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Green Urates

fatscales Jan 13, 2008 08:01 PM

I currently have 3 diffrent snakes in my collection with green urates. The first sprung up about 6 months ago, since then about every two months its hit another snake. Ive tried to find any info I can but its been scarce on the subject.

I think the green urates may be biliverdin, but Im not sure exactly what this is caused from? Could it be a build up of parasites/worms in the liver?

After todays feedings Im waiting for fecals to take to my vet.
The three snakes in question are all juveniles. One bullsnake and two gopher snakes. The bull and sonoran gopher are from the same store (exotic pet store) the other gopher is from a seperate store. The two snakes from the same store are housed next to each other but not together. The other gopher is in another room. All the snakes still eat on schedule and deficate normaly. I have not seen any weight loss but I dont have a scale.

All snakes have proper set-ups, heat gradients, fresh water aval all times, all feeding on appropriately sized f/t mice, none are housed together. I have four other snakes(two cornsnakes, an adult gopher and a ball python) that do not have green urates.

Sorry for the long post any help will be appreciated.

Replies (2)

joeysgreen Jan 16, 2008 12:05 PM

Yes, it'd be biliverdin; which is the normal excretion of what people would convert to bilirubin (amber colour). If it's a rather light, dilute green, then I wouldn't worry as you have everything else going good for you; no other symptoms to worry about. If you get a striking amount of green, and consistently, it would be something to worry about... with blood work probably being the first, most helpfull diagnostic. For now, just be sure they are well hydrated. If worried, you can inject some water into the prey animal before offering.

Ian

fatscales Jan 16, 2008 07:32 PM

Thanks Ian,

It has been consistant with one snake for about three months the other two just started showing the green in the urates. I just purchased a scale and plan on recording weights every week to see if the snakes are ok. I might do the blood tests im not sure yet.

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