Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I fed my gopher snake a few days ago and then went away on vacation for a couple of days. Today I found something slimy in the cage that looks like it was regurgitated. There was also a very large, brown clumb of feces in the cage with a long stringy thing coming from it and it looked like it was tinged with blood. My snake is also acting listless and looks thin. What could this be?

I also forgot to mention there is a very acrid smell coming from the cage.

How big is the snake? How big was the food item? How old is the snake? What is your set up like? What temperatures are available in the cage? All of these things will help with the diagnosis. Thanks!

The snake is about 6 years old and is about 4 feet long. He is in a 30 gallon long aquarium. The substrate I bought at Petco, I'm not really sure what it is - it looks like little tiny pieces of wood shavings. There is a heating pad on one side of the enclosure. I'm not sure about the temp as I haven't checked it in a while - will do when I get home today. The mouse I fed him was a regular size adult mouse like I usually feed him. He seemed fine the day I fed him and then it all went down hill. Last night I saw him pooping some clear, red-tinged watery stuff.

The stuff he vomited yesterday looked weird, it didn't look like a mouse but looked almost like wet, shed skin.

The condition of the feces concerns me more than the regurge, but the two may very well be related. I think you should bring your snake to a vet before it gets worse.
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1.1.0 Hondurans Het Amel
1.1.0 Hondurans Anery, Het Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo
0.1.0 Honduran Hypo, Het Anery
0.2.0 Pueblans
1.0.0 Pueblan Hypo
1.0.0 Thayeri MSP
0.0.1 GBK Blair's Phase
1.0.0 California King
0.1.0 California King Blue-eyed Blond
0.0.1 Speckled King WC
0.0.1 Jungle Carpet
0.1.0 Ball, Normal
1.0.0 San Diego Gopher, Poss. Het Applegate
0.0.1 Sulcata
0.1.0 Girlfriend, Caucasius Mexicana, Fiancee Phase

http://www.cafepress.com/shedz

Well I took him to the vet today and the vet noticed that part of what looked like intestines was coming out of his vent. He said the snake was also very dehyrdrated. He is keeping him there and administering iv fluids and antibiotics. The vet can't seem to figure out WHY it happened so I'm not sure what he will do even if he can get the snake to regain its strength again. I'm very worried

Sorry to hear that.
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Matt Kauffman

Wow, that really sucks
Sorry to hear

Yeah, maybe it was a bad mouse.. That does happen. If no one can figure it out or nothing changes you should take it to a vet.