Reptile & Amphibian Forums

THIS IS THE SECOND TIME THIS HAS HAPPENED IN 3 MONTHS. I WAS TOLD SHE MAY HAVE A PARASITE, AND TO FEED HER TWICE A WEEK, BECAUSE IF SHE DIDNT START GAINING WEIGHT THEN SHE DEFINETLY HAS PARASITES. BUT LIKE I SAID THIS IS THE SECOND TIME IN 3 MNTHS SINCE THE FIRST TIME I SAW BLOOD. SHE PEES ON ME WHEN EVER I PICK HER UP SO i WOULD NOTICE IF IT WAS A CONSITANT PROBLEM.
WHAT SHOULD I DO? SHOULD I GO TO A VET?

BROOKE

That's not urine. Snakes don't urinate in the same way people or other mammals do. What you are talking about is musk. That's a defensive behavior. She's expelling the contents of a musk gland hoping you'll leave her alone because of the smell (she sees you as a potential predator). Notice the white, gritty, chalky stuff in her cage when she poops? That's her equivalent of urine. It is in the form of uric acid crystals.

As for the blood that is present, it could indeed be from parasites or from some bacterial infection. What you need to do is get a stool sample and take it to a vet for analysis. It needs to be fresh (no more than 4 or 5 hours old at most). You can collect a fresh sample and put it in a plastic ziplock bag and keep it in the refirigerator for up to a day.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

im more or likely going to take her or her poop to the vet. but the pet store said to check in a few days and if I see no blood then shes fine. are there ne other signs that would show she has a parasite or bacterial infection?
i have the money to take her to the vet, its just finding one in my area is the problem.h

>>im more or likely going to take her or her poop to the vet. but the pet store said to check in a few days and if I see no blood then shes fine. are there ne other signs that would show she has a parasite or bacterial infection?
>>i have the money to take her to the vet, its just finding one in my area is the problem.h

There are other signs, but why wait? If there is a parasitic or bacterial problem you would want to take care of it as soon as possible. Bleeding from the cloaca is not normal. A fecal exam is something that should be done periodically anyway, especially if you are feeding live food animals or if the snake is housed in close proximity to other animals.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson

yeah thats what I figured. thanx alot for the advice. im gonna take her as soon as possible. but what is the bestway for getting her feces. she just ate today so i dunno how to keep track in getting it. she goes all over the place. could i just bring her directly to the vet without it?

Yep. He can do a cloacal lavage if hee needs to, or he may be able to manually obtain a specimen.
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We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors; we borrow it from our children. Ralph Waldo Emerson