Reptile & Amphibian Forums

OK, I appologize for this but the people on the brb forum are on top of things and are alway great help. so here is the question. I introduced my male woma to my female and the female spotted a little blood from her cloaca. My brb's have not ever done this, have any of you ever seen this in any species? What would be the cause? They locked up shortly after and all seems good. She is a very healthy animal. I know this isn't the python section but there seems to be a huge amount of interest and knowledge here. thanks

This is a difficult question. Bleeding from the cloaca is not common but it is usually a bad sign. Kidney damage or intestinal problems can cause bleeding. It is probably most often caused by parasites damaging the intestinal lining. When it occurs during or after breeding it may just be the result of a minor cloacal injury and so might not be a serious problem if a problem at all. If the blood was bright red and looked like it had the consistency and viscosity of frank fresh blood that would indicate a claocal injury or bleeding far along in the intestine. Blood from kidneys or forward in the intestine will pass throught the cloacal looking brownish or brownish-red and often will be watery. I would just watch for more bleeding. If the snake does not pass much blood and seems otherwise healthy including keeping weigh on I would not worry. This may take some time to make sure that the snake is okay and some people would take it to the vet rather than wait.

Thank you for responding, The blood is bright red and only showed when they were getting warmed up for breeding they had not breed yet. There has never been any blood before in feces or any other time. Just one little spot mixed with some other clear mucus looking fluid.
thanks again.