Abnormal Large Abscessed Calcium Sac in Sikorae [Solved!!]

[Fumbles]

Three years ago I purchased a sikorae with an enlarged calcium sac. While I've been monitoring the growth there wasn't much I could do about it. He was eating, drinking and shedding so I took the forum advise and left it alone. Eventually it grew to the size of a large pea which, given the scale of the lizard, is like having a softball sized growth on a human. My biggest concern was that it was getting big inside and closing up his throat, but when I would inspect it I noticed it seemed to hang off the neck.

Last week it started developing nodules and black spots with dead skin. It honestly looked awful, like some sort of tumor. Still, I left it alone thinking if this is terminal at least I gave him a comfortable life.

To my surprise, after his last shed the growth disappeared. Well not all together disappeared, it was found in a bit of shedded skin. The growth that has developed for three years simply fell off with the last shed. It looked like a piece of perlite and felt like rubber. It has now dried up and shrunk but I took a picture which I'll post soon along with before pics. I'm not exactly sure how or why this happened, but the problem took care of itself.

 

[pakinjak]

Weird. I'm looking forward to the pictures.

 

[Aimless]

crazy! it sounds like it might have been an encapsulated abscess that finally just popped itself, in a very lucky way, without causing any sepsis?

I too am eager for pictures, and I'm glad it's gone.

 

[pakinjak]

I remember seeing a facebook group post the other day where a snake had a black scab on it's nose for a while, and the other day when it shed the entire black spot came off to reveal that it was actually a large abcess of some sort, entirely encapsulated. The snake has a hole in it's nose, but the skin all looks good.

Again, weird.

 

[aquamentus_11]

pretty cool. glad he's ok now. this is actually one of my fav mechanisms our bodies have: the "ol' seal up and push out maneuver". i think it's really cool that the medical world is starting to recognize these natural tendencies as effective methods of treatment. ideally, an unruptured appendicitis can be treated with antibiotics and letting the body seal the infection off. surgery is still the preferred and definitive treatment, but still yay for nature. can't wait to see the pics

 

[Fumbles]

Here's some after pictures.


This is what came out after it dried. It was twice the size and in one piece - also a bit softer like a piece of rubber, but it is now hard as a rock.

Here's his neck now. There's a tiny black dot where the abscess used to be. It's nice to see him like this - that thing was really nasty looking.

Will post the before pics soon.

 

[Aimless]

wow! I wonder if he'll regenerate a normal Ca sac, or just have a scar there?

 

[pakinjak]

I couldn't find it on this forum, so I'll have to link to another, but this might be of interest to you for comparision- Infection/hardening of the calcium gland

 

[Fumbles]

R.I.P. my little friend

I wasn't aware he was this far gone. He gave signs this week that he wasn't feeling well. His tail started to curl a bit but he was active - jumping, eating, etc. I've seen this guy bounce back from what I thought was certain death. However, I found him upside down this evening

This was him when I got him. Whatever that sac was had developed for some time. There's no telling how old he was when I got him three years ago.

These pics are after he passed this evening. I had to do no more than slightly move the other abscess on the side of his neck with a probe for it to fall out revealing a large hole which, despite its size, doesn't seem to go past the skin - like a large cyst. However, as shown in the previous photos, this growth will dry rock hard. Could it be calcium related? Many things dry to a hard mass, such as skin. I just don't know enough about this to say. The abscess that fell off which prompted me to start this thread seems to have had some sort of infection behind it. It almost looks like it opened back up....but I inspected him thoroughly only a few days ago because I noticed his shrinking tail and he was fine. This leads me to believe the sore happened after he passed, perhaps from a cricket.

I wish I had more warning, maybe a slow decline in case there was something I could have noticed and done something about...this guy was a fighter and I'm sad he's gone. RIP little guy.

Paknijak - thanks for the link - the mass that came out looks similar. This is not a new development however - the abscess from my gecko looks heavily oxidized.

 

[aquamentus_11]

sorry buddy. you both fought well.

 

[sikorae]

Sorry to hear you lost him