16-foot long python undergoes emergency surgery

A five-meter (16-foot) python underwent emergency surgery in Brazil after it failed to naturally release its eggs, putting its life at risk, Brazilian specialists said.

A team of veterinarians from the Sorocaba University (Uniso) veterinary hospital performed the surgery to save the life of the reticulated python (Python reticulatus) at the end of May.

The university released a video of the operation showing a group of specialists pinning the reptile down as they subdued it and anaesthetized the nonvenomous reptile before carrying out the operation.

Zookeepers at the Sorocaba Zoo, located just west of the city of Sao Paulo city where the snake is kept, first realised the snake was losing weight before running tests to discover it had a calcified egg lodged in its body that was not naturally being expelled.

A team of five veterinarians and several veterinary students cut a 1.5 metre- (five foot-) incision near the reptile’s tail and discovered the deformed egg which they immediately removed.

They also removed an additional 12 undeveloped eggs and the female’s uterus leaving the snake, which is about 20-years-old, infertile.

None of the eggs were fertilised and a veterinarian from the university told Reuters it is not uncommon for egg-laying animals, including chickens and other birds and reptiles, to have to go through a similar procedure when eggs are not naturally dropped.

The python was released from the university hospital and is being monitored by zookeepers at its zoo home in the city of Sorocaba.

A professor from the Uniso University told Reuters on Thursday (June 18) that the snake was recovering and is in good condition.

Reticulated pythons are native to Southeast Asia and are among the longest snakes and reptiles in the world.

The mostly eat rodents, small mammals and birds which they kill by coiling their powerful, constrictive bodies around their prey.