Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So my boy here has had the tips of his goods sticking out of his vent for some reason lately. Any thoughts as to why? No known health issues, eats like a hippo. (slight tail kink since birth and acquired that way, fyi)

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

It was mentioned to me that perhaps it could be derived from him possibly being overweight, which I had not considered. He is sort of a chunky boy I guess, so maybe it could have something to do with it? He is not fed a ton by any means though. Two jumbo adult mice once a week right now. I fed him twice a week back when he was a little tyke, but slowed him down a bit the last few months since he got to be around 4 feet long. Here are some snaps I took of him last night in a box. Maybe some of you more experienced can see something I perhaps am missing hopefully. Again yes he has a tail kink, below his vent. He actually refused food last night, two small hopper rats....pretty shocked haha! He just shed Friday morning, so I expected him to be starving, but I guess not last night

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

looks like a small prolapse of the end of the intestines near the vent. the fat stored around the tail base doesn't help but the skeletal kinks are prolly the main cause. really don't know what you can do about this. try to shrink it a bit with a soak in saline water but it'll prolly recur with the next defecation. the vet can also prolly reduce the prolapse and suture it to the vent so it doesn't happen again. i some times wish breeders would stop selling kinked babies at "discounted" prices so heart breaking issues like this does not occur.

Most likely caused by dehydration. It is very important to provide fresh water at all times and in addition soak your Dry's weekly. I have had it happen here twice over the years with yearlings that were not kinked and had perfect scales.

Alan B

Markus, you have at least 3 theories, fat, prolapse related to tail kink, dehydration. Probably more out there. Go to the Green Tree Python forums/books and learn about prolapses, those folks are the experts on them, and you might try the various remedies, sugar water, saline, etc. See if that helps or changes anything. Alan suggests soaking, and that never hurts and may help a lot. Good luck and let us know what you learn, and if you go the veterinary surgery route. Sometimes that is needed/the cure if indeed it is a prolapse of the cloacal/intestinal tissue. For sure don't let it dry out...Vic

Thank all three of you so much for your thoughts and advice!! He does have access to fresh water pretty much nonstop, but I have not soaked him before as mentioned. So I will definitely do that for sure. And I am thinkin he may need a lesser amount of food to keep his weight down as well. Weird to say that since I dont feed him all that much as it is compared to what I hear many others out there do for theirs. If I dont see some results from both actions, I will for sure have to look into possible surgery then if that becomes the only choice. It seems off that his kink would cause this since it is below the vent area, but I wont pretend I know that truly is the case as I am no pro here, and am not a vet...by far. Just a guy who loves snakes is all. Cant thank you all enough again here for the input!

The prior mention of breeders selling kink tails at a reduced price seems to be a hot topic, and had it not been for that I would not have been able to afford one of these. And the fact that many are never affected by the kink with regards to overall health, makes it that much more difficult to know for sure which to cull and which to let have a chance to live I have no doubt. Especially for guys like me just wanting a great pet snake and not looking to breed. A topic for another time though. Anyone have any approximates on how much a surgery would run if it came down to that? Things seem to be all hitting at once for me right now as I have a dog who was inadvertently poisoned recently and we have months of recovery to go through, and it aint cheap. He is only 3 so we are fighting for him as long as he keeps fighting to stay with us, but it's so hard seeing him the way he is right now...simply helpless and so much weight loss. Anyhow, not to drag other drama into this topic here, I will do what needs to be done for this snake, and will hope for the best that it's simply temporary and wont put me on the street due to not being able to pay the rent
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

I had an indigo prolapse about 15 years ago. I believe it was severely inbred; it's sibling was a dwarf. It did not have a kink tail. The vet could do nothing and the prolapsed tissue became necrotic. We euthanized the snake.
Your indigo's prolapse is not nearly as severe. Please keep us informed on its progress.
You do bring up an interesting topic, the selling of kink tailed indigos. If these kinks are simply the result of incubation temperatures, then it is not a big deal. However, if the kinked snakes are genetically weaker from inbreeding, they should not be sold in my opinion. They may have other physical problems which do not appear for some time. I certainly did not know mine was a dwarf until it was several months old. It ate voraciously, but just grew stout.

Wow this doesn't look good for me here then. Makes me very sad as this was my absolute dream snake I never thought I would be able to have, and now signs point to a big possibility of me losing him. Words don't describe my feelings right now.
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Like I said, my snakes prolapse was much worse than yours.
Hang in there, your indigo may recover fine.

Thanks, I badly hope that will be the case here.

