Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ginger my adult female red sided garter had blood in her stool yesterday. Today there was only urine (urates?) in the tank but there seemed like there was more blood. I took her out to take a good look at her and the picture shows what I found. We thought Ginger was pregnant and she stopped eating about 4 weeks ago. She no longer looks pregnant and is otherwise acting her usual self. She is about 3 ft and 170 g. We just got a good scale so I am not sure how much she weighed when she looked larger.

Any thoughts? The local herp vets are not available until next Tuesday. I can try and take a stool sample in tomorrow. I am pretty sure that we had a sample checked in Nov. or Dec. and it was reported as normal.

Thanks,
Joanna

If your snake is up and alert then waiting until Tuesday should be fine. Do not feed during this time, but make sure regular access to water is maintained. Perhaps change the substrate to newsprint if not already done to facilitate observation. If frank blood appears, or the snake declines substantially the need for a vet becomes greater.

Thanks for the reply. She has been on newsprint for over a week which is how I managed to see the blood. So far there is only blood when she defecates or urinates. I put some neosporin on it yesterday and will take a good look at her later.

Thanks again,
Joanna

Sounds like a bacterial infection & should be addressed by a vet; especially with blood in the urates & feces. This condition can become septic, so it should be taken care of ASAP.

Well, we are no further ahead. My husband took Ginger to the vet who probed and looked and doesn't know what she has. He did not see any growths and of course there has been no more stool so we will have to take one if she does poop... In the meantime he suggested warm soaks and try and get her to eat. She is still behaving in her usual manner.

This was a vet listed on the ARAV site but he admitted to my husband that he did not know garters well. If anyone has any suggestions I'd apprecitate it.

Joanna

I would suggest to change vets(if there is another vet within your local area-you may want to call first to determine the vet's experience with reptiles). If there is nobody else nearby, see if the current vet could swab the cloaca & maybe send a culture to a pathology lab to diagnose the problem.
Goodluck

I found this vet on the ARAV site and I am pretty sure that he was recommended to me. The vet deals mostly with larger snakes and I think it would be very hard to find someone who has experience with garters. I could try to call some other vets but I am afraid they would not be honest on the phone about their experience with snakes and I would be putting Ginger through more stress for no reason. She still seems herself, still no stool and her vent does not show any signs of being abnormal unless I try to open it which I don't want to do regularly. I am soaking her, keeping a close eye on her, will try and feed her again and will weigh her this weekend.

Thanks,
Joanna