Impacted carpet python

So my girl Alice is a little over 3 years old and I've had her almost that entire time with no issues, until recently. About 3 weeks ago I noticed what looked like sausage butt to me while offering her a meal. As snake owners when we see sausage butt we tend to just look past it because we've seen it so many times and we get complacent about it.

Fast forward two weeks and I saw that it never went away so I started soaking her. I soaked her for 2-2 1/2 hours in 85 degree water and got only a little urate out.

Which brings us to today. She has been soaked 4 times and I put some warm water in her cloaca with a syringe and nothing's happened. I have a vet appointment scheduled for her next Tuesday to get this taken care of before it gets worse but I was wondering if anyone had any useful tips and tricks in the mean time to help her get the proverbial ball rolling.

Not really- it's best to keep your interventions on the conservative side when you don't yet know the cause.

I totally agree with the soaks- especially if she has room to do swimming motions- with your hand supporting her mid-body so she can swim in place. That often helps the most.

But the cause could be anything from simple dehydration + inactivity, to swallowing something she cannot digest, to one or more urate stones blocking her cloaca, to something like a tumor.

It must be the season for "sausage butt"- you're the second one today! :confusd: > https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...d-constipation

Maybe because with the heat on, the air in our houses is much dryer & our snakes are more prone to dehydration.

I thought about dehydration but it didn't make a lot of sense to me. I change waters every 2-3 days to make sure it's fresh and to make sure they have plenty. When I feed I thaw in water so the rodents are wet when I offer and I keep my humidity it their room around 50%. Not saying it couldn't be hydration just saying it would shock my if it were. I was thinking it was more of a urate stone problem but who knows really. Hopefully the vet visit will go well and they'll be able to fix her right up.

When you soaked her, did you do this where she could stretch out & do swimming (in place) motions (with your hand for support in shallow water)? Because that helps a LOT more than just sitting still to "soak". Try the bathtub. ;)

As far as keeping the "humidity in their room around 50%"- what's the actual humidity IN their enclosures? That's what matters, & that's where additional heat might be drying her out. (Unless you're one that heats the whole room? Just trying to brainstorm with you...)

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

When you soaked her, did you do this where she could stretch out & do swimming (in place) motions (with your hand for support in shallow water)? Because that helps a LOT more than just sitting still to "soak". Try the bathtub. ;)

As far as keeping the "humidity in their room around 50%"- what's the actual humidity IN their enclosures? That's what matters, & that's where additional heat might be drying her out. (Unless you're one that heats the whole room? Just trying to brainstorm with you...)

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I wish I had a tub big enough for her stretch out and swim but she's probably close to 6ft long. As far as the tub goes she is way to flighty and ill tempered for those sorts of activities lol.

As far as humidity. The snakes have their own room that is temperature controlled and they're in racks. The ambient room temp is 78-80 with a hot spot for her around 89-90. Since it's a small room (it's basically a glorified utility closet, about 5x8) it's pretty easy to keep it at a constant temperature. And since she's kind of an arid species anyway I would be even more confused about the dehydration.

Yeah, I hear you about the size & "personality" issues, lol. Just a suggestion, & you might be surprised at some snakes I've done such things with.

How much easier is the vet visit going to be, anyway? ;) Sometimes you just can't take "no" for an answer from a :snake:

Anyway, good luck- let us know how it goes?

Hopefully it’s nothing serious. Can you take a picture of your snake? If she’s well hydrated then she might just be prepping for a big drop. How many times has she eaten in the last month? Could she be going into shed? I’ve never experienced impaction with any of my snakes so I’m just grasping at straws. Best wishes.

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Originally Posted by EL-Ziggy

Hopefully it’s nothing serious. Can you take a picture of your snake? If she’s well hydrated then she might just be prepping for a big drop. How many times has she eaten in the last month? Could she be going into shed? I’ve never experienced impaction with any of my snakes so I’m just grasping at straws. Best wishes.

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Ill try to get a picture of her (not even sure I still have the Tapatalk app lol). I originally thought it was a poop but it's pretty clear to me that it's an impaction of sorts. She shed on the 21st of November and ate a couple days after that. She's a pretty big girl so I only feed her a large rat every 3-5 weeks depending on her. She tells me when she's ready to eat.

If it feels hard- like a rock or a marble- it could be a urate "stone" (one or more) & vet help is the safer way to get them out. I've dealt with them before.

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

If it feels hard- like a rock or a marble- it could be a urate "stone" (one or more) & vet help is the safer way to get them out. I've dealt with them before.

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That's what my money's on. I've seen it done a bunch of times on YouTube but it's not something I'm going to try myself. Last thing I want to do is cause her pain.