A swollen snake needed help — and fast.

Photos posted online showed the snake arrived at a Virginia animal hospital with a bulging body. Then, a veterinary team discovered the culprit.

The creature had swallowed a golf ball that it likely mistook for an egg, creating a health scare, according to the Blue Ridge Wildlife Center.

“This snake recovered well from surgery and will be in care for at least a few weeks while we wait for the gastrointestinal tract and skin to heal,” the center wrote June 3 in a Facebook post.

The snake received the much-needed care in Boyce, a roughly 130-mile drive northwest from Richmond. The animal organization said it handles several of these fake egg cases each year.

“As these eggs cannot be digested, victims will present an egg-sized swelling around the

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