Red/Pink in the shavings around waste

Hey there,

Ok so i've noticed that there is a little bit of pink coloring in the shavings surrounding her urate and poo. Her urate also had a little bit of a grey blob next to it but i've heard that's normal. My concern is that the pink is blood. My BP is 3 on August 26th so I didn't know if it has somethin to do with her reaching sexual maturity (like getting her period type thing) or if I should be concerned. If you have any info or suggestions all would be great. I just hope she's not hurt internally or something [emoji29]


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Ball pythons do NOT menstruate! If the blood you saw seemed fresh and bright, it could indicate that the snake had injured itself internally while taking a poop.. a trip to the vet might be necessary.

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Originally Posted by reem

Ball pythons do NOT menstruate! If the blood you saw seemed fresh and bright, it could indicate that the snake had injured itself internally while taking a poop.. a trip to the vet might be necessary.

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It was a relatively bright pink. Should I wait to see if it happens again or just go straight to the vet? It hasn't appeared any other time it was just surrounding her urate

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Originally Posted by Megz

It was a relatively bright pink. Should I wait to see if it happens again or just go straight to the vet? It hasn't appeared any other time it was just surrounding her urate

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Has the snake shed recently? Sometimes after a shed there will be a little bit of blood from the vent that you may see.

Sometimes my colubrids will stress themselves to the point of slight bleeding from the vent when they musk. I would imagine the same could happen when a BP poos.

It's hard to give you a solid recommendation without a picture and knowing exactly how much/how bright the blood was, because it can either be nothing or it can be a sign of something serious. At the least I would recommend keeping a very close eye on her and checking to see if she's sensitive to pressure anywhere on her sides/belly.

If you think this might be a serious problem, it might be worthwhile to switch the bedding to paper towels temporarily. This will let you better monitor any discharge or minor bleeding that could easily get lost or buried in shavings.

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Originally Posted by ballpythonluvr

Has the snake shed recently? Sometimes after a shed there will be a little bit of blood from the vent that you may see.

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She had just shed and peed and poo'd on that same day, thats when i saw it.

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Originally Posted by DVirginiana

Sometimes my colubrids will stress themselves to the point of slight bleeding from the vent when they musk. I would imagine the same could happen when a BP poos.

It's hard to give you a solid recommendation without a picture and knowing exactly how much/how bright the blood was, because it can either be nothing or it can be a sign of something serious. At the least I would recommend keeping a very close eye on her and checking to see if she's sensitive to pressure anywhere on her sides/belly.

If you think this might be a serious problem, it might be worthwhile to switch the bedding to paper towels temporarily. This will let you better monitor any discharge or minor bleeding that could easily get lost or buried in shavings.

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I will certainly monitor it and post a picture if i see it again; hopefully not. She is eating normally and seems fine being handled so maybe it is the shed or poo thing.

I have had small drops of blood after sheds before and when I say small I mean 2 or 3 pin head drops. Paper towels hill help you see it a lot better


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It is very common for snakes to bleed a little at the vent when shedding. I honestly do not know why this happens but I have noticed this with most of my older female ball pythons. Never with my males. Not sure if this has anything to do with genders but I thought I would throw it out there. So if your snake shed, it is most likely that. I would wait till her next poo and if there is blood and no shed, I would take her in. It is pretty hard to tell you what to do without seeing it myself so ultimately the decision is yours. It never hurts to get your snake checked whether there is or is not something wrong with her.

I keep mine on new paper and every shed I see a blood smear, male or female.