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What are these symptoms?

MarthaG123 Feb 03, 2014 06:10 PM

I have a question about my Florida Kingsnake symptoms. The vet doesn't seem too worried about them right at this moment (we're trying to fix 10 million problems at once already), but they're bothering me.

Some background on Link (the snake): She is maybe 5 years old Hypo Brooks Florida Kingsnake (don't know the actual age), ~45 inches, 2 lbs (yes, she's obese and on a diet), she has two hides. The warm end is somewhere between 85 and 89 (it's been varying a lot because my heater is trying to keep up with the weather) and the cool end is somewhere between 75 and 78. Never gets lower than 70 at night.

Her symptoms:

1) Recently gravid, may have eaten or reabsorbed her eggs or may have another clutch

2) Key lime pie colored urates

3) Light colored stool

4) Bloodshot/pinkish underbelly (esp near the tail)

5) Inappetence (she has been eating, but not much)

6) Lately she's been very lazy and won't leave her hide

7) Bright hot pink around the base of a few of her scales

8) Occasional small amounts of blood from her cloaca (the vets and I are working on that one, but we've not gotten very far yet)

Do these symptoms mean anything? Should I be worried? Did I break my snake already?! ;(

Replies (7)

MarthaG123 Feb 03, 2014 06:27 PM

I forgot to mention a couple things...

She has dark red blood clots in each poop (one or two of them)

I got her in May 2013 from a guy who had no idea what he was doing with her.

FR Feb 03, 2014 07:13 PM

This sounds like a set up, no matter whats said, it will not come out well.

So yes, it sounds broken, or better yet, breaking on its way to broken.

First, it sounds like its stressed, which means, its immune system is compromised. Which is why your seeing lots of different symptoms.

I would think a vet could tell you what reproductive condition its in. Easy to tell by simply palpating her.

Junk in the stool is a sign of flagellates. Again, your vet can fix that.

All in all, your going to have to trust your vet. Or find a good one. Good luck with her.

AaronBayer Feb 04, 2014 10:23 AM

poor thing has a lot going on...

i'd be worried, though you'd be surprised what a snake can bounce back from.

with all that, i really don't know... I agree with FR on stress and at least some kind of parasite though.

ensure the cage is kept very clean and give the snake options... warm humid, warm dry, cool humid, and cool dry hides and obviously clean water.

your temps seem fine, but try to expose it to as natural day/night cycle as possible (don't keep it in a room that has lights on from 6am to 10:30pm). and leave it alone with the exception of cage cleaning, offering food, and trips to the vet. i'd offer food on a maintance schedule until the appitite comes back strong... too many unsuccesful feedings will result in more stress.

beyond that, stool samples/fecal floats and treatment from your vet is all i can think to do.

the key lime urates bother me somewhat... i've seen it a few times over the years with no bad results. i dont know what caused it, but it went away and the snake went on to live years and years longer. however, i did end up with an egg-bound ball python once that had constant lime green urates and died after a few months. it was a rescue and i lived in tiny little town in new mexico with no good vet within 100 miles so it was a very unfortunate situation.

FR Feb 04, 2014 10:36 AM

Green in the stool can be Bile from not feeding. Individuals what are warm enough to feed and are not feeding still produce bile, I believe, it leaks into the gut. But I could be wrong on that one. Normally I saw that when I put a snake on a diet, which is not an easy thing to do if you provide a temp range, as they simply lower their metabolism and take forever to lose weight. If you keep them warm and not feed them, it seems losing weight would be quicker, but the bile leakage occurs. Again, I have only seen it a few times. So I am no expert. Good luck

TBrophy Feb 04, 2014 11:53 AM

You said she is obese and you question if she has resorbed unfertilized eggs or even eaten deposited eggs (or slugs). Is it possible that she is not obese, but is simply eggbound and has been eggbound the time you have had her under your care? I am hesitant to present this as a possibility because the vet should have been able to determine egg-binding pretty quickly.

Bluerosy Feb 05, 2014 03:55 PM

can you post a picture of the snake. Does it have fat deposits mid body?

MarthaG123 Mar 12, 2014 06:35 PM

Sorry I've been away for a while. We took her to the vet recently and we're monitoring her eggs. She seems to be reabsorbing them right now, but we're still trying to be sure. She's going back to the vet in a week or two for another xray.

When we were at the vet last, we got a blood test. That came back normal. I'm going to bring in a stool sample next week so they can check that too. It's been hard to lately because she keeps pooping in her water.

Urates are still green. They have been every time she's pooped since I posted.

She is visibly overweight. Her scales mid-body don't overlap and you can see her fat bump on her belly in her middle.

She has been eating. I've only been offering her one mouse a week, though. Less than I was before. So it's be difficult to gauge her appetite. She's not refused any food for a while or been hesitant to eat, though, so I assume it's not too bad.

Still haven't gotten anywhere with the bleeding issue. I'm going to really push addressing that next time we go.

The vets say she's otherwise healthy. She's responsive, active (not overly active), and friendly (as friendly as a snake can be, at least).

I can't figure out how to post a picture on here, so I copied the URL to the video of her shedding that I uploaded a couple weeks ago. It's the most recent "picture" I have of her, anyways.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HGt16IyAjTI&list=PL3Qyfr4g1KtL-AaIHI0DkMEwbv6rSLYE5

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