Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I checked on one of my snakes that had just completed her Shed. As I looked at the shed I noticed dried blood at the cloacal vent area of the shed skin. I then checked the snake and noticed that she has blood showing around her cloaca..not flowing or anything , but simply present around the edges of the vent as if there is blood there just inside the vent. This one has me dumbfounded , so I was wondering if anyone else has experienced the same issue.

I put same salve on it just in case she hurt a scale or something in the shed that caused it and will keep a check for her next bowel movement to see what it looks like. I will get her to a vet if it doesnt clear up very soon. But would like some feedback if anyone has it.

Any ideas?

No need to worry, Ive seen it in just about all my females especially as they start to become young adults. I would guess its a cycle type thing i.e. menstration(spelling???). As long as your males have no blood at or near the vent no worries.

Keith
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THanks Keith. She is about 2 years old. I wasnt sure able whether or not female snakes went through any menstrual issues.

i don't believe that reptiles have mensie issues.....theydon't need increase blood supply in the uterus....i've seen this phenomenon in female snakes also....it might be slight rupture of capillarie at the cloacal opening...i'm sure there's dudes out there that know exactly what this called

Well if its not a female issue then the rupture you refer to almost exclusively happens to females, never seen a male with a blood on his vent. Have you ? Ive seen it many many times in snakes in my collection as well as others. I almost never see it on females under a year old (24-30". Im not saying it is a menstral issue but it does seem synomonous with the females coming of breeding age and adults. Anyway my info is just theory and I could be totally wrong
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She seems absolutely fine other than that blood being present..all though I must admit she is REALLY [bleep]y, so that leads us back to the mensies possibilitie...LOL !

Thanks for your input guys!

Dawn

you are correct....this does seem to be a behavior almost exclusive to females...some seem more prone to the behavior than others

Yes, we can be a lot to handle sometimes..lol

Makes me happy that Im a man. We simply hold our emotions and feelings in and then let them out in one big heart attack down the road... lol

Keith
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Yes I agree some are more prone. I have one female that seems to have blood on her vent everytime I happen to look. Some though almost never have it or just dont notice it. I had a friend that took his female to a vet because she had blood on her vent often. They did some tests and found she had elevated levels of estrogen??? I guess I didnt think of snakes as having estrogen but thats what his Vet told him anyway.

Keith
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This is a very interesting topic. I have been keeping & breeding kings, milks, corns, chondro's & others since 1993 & the only time I have ever seen blood was immediately after breeding and even then it was minimal. It could be that i just missed it, but i use newspaper so i really think i would have noticed blood. Please let us know how this turns out.. ~ Mike

its not straight up bleeding, just like severe spotting around the vent

Yes, exactly.Just spotting around the vent.

I was going to take a pic but its not present tonight. I would love to get a definitive answer on this , but pleased to know its common issue and nothing to worry about. The female thats doing it has always been a rather odd acting snake since i got her. I got her in October. She was very skittish at first and took her a while to not rattle at my mere presence. She is real low energy, rather grumpy more often than not, and rarely comes out of her hide even to drink. She eats great though and other than seeming lethargic all the time she has always seemed fine. I am never sure what to think about her, so the bleeding thing was just one more oddity to add to her list.

yeh....it seems to be a characteristic of that personality type.......................i WAS married to a woman like that for 20 years!!!!!!!!!!!!

Snakes do not have mentrual cycle. One common cause of blood coming from a snake's vent is from gastrointestinal parasites such as round worms, flukes, flagelattes, etc... Have your veterinarian test a fecal sample. Thay must run both a direct saline smear to look for motile organisms and a sugar float to look for eggs or cysts. Or, just have your vet give you some dewormer and prophylacticaly deworm your collection. Good luck.