Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Although I have searched quite a bit through snake husbandry books I cannot find any information on care of impacted (blocked up gut) snakes. I have a snake that I think may be impacted and would like some advice on what to do. There really aren't any herp veteranarians in my area so any advice would be appreciated.

By the way I don't know how the snake could have been impacted as it was always fed in a seperate plastic container which contained nothing but the f/t mice I was feeding it. I can however feel a lump in its body a few inches above the vent.
Any advice?

Im not an expert, but...
I would try a warm bath. Seems everywhere I look (for other herps) it says try a warm bath MIGHT help the animal pass foreign matter. I guess it helps it relax and or stretch a bit more.

If you're sure its never eaten any substrate or other foreign material it might not be an impaction at all.
I understand snakes can be prone to tumors sometimes

Good luck.

Most likely it's a ball of hard urates. It could be other things too though. If it's urates you should be able to gently work it out of the snake after a warm bath. Gentle pressure here of course. A vet can tell you for sure but with what they charged me for this problem it might be worth your while to try this first.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

I agree, try a warm bath. Use a thermometer to gauge the temp of the water though. What feels warm to you is probably around 110F which will kill your snake fast. Use 80F water and soak for twenty minutes at a time. Also, if the cloaca prolapses when the lump is passed, (you'll see a pink piece of flesh hanging out of the vent) put the snake on damp paper towels and get it to a vet immediately. If it passes it ok, feed small food items for awhile. Don't feed until that lump is passed. Good luck, keep us "posted".
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I did try giving it a warm bath last week and that seemed to help somewhat. Durring the bath I could see the snake trying voide something as its abdonimal muscles started contracting after it had been in the water for about a minute. I applied a light amount of preasure to down the snake to the vent and it was able to void some fecal material though nothing which seemed as big as the lump I felt in its body. I couldn't detect the lump in its body afterwords but I didn't examine it thoroughly as I was in a hurry at the time. I am going to examine the snake again tommorow and if the lump is in fact gone I will try feeding once more before I put the snake into brumation.