Enlarged heart carpet python

[GBWhite]

I don't follow,I wrote earlier that I had it happen to a 7yo mac and it occurred directly after it's first feed after winter cooling.If it was a congenital defect then why would it take 7 years to show?

G'day Ramsayi,

I'll post an extract from the first link that I included in my original post that may shed some light on what possibly went on with your mac.

I've read other articles where it implies that the expansion of the heart is a common occurrence in other species of pythons when fed following a period of fasting. My understanding is that there hasn't been any detailed study to confirm the theory as yet but it's assumed that it occurs mainly to help with the digestion of claws and teeth of the food item.

I believe what bigg_bunny is referring to is actually a cardiac problem dissociated with the inflation of the heart caused by eating after a fast. I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong...lol.

Personally I wonder if the cardiac problem mentioned by bigg_bunny has anything to do with the common practice of artificial incubation of python eggs. I've seen many clutches of neonates (Morelia, Antaresia, Aspidites) that have come out of the eggs with obvious large lumps about a third the way down their body (in the area where the snakes heart is located) and commented to the keepers that the "deformity" appeared to be conducive with artificial incubation.

Cheers,

George.

"The Burmese python, an imposing Asian native that can stretch to more than 5 meters in length, is the incredible, inflatable snake. This squeezing predator frequently goes months without eating and then gorges, sometimes downing an entire deer. To accommodate the sudden rush of sugars, fats, and proteins, its body goes into overdrive. Its metabolism speeds up nearly 40 times, and many of its organs, including its long digestive tract, double in size. Its heart also expands by 40%, presumably to pump greater volumes of blood throughout its body".

 

[Ramsayi]

G'day Ramsayi,

I'll post an extract from the first link that I included in my original post that may shed some light on what possibly went on with your mac.

I've read other articles where it implies that the expansion of the heart is a common occurrence in other species of pythons when fed following a period of fasting. My understanding is that there hasn't been any detailed study to confirm the theory as yet but it's assumed that it occurs mainly to help with the digestion of claws and teeth of the food item.

I believe what bigg_bunny is referring to is actually a cardiac problem dissociated with the inflation of the heart caused by eating after a fast. I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong...lol.

George.

Thanks George,
My theory goes along the same lines as you are alluding to in that after cooling and resumption of feeding their internal organs kick start again but then something goes wrong and instead of returning to their normal size they just keep expanding.

BB keeps referring to the problem being caused by a congenital heart defect when to my way of thinking it would be highly unlikely in the case of that mac given its age at the time.

 

[bigg_bunny]

The age at which symptoms occur is referrable to the degree of severity of the condition. I have seen some specimens that took 5 or 6 years to develop clinical signs. The thickening of the wall of the heart does not occur at the start of the condition but develops over a period of time. Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy in cats , dogs and humans is a similar , but not identical , condition in which gradual increase in the thickness of the muscle of the ventricle attempts to compensate for its decreased tone and resultant cardiac efficiency. In other cases , acute heart enlargement and heart failure occurred in hatchlings less than 12 months of age. All cases are not identical but vary in severity. I`m sure there are even sub-clinical milder forms that do not exhibit any problems at all. The fact that it occurs in such young snakes suggests that some inherited genetic factor must be involved. More research needs to be done and I`m amazed that it hasn`t already been covered. There`s a PhD there for someone.