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Over the many years of keeping kingsnakes I have never had one "impacted."
About 12 days ago one of my 5 month old thayeri regurged its pinky. I waited 10 days to feed him again yesterday but today it looks like the lump is larger than the pinky I gave him. He has never been on any other substrate than paper towels. I also noticed that just past the lump to the venter it looks as though that portion is dehydrated....The skin is pinched in some places laterally from the "lump" to the venter........

So how do any of you treat impaction?
Is there any other kind of impaction other than the ingestion of substrate? I've never heard of any other reasons......

Right now I have him soaking in a deli cup with warm water in it and the lid on it.......

Any other suggestions?
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

>>Over the many years of keeping kingsnakes I have never had one "impacted."
>>About 12 days ago one of my 5 month old thayeri regurged its pinky. I waited 10 days to feed him again yesterday but today it looks like the lump is larger than the pinky I gave him. He has never been on any other substrate than paper towels. I also noticed that just past the lump to the venter it looks as though that portion is dehydrated....The skin is pinched in some places laterally from the "lump" to the venter........
>>
>>So how do any of you treat impaction?
>>Is there any other kind of impaction other than the ingestion of substrate? I've never heard of any other reasons......
>>
>>Right now I have him soaking in a deli cup with warm water in it and the lid on it.......
>>
>>Any other suggestions?
>>-----
>>John Lassiter
>>Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...
>>
>>

sounds like its in the abdomen and not right at the cloaca?

best way to interpret it would be to get an xray at your vet. put the snake on a foam mat,put the film under the foam, hold him in place with a heavy piece of glass on top, take the picture quick. if there is a piece of junk in there it should show up as a gray/white chunk. the vet may or may not be able to interpret other pathology because of the small scale of the snake.

they might be able to flush it out depending on how close it is to the cloaca, other than that i don't know about surgery. i have had snakes operated on for retained eggs successfully, never had one's colon opened.

best of luck!
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odelay odelay odelay hee hoooo...
heeeeya huhhhh!
~Back in the saddle (Aerosmith)

Yeah a warm bath is what I would do and gentle manipulation. However I don't think it's impaction. John has it eaten and passed pinks ok prior to this?
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

>>Yeah a warm bath is what I would do and gentle manipulation. However I don't think it's impaction. John has it eaten and passed pinks ok prior to this?
>>-----
>>King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
>> J Sierra

Yes...It is one of my best feeders....ate after its first shed.....Just 12 days ago it regurged.......And never has been on aspen or any substrate other than paper towels.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Was reading your comments in connection w/ the possible impaction. You mentioned having snakes operated on for retained eggs. Just wondered did those females successfully breed again after their surgery?

--Dennis

>>Was reading your comments in connection w/ the possible impaction. You mentioned having snakes operated on for retained eggs. Just wondered did those females successfully breed again after their surgery?
>>
>>--Dennis

one did go back to laying good eggs a couple seasons later, the other i stopped breeding.
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odelay odelay odelay hee hoooo...
heeeeya huhhhh!
~Back in the saddle (Aerosmith)

Just curious. I have aspirated eggs a few times, but not gone to surgery situation as yet.

Dennis

any chance of a tumor? I've seen that in ball pythons and a house snake of mine--I had to euthanize one that i liked cause she got a tumor on her stomach
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We wouldn't have 6 and a half billion people if you had to be beautiful to get laid.
6.6 African House snakes
3.2 reticulated pythons
.1 corn snake
4.2 Florida Kings
1.2 speckled kings
1.2 ball pythons
0.0.1 Argentine boa

It sounds like it could possibly be an intestinal infection, and have seen this before in some other keeper's snakes here and there. I would give it a dose of Flagyl at the rate of 50 mg. per kg. of body weight as Flagyl works fantastically for a broad array of bacteria. Infections can tend to swell and get larger looking than they were previously due to the festering of the bacteria and even causing a certain amount of gas bloating at times.

Also, slightly warm water bathing and gentle massaging works to some extent with normal compaction, but that is basically only if there is something blocking up the intestinal tract to prevent passing.

If it doesn't sem hard, and is softer and "puffy", I think I would do the Flagyl dosing ASAP! if it were me.

