Reptile & Amphibian Forums

You guys are the best info out there! I have a two year old, captive bred San Deigo gopher. I feed prekilled frozen rats. The snake is eating medium size rats. Usually his poop is the normal black and white. But this time, there were two. One was normal and one was literally an undigested rat tail, foot and fur!!!! Whats the deal! Is this normal? What can cause this problem? He seems to be a healthy snake, no feeding issues. This is the first time I have seen this. Please advise!

I have seen that happen a few times. Could he possibly have over heated? Did you switch rodent suppliers? It may be just one of those things....where it happened but won't happen again but you need to pay attention. What you NEED to know first off is which end of the snake it came out. Was it pooped or puked??? What I recommend in the meantime is keep the snake on newspaper instead of a substrate. You will want to get a good look at what is coming out of him. You need to check for signs of blood and mucous. I had a few snakes get nasty bacterial infections last year that a vet told me was most likely caused by a bad batch of rodents. So, make sure the food items you offer are not too large, make sure the snake has clean water and good temps, and keep him on paper til you see another poop or two. If you see something in its poop that looks kinda like snot you very well may have a bacterial infection. Oral meds won't help that...you'd need injections of an antibiotic BUT, as I said in the beginning it may be nothing...so just see what happens and let us know Tom Stevens