Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I just recieved a arizona mountain king that has some sort of growth around his anal plate. We cant figure out whats wrong with him. Hes eating great ! and has a good stool and everything, most ppl have been saying hes constipated, but this doesnt seem to be the problem ? any suggestions. This growth has gotten worst over a 3 month period, I just found out about it. Now im going to attempt to post pics !
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Is this a male? If so it may be a dried up hemipenis that got an infection. That or it is a tumor. If its a male then antibiotic is probably all it'll need. A tumor removal would be way more expensive and the snake will most likly be infertile afterwards.

If it's passing normal looking stools, he can't be impacted(constipated)....It seems more likely to me that it is a tumor growth of some kind!........I would take him to a good "reptile vet) as soon as possible to see what could be done.......I hope he does well,......good luck,.............................Doug
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

Well, there arent any reptile vets in miles, and I wouldnt waste my time with them. The last one, I drove three hours for nothing. But I dont know what to do.

Maybe that bozo vet didn't do anything, but there are plenty of vets that can help yours out!. It needs help fast in a big way....It's hard to believe your son didn't say something, or show this to someone WAY before now......please do the right thing, and get it some help if at all possible. Otherwise, is there someone you know that you could give it to?.....It shouldn't have to go on living like that, don't you agree?
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

Oh yes, I agree, I'll try and find somewhere, if not ill give the snake to someone that can give it some help !

I agree, take him to a vet. It could be just and infection in the Hemipenes if it's a male. You might try soaking him in water a few times a day untill you can get it to a Vet.
Good luck, and keep us posted if you find out what's wrong with it.
Thanks,Bob

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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

Bob,......That's a great looking "pyro"!!,....which reminds me of something funny!,you won't believe this(actually, I think you will!!), but I was at a local pet store a while back, and was looking around at the animals like I always do, and they had a cage that had a great looking "knoblochi" in it. Well, when I looked at the price list the store has on the wall, there was no "knoblochi" on it at all!, just the typical pet store stuff....corns,boas,Pueblan Milk, Honduran,etc.....so I'm thinking,......hmmm, this guy thinks the snake in his cage is a Honduran Milksnake!!LOL,....so I asked him if I could check out the "HONDURAN" in the cage and hold it. so he get's the key and opens it up and is STILL totally oblivious to the fact that it was a "screamer" "knoblochi"!LOL, man, this thing was one of the healthiest,prettiest examples I've seen in a long time!...I could have easily walked out of there with it, but since I sold him many different hatchlings that I produced, I just went ahead and told him what it was!....and that it was MUCH less common to see these in a store(if ever) as opposed to a Honduran...He said that he had it for sale for the longest time and couldn't get rid of it!....It really did make me laugh at the fact it was there so long, and nobody scooped it up in a NY second!!LOL,What really makes me wonder though, is the fact that you would think the breeder/seller would have KNOWN FOR SURE!!! what he was selling to the pet store, and that the price would also reflect that it was NOT a much more common Honduran!!....it was one of those things that just doesn't make sense, no matter what scenario you think might have went on!!..he had it priced at $89.99!!!LOL,...not bad for a marked up price at a pet store for a "screamer" two-foot, well established, Chihuahua Mtn.King with a huge "fuzzy" lump in him as proof of being a good feeder, is it???!!!........thought you and some others could appreciate this story,.....best regards,..........................Doug
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

Thanks for the story. A lot of these pet store owners are lost when it comes to reptiles. A few years ago, my local pet shop use to buy a few snakes from me. Last year they stopped buying snakes because they said they were getting loose all the time. They would leave the lid off, or put them in a paper bag to feed them and forget about them. LOL
Last year the owner retired. The new owners , NEW to the pet shop business decided to get back into reptiles, they went to a reptile show in Vegas, and spent $10,000 for two units of 8 enclosures each.
24”x 24” x 24” deep. Only lights for heat. I checked them out and noticed no temp. monitors. I told them they should check the temps. in the tanks.
I thought to my self, LoL; OK???? That’s a lot of money to spend on enclosures for some one who knows nothing about reptiles. I told them they would have to sell a lot of reptiles to pay for those enclosures. LOL.
They decided to buy Three “06” Pyros from me., Marked the price up 300%, they had them for at least 3-4 months (Price two high) I tried to tell them to lower the price.
A few months ago I went in and noticed there were no pyros in the shop. I asked if he sold them and he said two of them got cooked,(too high of temps) and the other escaped , but it comes back to the enclosure when it get hungry then than it escapes again. ???????????????????????? I’m Thinking???????????????????? Won’t sell to these guys no more!!!!!!!
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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

I totally believe it,..rarely do store owners know anything at all about the reptiles they sell(or any for that matter!)..I sold an anery. Honduran to a store down the road from me. The owner wasn't there but an employee was. He got the OK to write a check for me via the phone from the owner. The next day, I stopped in to give the inexperienced employee another useful tip about the care of the snake, and he said it got loose!!!!LOL, I looked at him and just shook my head in disbelief!...he said there was a very small notch in the lid where a previous cord for a "heat lamp" used to be before.......what's really funny, is just before I left when I first sold it to him. I told him, I can't stress this enough about how they are born escape artists!!The actual owner of the store never even got to see what she bought!!!LOL.....she said that snakes get out all the time!...She said there was a baby ball python, and a big Cal. King that were loose in the store at the same time,..and when she came to open the store for business, there were some kids staring into the big front window of the store!!...turns out they were looking at the Cal. King with almost the entire Ball Python except the tail, down the Cal. King!!!LOL.man, I told her she might want to look into making the cages more secure!!!, anyway, she got lucky and found the hatchling I sold her in the little "overflow window" that was in back of the sink in the employee restroom there!!,...she waited about fifteen min. and flicked the light on quickly and grabbed it in the sink!!! she(and the snake) were very lucky that day!!LOL............Doug
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

you mentioned the growth being right near the anal plate....is it right at the vent? I have a mountian king that recently had a problem similar to this. The problem turned out to be an infected scent gland. The vet simply had to lance the area, drain out the pus, then put him on an antibiotic. It's hard to tell from your pic if yours is at the vent area though.
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Paul Weaver
Carolina Herps