Good luck with it man!...hope the little guy fairs well.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

The pinched-in dehydrated look is more than likely from the small amount of moisture in it's tiny body being drawn into the infected area, so the rear portion where alot of moisture and fat is stored could become somewhat collapsed looking.

Good luck with the little dude John.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

>>Good luck with the little dude John.

I just checked on him....he regurged and croaked......After closer inspection there is a dark spot I can see through the ventral scales between the venter and the stomach where the pinky lump was.....
I suspect an intestinal infection as well now Doug.....

Man...I haven't lost a snake in a long time....kinda sux, but there will be plenty more......

Thanks for your help guys.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

That sucks man!. We all know how it is too. I had a tricolor hypo Hondo that Rusty Green gave me that seemingly died right out of the blue as well not too long ago, and I am betting it was from the very same thing. I didn't notice anything wrong prior, but it's intestinal area was slightly puffy looking too.

Anyway, sorry to hear it passed away John.

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

>> Anyway, sorry to hear it passed away John.

Thanks Doug......We'll make more......
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Yeah, I recon so........

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

John. Sorry to hear you lost the little guy.
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Tom S
1.1 Flame Lampropeltis getla Floridana
1.0 Hypomelanistic Lampropeltis getula Floridana
0.1 Axanthic Lampropeltis getula Floridana
0.1 Hypomelanistic Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis
1.0 Anerythristic Lampropeltis triangulum hondurensis

Bummer your little guy died. It maybe would be a good idea to get a necropsy to find out what was the cause of the infection. Like, what if it is contagious?
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

>>Bummer your little guy died. It maybe would be a good idea to get a necropsy to find out what was the cause of the infection. Like, what if it is contagious?

Good point, but I doubt it was anything contagious or the others around him would be showing the same signs.........
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

It is strange that he got this infection since you practice such strict husbandry, what with paper towels for substrate, other sanitation. I lost a yearling gopher snake to what seemed similar to your thayeri this last summer. He quit eating in July after regurging and none of my home remedies that usually work great, like acidophilus in the water, smaller meals, etc, worked, and he finally wasted away and died. He also had a small dark lump near the bottom of his body above the vent like how you describe yours. When I'd hold him up to the light I could see it. I was able to get him to swallow a few tiny meals by hand feeding him which he passed successfully, but he was just too weak overall. None of my other snakes have had anything like this, what with a lump as part of any other symptoms. I thought you might know of some sort of disease that causes lumps in parasite free snakes, since you are much more experienced than I am.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

With all the many snakes that are produced now days, it is just a "given" that a small percentage of snakes will have some sort of internal problems to various different degrees that we can do absolutely nothing about sometimes. It's just the way things are with all organisms. It's too bad, but "stuff" happens.

My incompletely-formed, morbidly groteque two-headed amel Hondo was quite a shock to see a couple years ago..LOL!

~Doug

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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

ARGH!!! That is gross! Mother Nature does make mistakes, too.
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Bob/Chris
Pyromaniac AKA Greatballzofire

She sure does..LOL!

~Doug
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"a snake in the grass is a GOOD thing"

my website -serpentinespecialties.webs.com

John, sorry about your losing the little guy.

--Dennis

did you do a necropsi to see what the lump looked like?

is it a hard mass or a soft (clear) egg shape?
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www.Bluerosy.com

>>did you do a necropsi to see what the lump looked like?
>>
>>is it a hard mass or a soft (clear) egg shape?
>>-----
>>www.Bluerosy.com
>>

Nope...I just froze him......It felt soft though Rainer.
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

cut it open to see if it is a small egg shaped mass.
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www.Bluerosy.com

>>cut it open to see if it is a small egg shaped mass.
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>>www.Bluerosy.com
>>

it feels somewhat like a tiny egg shaped mass......I will cut him open tonight and call you or email you.....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...

Sad news John,
sorry to hear you lost the thayeri...was it one of your 2010holdbacks?

>>Sad news John,
>>sorry to hear you lost the thayeri...was it one of your 2010holdbacks?

Thanks Michael,
It was actually a 2010 male that I had up for sale in a 2.2 group.
Now I am going to hold back the other male and offer 2 females for sale.......No biggie, some of them just don't make it....
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John Lassiter
Poor planning and procrastination on your part does not constitute an emergency on my part...