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  1. #1
    Registered User Insane's Avatar
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    Gas and mucousy poop with blood!?

    As a disclaimer, I do plan to take him to the vet but it's Sunday and since he seems to be acting fine now id prefer to wait until Monday to contact different vets and find a good reptile vet vs. going to an emergency vet that might not have snake experience.

    So last night was feeding night. I pull my Pastave male out to feed and instantly notice a pretty foul smell. I had cleaned a good, solid poop that morning, but noticed some spots of runny poop on his paper and the corner of his hide. I typically don't mess with them right before feeding so I offered him the F/T rat first. He started flicking his tongue at it, but shortly after pulled back, opened him mouth wide and started contracting the bottom half of his body.

    He then proceeded to let loose a few very loud and "wet" sounding farts. I've heard that when they push really hard some bps will open their mouths so I figured I must have caught him while he was still in the process of eliminating. What came out was a clear, mucousy liquid from his cloaca. This whole process took about a minute. I was pretty freaked out and was going to move him to a different tub but he kept following my hand like he was about to strike. I moved the rat in front of him and he took it instantly, eating it with no problem.

    I moved him to a spare tub I had and put him back in his spot on the rack. I've kept an eye on him and so far acts as though nothing happened. He was very active, checking out his tub and staring me down like he was waiting for a second rat. This morning he was in his hide on the hot side and didn't seem any different when I lifted it up to look.

    So I took pictures of the mess he made. I tried to scoop out the mucousy liquid to see if the vet would want to look at it but couldn't really get it without the newspaper. I ended up wiping it up with a paper towel and put it in a zip lock bag with the bit of solid poop left in his tub in case the vet can use it. When I wiped it up I noticed some spots of blood on the paper towel as well.

    Of course I tried to post this last night immediately after it happened but the website was down

    So some background info:
    Temps: 91 hot, 78 cool
    Humidity: Daily misting (it's in the negatives here consistently now, so humidity is horrible. My hydrometer is showing 25% in the room now and that is with a humidifier running 24/7 on high. We are still working to get that room sealed enough to maintain at least 50% in just that room)

    Activity
    29Nov: Shed
    30Nov - 2Dec: Paired with GHI (lock observed for 26 hr period)
    3Dec: Fed small F/T rat
    6-8Dec: Paired with Dragonfly (2 short lock period observed on the 7th)
    10Dec am: Defecated
    10Dec pm: Incident occured

    Pictures can be found at http://m.imgur.com/a/3vBqV

    On mobile so posting pictures individually would be a huge hassle, but let me know if the link doesn't work please. Hopefully this isn't anything too serious but I couldn't find any info on it through search.
    Ball Pythons:
    1.0 Pied 100% het Clown (2014)
    1.0 Pastel Leopard Pied 50% het Clown (2016)
    0.1 Albino Clown (2013)
    0.1 Pied 100% Het Albino (2014)
    0.1 Enchi 100% DH Clown Pied (2016)
    0.1 100% DH Clown Pied (2016)
    0.1 Pastel Fire Yellowbelly (2014)
    2.3 Clown DH Albino Pied (2017/18)
    0.1 100% TH Albino Clown Pied (2018)

  2. #2
    BPnet Lifer Albert Clark's Avatar
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    Re: Gas and mucousy poop with blood!?

    Sounds like you have your setup and husbandry on point. Grats. Just didn't see where you listed the basking temp and thermostat setting. Glad that he's going to the vet bc foul smelling loose stool that is bloody is endoparasitic until proven otherwise. Particularly E. Invadens or Coccidia. Either way you did the right thing by bagging the sample even if it is on paper. A microscopic smear will be able to be taken at the vet. Usually this condition is easily remedied once the vet looks at the smear and identifies the correct bug. Good luck. Keep an eye on the dragonfly and any symptoms he may exhibit since he was in the same enclosure.
    Last edited by Albert Clark; 12-11-2016 at 07:27 PM.
    Stay in peace and not pieces.

  3. The Following User Says Thank You to Albert Clark For This Useful Post:

    Insane (12-11-2016)

  4. #3
    Registered User Insane's Avatar
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    So when I searched internal parasites it seemed like i was able to find more threads that described similar symptoms. That puts me more at ease at least knowing this isn't some new and unique issue.

    This is the first I've had issues with these in the last 2 years. The only thing that has changed is the addition of 3 new hatchlings I received from one breeder. I just ended their quarantine after 2.5 months since I never noticed any red flags. I'll definitely be taking in stool samples from them asap to have them tested.

    If I get a positive result back on one sample, would it be best to just treat all my ball pythons for the same parasites? I would assume it wouldn't harm them if they don't have parasites, but just want to make sure.
    Ball Pythons:
    1.0 Pied 100% het Clown (2014)
    1.0 Pastel Leopard Pied 50% het Clown (2016)
    0.1 Albino Clown (2013)
    0.1 Pied 100% Het Albino (2014)
    0.1 Enchi 100% DH Clown Pied (2016)
    0.1 100% DH Clown Pied (2016)
    0.1 Pastel Fire Yellowbelly (2014)
    2.3 Clown DH Albino Pied (2017/18)
    0.1 100% TH Albino Clown Pied (2018)

  5. #4
    Registered User Insane's Avatar
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    Thought I would follow up on this. Took a fecal sample to the vet and came back clear of parasites. I asked to make sure it was tested for E. Ivadens since it seemed to have symptoms that matched up with what I was experiencing and nothing was discovered.

    I've been keeping an eye on him and he acts healthy. His last poop was normal and I just put him with a female and he was locked up for the entire day. Vet said to just keep an eye on him but if he isn't acting weird then there was no point to bringing him in. So I guess it was just a weird fluke in his digestion?

    None of my other ball pythons have exhibited any similar symptoms so I'm assuming whatever it was wasn't contagious.
    Ball Pythons:
    1.0 Pied 100% het Clown (2014)
    1.0 Pastel Leopard Pied 50% het Clown (2016)
    0.1 Albino Clown (2013)
    0.1 Pied 100% Het Albino (2014)
    0.1 Enchi 100% DH Clown Pied (2016)
    0.1 100% DH Clown Pied (2016)
    0.1 Pastel Fire Yellowbelly (2014)
    2.3 Clown DH Albino Pied (2017/18)
    0.1 100% TH Albino Clown Pied (2018)

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