A five-and-a-half-foot Yellow Rat snake that swallowed a family’s ceramic egg during an Easter Egg hunt is recovering from surgery in a West Port St. Lucie clinic, WPTV reported.
The reptile, which was operated on by Dr. Leonard Fox of the Animal Hospital of West Port St. Lucie, was captured and brought to the facility almost a month after it swallowed the egg.
“It is actually not that mean,” Fox said about the snake.
Fox, who confirmed the presence of the egg in an x-ray, said he had to do research before the procedure, but said that the operation was very similar to that on a cat or dog.
“We made an incision right over the location of the egg, going between the scales, dissected down, got the stomach on out, made an incision into the stomach, pulled out the egg.”
The snake, which is a common species in Florida, is currently recovering.
“We’ve been tube feeding him, and I think this week he’s ready to eat his first mouse.”
Fox said he will keep the snake for the next six months so that he can remove its sutures and return the animal to the wild.
