a full recovery.