Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Summer of 2010 I picked up 3 neonate CH dendro's. I kept them on aspen and started them on baby brown anoles. Slowly, but eventually, they switched over to live pinks. After about a year, I noticed one of them had not been eating as well as the other two. Shortly I found that right above the vent was a bit "swollen". I thought nothing of it, other than maybe he/she was a bit backed up. Anyways, the snake soon died. Not long after, another turned up dead with the same swollen appearance near the vent. This seemed odd so I tried to push the mass out the vent but could not, as it seemed to be "part of" the scent glands. Lastly, the remaining baby stopped eating. At this point he/she is on live hoppers. Its feeding withered away from every few days to nothing. I noticed the mass near the vent now was very large...almost looked like it was laying an egg. Today I used a scalpal to take out the mass. I made a 1 inch slice along the side above the vent. Out popped a smalll abcess, resembling a small leopard gecko egg or something. It was the consistency of a hard-boiled egg. There also seemed to be another smaller abcess forming just following the first one. The snake is currently still alive, but is very weak from not having a recent meal on top of this procedure. I am hoping the snake makes a recovery as I put a lot of work into getting these three neonate mangroves started. Basically I am trying to figure out what is going on? Has anyone had a similar occurance? Any info would be great! Thanks
-Adam

What you are seeing is not related to the scent gland, as scent glands on snakes are posterior to the vent. I have seen a few cases of scent grand related abscess and they appear to not impede apatite or digestion of food items. I have seen 100% recovery through simple veterinarian procedures.

Want you have going on seems to be related to digestion and removal of waste products...I think related to a change in diet. It is possible that there is some sort of blockage (hair?). I've seen something similar to this in Emerald Treeboas, and in that case they seemed to have developed a large uric acid mass at the base of the cloaca - which was carefully pushed free if not too large.

That is about all I can say of your issue, post back when you figure it out.

I would immediately seek assistance from an exotic vet.

I did with my prized 9' male. It was non-responsive to all antibiotic treatment and the snake eventually died. I would recommend immediate surgery if you hope to save your snake. If any of mine ever again manifest symptoms like this that's exactly what I'll do.

Bill