Just has been an extremely hard couple of weeks with our dog who we are taking in for a new issue today that is showing up with his condition from the ivermectin poisoning (http://beingstray.com/dogs/ivermectin-poisoning-parasite-prevention-drugs-dogs/). His nose cartilage is basically caving in on him as of the last day or two we have noticed, now he can hardly breathe. So the thought of losing him, and my Indigo, is pressing hard on my heart big time. When it rains it pours.
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Markuss, beware of the internet collective diagnosis...until a competent herp oriented vet sees it, you really have very little to go on. I am sorry about your dog, that is the toughest thing I ever dealt with when her time came...been there. Anyway, make sure that cloaca does not dry out, and get her to a vet and then make informed decisions. Unless someone better informed says don't, I would think you could spread a little neosporin or even KY jelly on it and prevent it drying out, 2x daily. Do check out prolapses with Green Tree python, this is a common malady with them I am told. I have friends who can recommend a vet if needed, PM me at the address I sent you if necessary. I am thinking you live in North County San Diego?

Did this just suddenly present itself or has this condition existed for weeks/months? It may be simple, just a stitch or two in the right place? Maybe he will respond to soaking etc. as the very experienced herpetoculturalist Alan suggested?

I wish you the best and I have hope it will improve, but you really need to get the best advice and that requires an exam and diagnosis. If you share your experiences, we can learn from it and perhaps make informed decisons if we cross that river. Best wishes, Vic

Vic,

For sure I am with you there on the internet collective diagnosis

And yeah the dog issue has been very taxing on us emotionally and financially.

Have been soaking my boy as recommended and he seems to pop them in and out of his vent whilst swimming about. But they seem to come to rest as they show in my first pics rather than coming to rest inside of him as they should. So weird.

I will reply to your email asap!

And no it's note entirely new but it seems to be getting worse. At first is was very minuscule and I figured he was a little bit (for lack of better terms) horny

Anyhow, hoping it doesn't go as far as needing major vet care as my dog issue has completely drained us, so I have to build some funds back up for this issue as I am certain it wont be inexpensive. Our dog was at the vet again yesterday and they have now come to say that they dont even know how to treat him or what's going on inside him anymore, so they want us to go to a specialist now. That could run us several more thousand....and it may come to a place for us of having to make a decision here...the one where you have to say to yourself...do you let yourself be ruined for your pet...or at some point do you draw a line and move on if they are not getting better. And right now they cant even tell us that expensive treatments will even work. So it's a very difficult place to be in for us. If you know something will work, maybe debt is worth it....but do you take on major debt with the high risk of losing that animal anyhow? I just dont know how to answer that

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

My wife thinks I need to use epsom salts to make saline water. I thought just table salt. What do you all do?
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Greg Maxwell (the Complete Chondro) says to place the snake in a shallow tub of water. Just enough water to keep the prolapsed area wet. Make a thick paste of powdered sugar and water and apply to the paste directly to the swollen tissue using an eyedropper or syringe (without needle). The paste draws the moisture out of the prolapsed tissue. Repeat this until swelling goes down.
Truthfully, I would get the animal to a vet if this simple sugar treatment does not work. My heart goes out to your dog.

Oh ok interesting I will give that a go then! Not being the cook of the family, I assume I can get powdered sugar at the grocery store right?

And thank you...it's been beyond difficult to go through this with him. One day at a time is all we hang on to right now.
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Yes. Powdered sugar is easy to find in the grocery. You could use granulated sugar instead, but powdered sugar dissolves better.
Or, I guess you could just put cake frosting on its vent! Just kidding.
Good luck. You've earned it.

>>Yes. Powdered sugar is easy to find in the grocery. You could use granulated sugar instead, but powdered sugar dissolves better.
>>Or, I guess you could just put cake frosting on its vent! Just kidding.
>>Good luck. You've earned it.

Ok cool!

HA!!! My wife would rather I do that to her vent

Thanks man...hopin for a break in the negatives here soon.
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Thanks to you and your wife for that mental image!

I was talking about the air vent in her car. She would love for it to smell like cake batter rather than gym clothes.

What were you thinkin?

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

The vent in the car of course!

Naturally. Think I will get it turned on later and lather it all up so we can enjoy it together. After the snake takes his bath of course.
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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."

Another mental image I can live without!

I wont post pics of that then

Hoping the snake bath will do some good though! If I get any change afterwards, I'll post a shot of it!

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~Markus

The very existence of flamethrowers means that sometime, somewhere, someone said to themselves..."You know, I really want to set those people over there on fire...but I'm just not close enough to get the job done."