Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A good friend of mine recently had to put down a southern pine snake. The snake was older and had a HUGE lump. My buddy thought it was impacted and soaked it in warm water to no avail. It refused all meals and seemed to be in discomfort. He euthanized the animal and cut the lump open to see what it was. It was a "mummified" intact rat that it had eaten 6-8 weeks prior. The temps and husbandry was standard for colubrids. I would love to hear thoughts because I was baffled.

HM

older???.....how old.....seems like the snake's digestive system shut down......there was no digestive action at all???.......or perhaps there was some reactant that the rat was fed or ingested that caused a lack of digestive action????.....

The snake wasnt mine so I will have to find out how old it was but I would imagine 10-15 yrs old. No, there seemed to be no digestion. The rat was pretty much intact, just "mummified". The snake had come out of hibernation fine. He has a group of about 20 colubrids and the other 19 are all in great shape and mating.

Just got a txt back from him. The snake was 12. He also said there was slight digestion. The rat had been eaten 6 wks prior but its skull was still intact, etc. Thoughts?

HM

was it a defrosted rat???.....how long was it frozen?????......i know this might sound out there....is it possible that rat was froze so long that it became "freeze-dried"??.....and then had this effect on the snake......just thinking outside the box...

I cant see how thats possible. All of the rats came from the same source. Other than low temps, what would cause a snakes digestive system to shut down?

Was the rat in the gut? Had a rosy swallow her mouse backward, nails or teeth snagged on the way down. Saw it on the xrays but there was nothing the vet could do as it was near the heart so had to put her down. This was weeks after her last meal and the full skeleton was visible. I've become paranoid of my snakes eating their prey backwards ever since.
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Nick Puder
www.rnpreptiles.com