Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 6 month old Colombian Boa and since I got it, it has been doing fine. This afternoon, I look in the tank to find something very strange. Down by the tail at the opening of the clocoa, it looks as if it is swolen because there is purple swollen-like tissue coming from the clocoa. Has anyone experienced this with any of their snakes (boas in particular) and what is wrong with my snake. Please let me know ASAP if this is a medical problem.

Thanks,
Ryan

I believe that might be the hemipenis...if it is a male that is.

I also forgot to mention that the snake has began to flick its tounge very rarely and when it does, it only flickers it about halfway (if this is any help with a diagnosis)

It might be a prolapsed rectum.

What is a prolapsed rectum???

. . . although I have never experienced it in my Boas, I've read other posts of those who have. I think that it would be a good start to try to gently push it back in, keeping everything clean and moist with warm water via wet paper towels or spray bottle. If you get it in, but it won't stay in, then I've heard of people putting tape on the cloaca to keep it shut until they can get to the vet. If you can't get it back in, then I'd lay him/her on a damp paper towel( no wood chips), and find a vet or animal hospital that works on reptiles.
I've heard of cases where they required stitches in their vent for awhile . Hopefully yours isn't that drastic. ------ Good luck.
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--aka DMOG68

This is good advice. You need to keep that tissue moist and alive.....and get the boa to a vet immediately. The longer you wait, the more likely it is that the tissue protruding will start to die or become infected....it is NOT meant to be outside. If it is a hemipene, the vet may be able to flush away any debris and reinsert it into the body. That happened with one of my males once. My vet totally inverted it, flushed it really good, reinserted it and put in a stitch on that side of the vent, which was removed later. That male went on to produce a beautiful litter.

If it is bowel, he may be straining to poop and may be constipated. The vet will be able to tell you what the tissue is. If it turns out to be bowel/rectum tissue, in the future you might want to soak your F/T rats for a while before you feed them. I have even injected F/T rats with water or Pedialyte in the past. Make sure your boa always has access to fresh water and perhaps a place to soak as well. "Something" is causing this. If it is constipation, it is probably because he is somewhat dehydrated.

Good luck. Let us know how he does.
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"

water into their snakes food. I thought I was the only one. I always inject 3-5 full sringes into each pre-killed rat for my larger Boas, and 2-3 into each pre-killed rat for my younger Boas. It's an excellent way to prevent dehydration.
Maybe I should inject coffee into my males food to get them to breed faster (KIDDING), one has been courting since mid September.
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--aka DMOG68

Hey.....He just enjoys taking his time That is funny, though....a studly courting machine with the caffeine jitters!
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"

Kind of off topic but is there any relation to a Tom Hedgpeth that goes to Kennedy High School?

"Hedgpeth" is not my maiden name. My "X" and I had a very friendly divorce, and are good friends now. It is such a hassle changing names (and all the stuff that goes with it) that I decided to keep it.
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Linda Hedgpeth
lindafh@frontiernet.net
Sierra Serpents

"Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away"

Your snake has either a prolapsed Rectum or Hemipenis, not really sure with out seeing the snake to tell you which one it is. It is a VET trip requirement or the tissue will die get infected and kill the snake.
Sometime the prolapse can be returned and sometimes it has to be amputated depending on what it is and how big it is. The most common cause of prolapse is a bacterial infection but here are a few other causes as well,
Rectal prolapse can be caused by too much and too frequent feedings, deydration that causes constipation and too small of a cage that will also cause constipation.
Hemipenis prolapse can be caused by breeding activity (a female giving a male a strong squeeze at the wrong time), nerological disorder (the snake does not have the full control over the needed muscels) and of course an infection of some sort.
Either way a vet trip is a must to save your snake, and feeding and breeding activity needs to be stop. Breeding activity for this snake is over for at least a year and the next six months the feeding activity will have to be kept to a very small meal every 2 weeks with the meals slowly gettting larger in the last two months to asure that the prolapse repair is going to hold.
Good luck
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Jim Hopkins "Hoppy"
Hopkins Holesale Herps
Hopfam1@aol.com