Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My white sided black rat has a problem. She's less than a year old, and has given me trouble since I got her. Never anything big, just trouble shedding. She normally wont shed until she's been soaked half a dozen times. She finally got past that, and shed fine, with one shed while she was "in blue". I was thrilled that she's doing better.
I got home a little bit ago, and went out to check on all my snakes, and saw that she was out and moving around. I picked her up, and noticed that she's not as active as normal. She's not dead, but she seems stiff. Sluggish, and not moving. Then I noticed she has a lump, about two thirds of the way down her body. I held her up, and saw that I can see through the lump. It's yellow. It looks like she ate a pinky- it's in just about the same spot, and is just about the same size, only she hasn't eaten for 11 days. She skipped her last meal, but I figured it was because she had just shed the day before.

What could this be???? I'm really worried about her- she's one of my favorite animals, and I dont know what I would do if anything happened to her. I'll try to get pics up, but I dont know if they'll really show the lump.

thank you,
Ron Nocera

You cant really tell that the lump is clear/yellow unless you shine light through it.

Please let me know if you have any idea what it could be. I'll call the vet tomorrow, but I wont be able to take her in until at least thursday or friday.

thanks again,
Ron Nocera

vet!

Could be impaction from ingesting substrate- what do you keep the snake on and when was the last bowel movement?
Also- a firm mid body swelling is a symptom of Cryptosporidium infection. The only way to be sure is to get a few samples (either fecal or some of the fluid drawn from the site of swelling by the vet) and have it tested. There's a long thread about this on the herp health forum as I also have a snake showing this symptom. Keep the snake isolated (seperate room) from your other snakes in quarantine untill you know for sure what the problem is. Feed, handle, and clean this snake's cage last and be sure to wash your hands to prevent possible transmission of any disease organism to your other snakes.
Good luck- hope the vet can give you some definite answers.
Lora

I got home, and checked on her, and she was going downhill.
I called the breeder, and we talked for about 20 minutes, and when I got off the phone, she was dead.

I'm taking her to the vet Friday, to get a necropsy done.
Should I freeze, or just refrigerate her until then?

That can destroy the cell structure. Be sure that they look for possible signs of Cryptosporidium. Here are the symptoms of Crypto- anorexia, listlessness, wasting, depression (read- less active), a thickening of the stomach wall which makes it difficult for the snake to feed (possible regurgitation) and causes the mid body swelling as the organisim irritates the stomach lining (and the lining thickens over the course of the disease). I'm not saying this is the illness which killed your snake, but a necropsy may give you some peace of mind especially since you have other snakes.
Again, I'm sorry for your loss. It's always hard to lose a snake you've put so much time into caring for.
Lora

but she's already frozen. I called the vet, and he told me to keep her frozen until I can get her down there. He said that because of the suddenness of this, he doesn't think it's crypto. *sigh* Hopefully I'll know by the end of the week.

np
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