intubation tubes

[Robert_K]

One of my snakes (a female common boa) suffered a nasty mite infestation at the beginning of the year.By the time we noticed she was already anaemic and very dehydrated. We brought her to the vet who intubated her to administer some fluids aswell as giving her some antiparasitic medicine.He said he doubted if she`d see the next morning. I took her home ,intubation tube in place and stayed up all night syringing water into the intubation tube every hour or so - she was really dehydrated.i brought her back acouple of days later , the vet was genuinely surprised she was still alive. He gave her some more meds and sent me off with a new intubation tube in place (i`d removed the first one earlier that day). Before i left the vets` i looked back into the hamper basket i was using to carry the snake to see she`d swallowed th intubation tube.The vet panicked a bit and said to leave her , that they`d have to x-ray her and operate to remove the tube.This was the first time ever that one of my snakes had gotten mites never mind the subsequent complications.I was concerned that cutting open(and thus losing blood) was the last thing an anaemic snake needed,but what was i to do. I went home very worried .That evening the vet rang to say he was`nt going to operate and that she`d pass the intubation tube.She continued to refuse food for a couple of months.Eventually my brother and i had to force feed her. We had to do this several times over about a month( small food only) until finally about 3 weeks ago she started to feed volumtarily again after some 5 months - we were delighted.BUT there is still no sign of the intubation tube and she has defecated.The vet said she would not digest it as it was synthetic (plastic).Could he be wrong?Any advice or similar experiences would be wellcomed? What harm could it be causing her now or in the future? or has she digested it?Sorry to be so long winded but i thought you`d appreciate the full story.Thanks Rob K