干旱区生态环境知识资源中心

The authors review a case of subileus caused by sand particles passively swallowed during the feeding in a 5 years old female desert sand boa (Eryx miliaris). The snake was kept in a 30x45x30 cm terrarium heated with 40 W soil heater, the substrate was river sand. The snake was fed basically on alive and dead mice killed by CO. Several weeks before the examination the snake refused the food and stopped eating. An object composed of swallowed sand particles was detected by X-ray, endoscope and ultrasound examination. The sand was swallowed passively with the prey animals during the feeding and accumulated as thick pseudoconcretion before the cloaca. Circumscribed local inflammation was observed, caused by the particle. During the endoscopic examination the particle that caused the subileus could be removed via the cloaca. With this case the authors suggest to use pit sand or soil as ground for sand boas, which do not cause ileus or subileus.