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I have a male adult cal king that i think has a compaction. It has a large bulge at about the 3/4 of its length from the head. This snake is tehnically my fathers snake so he takes care of it. During the winter he cools it down just using the natural temperatures changes of our house to control the temp. Also b/c he takes care of it and he keeps no logs, there is no way for me to know when he last ate. All i know is that the last time it ate was along time ago as in probably a month. My question is, is it possible that because of the cooling period its metabolism has slowed so much that food before the cooling period has taken so long digest it is still bulging? Also if this is a compaction what should i do? I know i should probably take it to a vet but what could i do that could possibly break up the compaction without going to a vet? I ask this b/c i know my dad will be resistent to taking it to a vet. Also I probably need to know what not to do as well. As in should i feed it on its weekly schedule?

Well it is hard to say if your snake has an impaction. Is it fed on substrate? when is the last time it had a bowel movement? Was the snake not fed for a couple of weeks before brumation? Has it regurged anytime lately?

If the snake was fed prior to brumation and not allowed to completely digest the meal before being brumated, then it could have a partially digested meal that is now rotten. This can lead to severe gas and possibly kill the snake.

If it is fed on shredded aspen, then it could have ingested some of the substrate and became impacted.

I would take it to a qualified herp vet and have it checked out before it gets too late.
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Good luck and Happy Herping
Brian

Well the snake is fed on newspaper so it can't be a substrate compaction but the bulge is quite big. I don't know much about the feeding before brumation primarily b/c i am at school most of the year and he doesn't keep records on his snakes. i guess i will try and talk him into going to a vet but before that do you have any other suggestions on what to do with the snake, in terms of temperature or other things i could do for it?

Anytime you see anything wrong with a brumating snake, the first step is to immediately, but slowly, warm it back up. Get it up to about 80-82F. Once its warmed up for a couple of days, give it a warm soak (also about 80f, use a thermometer) for about an hour. If there is still a problem I would go to the vet.
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Martin Whalin
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