Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a large female off cl and didn't notice the bad lumps near her vent. I've been giving her baths and got her hydrated, she craped out a large marble sized urate, but still has mmore to go and hasn't let them go. Anyway it's been over a month and I'm going to give her a rat pup dipped and injected with oil, but don't have any mineral oil. Is it ok to use the castor oil I have?

If the animal is impacted with hardened urates, do not feed it anything. I would advise a vet visit. They will more than likely massage the urates out. I would then have blood drawn to determine if any infection has set in as a result of the impaction. I have had this occur in one of my animals and the impaction resulted in an infection in the kidneys, requiring antibiotics.

I just don't feel comfortable shoving a tube in either end so I was going with a very small rat coated and injected with oil as a last try before the vet. I just don't know if castor oil is safe, I have read to use mineral oil.

Does anyone know if castor oil is safe to use?

Take Bart's advice. Do not feed the snake anything until it passes the blockage. Get the snake to a vet.

The problem is anything taken in through the mouth will take days to work down and if the impaction is severe enough then the blockage won't allow the mouse to get far anyway. A few days is all that is needed for an infection to develop and become fatal. These infections take a toll on the kidneys and so do many antibiotics so it is VERY important to try to catch it before an infection sets in.

If I were you, I would abandon the oil in mouse idea altogether. I would inject a small amount of surgical lube, or KY if that is all you can find at the moment, into the cloaca using a needless syringe, or some other type of tube applicator. Massage the area for about 20 seconds then gently work the hardened urates out. Once this is done, give it a good soaking to allow the animal the drink as much as possible, then watch for signs of infection (pale discoloration of the animal and lethargy are the first signs I witnessed). If you see anything like this then a vet visit needs to be immediate. Don't wait a couple days. If it weren't a major holiday weekend, I would suggest the visit today.

Sorry, but if the situation is how you describe then your animal could be dying a very painful death while you look for advice on the pros and cons of castor oil.