Hello, all,

A bit of a grim post. Before anyone asks, no, I was unable to take pictures and am not going to disturb her to try.

Nagini, my python, has been very healthy up until now. I went to feed her and I noticed what I now believe to be a prolapsed cloaca- what looks like a blockage of internal tissue extruding out of the vent/cloaca (I'm no expert on their anatomy; this is what I Googled after seeing it for ten seconds). She did not seem to be stressed or in pain, and tolerated handling (I touched her before I saw the anomaly). I do not know how serious a prolapse is, if that's what I'm looking at. There seemed to be small insects/mites crawling on the tissue, which freaked me out more than anything.

I have not handled/observed her in the past few days. She just had a very successful shed, and it seems she shed a second time just now (I believe I saw another skin in there). She switched hiding places; the shed was in her usual spot, she was in a different spot she sometimes goes to.

I cannot afford an emergency vet (and I don't believe the local emergency vet sees reptiles anyways), but I placed a call with my herp vet and will try to get her in tomorrow.

Basically, what I need to know right now is, should I be preparing to say goodbye? Also, what did I do wrong here that could have prevented this?