Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my young female bulls has developed some type of impaction just above the vent. I've had the local vet examine her. He tried to dislodge it with no success and he's worried about surgery given the location and her age (8 months or so). I've taken her off food and I soak her daily. None of my others are showing any symptoms so hopefully it's not a parasite. Just to be safe she is quarantined in another room. Has anyone else experienced anything like this with pits? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

"One of my young female bulls has developed some type of impaction just above the vent."

when you say "above the vent" do you mean anterior to the vent, toward the head, maybe in the colon? how far from the vent is it? if it's close, can you see it if you look into the vent? is the mass hard when you palp it?

depending on your answers to the above, if it seems like something chunky, stuck in the colon/cloaca (possibly a solid mass of urates), then you might try using a syringe (no needle) to push some oil up into the colon for lubrication. any vegetable oil will do and then do repeated warm water soaks. gently massage the area with the mass to try and coax it out. make sure the snake is warm so that the muscles can function normally.

good luck. keep us posted.

matt

Yes it appears to be above the vent, most likely in the colon area. I can't see it but I felt it through the belly scales. It feels pretty hard and doesn't want to move at all. I'll give the oil thing a try. When I checked her today the swelling seems worse and now there is a purple/red color to the swollen area. I'll give the oil a try. Hopefully that will work because otherwise, it's not looking too good for her. If it is a urate mass, any idea what could've caused it? dehydration/low humidity maybe?

So after a few tries flushing the colon with vegetable oil, a week later she finally passed a large chunk of fecal. Although it appears that there is still more. I had a vet examine the dropping. The diagnosis is pinworms. I understand that it is very common especially in wild caught or animals being fed live rodents. I'm positive she is C/B and since she was a month old when I got her she has been on f/t mice. Anyone know anything about this parasite and/or recommendations on treatment/prevention?