Help! I've never heard of this before.

I have a five-year old male ball python. Lately, I've noticed some odd pinkish colouring along his body on one side, getting darker toward the tail. It begins about ten to twelve inches down from the tip of his nose.

At first, I thought it was just a burn mark from a light (it happens) but then I had him out and noticed some odd things about his skin--more of that later. I lifted a couple of his scales and his skin looks normal under the marks, but I couldn't see very well.

He has a few places that seem "loose." Again, I thought maybe I should feed him a little more. (He gets 3-4 mice a month.) As I continued poking at him, I discovered two pockets of what I think are fluid around the base of his tail.

Instinctively, I want to just spear them with a sterilized needle, but I have refrained from such things.

As far as his behavior, he has been rather lethargic and he's done nothing but lie in one or two spots. He's usually pretty active at night, especially when someone is in the room with him. I've taken him out for a couple of hours. He's normally very active when out and I have to watch him very closely, but he just lied there.

Any ideas?

I'm not an expert in snakes, but a fluid build up in people is generally from some kind of repetitive irritation (blisters) or an infection (boils, carbuncles, etc).
:/
But none of that sounds like your snakey.
How's the humidity, and the temps? Has he been acting normally other than being tired? No star gazing or cork screwing?
At this point I think what I would do, if it was me, is wait and see if the build ups get bigger, and if they do, POSSIBLY nick one of them with a needle and check if anything drains out.
But like I said I don't know snakes! :( Wait for someone else to come along and they'll probably know.
Don't jab it just yet. :)

First off Welcome to BP.net. Please read thru all the sticky's in the husbandry forum, please post pics of him, you can upload thru photobucket.com.

You need to et rid of the light source, and use a under tank heater with a thermostat. He may need a vet visit.

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Originally Posted by llovelace

First off Welcome to BP.net. Please read thru all the sticky's in the husbandry forum, please post pics of him, you can upload thru photobucket.com.

You need to et rid of the light source, and use a under tank heater with a thermostat. He may need a vet visit.

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thank you for the welcome. ill try that and check on him to see how things work out in a few days...and meanwhile ill look into the vet...

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Originally Posted by shelliebear

I'm not an expert in snakes, but a fluid build up in people is generally from some kind of repetitive irritation (blisters) or an infection (boils, carbuncles, etc).
:/
But none of that sounds like your snakey.
How's the humidity, and the temps? Has he been acting normally other than being tired? No star gazing or cork screwing?
At this point I think what I would do, if it was me, is wait and see if the build ups get bigger, and if they do, POSSIBLY nick one of them with a needle and check if anything drains out.
But like I said I don't know snakes! :( Wait for someone else to come along and they'll probably know.
Don't jab it just yet. :)

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im highly tempted to do so but ill do my best to refrain...

How long have you noticed these symptoms, and how long have you had the snake? They do turn pinkish & "saggy" right before a shed, for up to a week or so... but if you've had the snake a while, I assume you'd know what that looks like by now. ;) Not sure what else to suggest, aside from the obvious vet visit.

Oh yeah, and how's his weight? I don't know if this happens with BPs, but I know corn snakes can get "hips" (fatty deposits) from being overweight. I adopted a VERY fat (1100g) female corn, and she has these deposits around the base of her tail... vet said it's nothing harmful, but of course I have her on a strict diet now. :cool:

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Originally Posted by Lolo76

Oh yeah, and how's his weight? I don't know if this happens with BPs, but I know corn snakes can get "hips" (fatty deposits) from being overweight. I adopted a VERY fat (1100g) female corn, and she has these deposits around the base of her tail... vet said it's nothing harmful, but of course I have her on a strict diet now. :cool:

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I was thinking he might be underfed - 3-4 mice a month for a 5-year-old seems way too little. 3-4 medium RATS a month is better - 1 every 10 days.

Yeah, please post pictures and describe his set-up. Then we can have better input to the situation.

He is less than three feet long, and seems to have some trouble with rats (he's sustained two injuries and would rather starve than eat something frozen/thaw) so I stopped feeding him the rats. I can up the amount of mice he gets, but since the "incident" I've been reluctant to do rats again...

Have you tried prekilled? You can prekill the rat, then use tong or long hemostats to wiggle the rat, making it seem alive. if he's intimidated by rats in general, I'd try a small one first. Once he eats the small ones a few times, you should be able to go up to medium if that's not too big for him.

There's no reason you can't continue to feed him mice if he's intimidated by rats. But he does need more than 3 or 4 a month. 3 a week would be better. Get a gram scale and weigh him. He should get about 10-15% of his body weight each week. My 1 1/2 year old female is a mouse eater and she gets 3 jumbo mice every Sunday night and she's nice and plump and happy with that.

Please don't poke those swellings yourself - have a vet do it. There is a lot more involved with lancing than you might think and lancing can cause more trouble than it's worth. Sounds like a vet visit is in order. Keep us posted!

Nani is in a 55-gallon tank with an infrared heat lamp (on at night), broad-light heat lamp, and an undertank heater (not all of these are on at the same time--ever). He has a large water dish that he wants nothing to do with, a log hide that he spends most of his time at, and a piece of driftwood that he likes. Three sides of it has a background. His original owner had him on gravel -_- but I switched it to sand, and he really likes it. Average temperature floats between 80-83 degrees, sometimes more or less.

I have a separate tank for feeding, which is only lined with paper towels/junk mail/nothing. Sometimes, he gets fed in the bathtub, as that tank is going to be a home for my tarantula when he is big enough.

Also, he recently defecated, so I know it's not impaction (something to look out for with sand-I know).

Get rid of that sand. Its going to hold bacteria from his poop/urine and may be causing infections/scale rot. Put him on paper towels or newspaper for now.

I would also suggest getting him out of that big tank and setting him up in a tub set up. Tanks are very bad at holding heat and humidity.

No bright lighting, they do not like it. Only use red bulbs if you have too. Like if your house is too cold to keep the ambient temps up. But the bulbs are going to sap the humidity out of his air and cause him to have bad sheds.

You need to go out and get a couple things.

1. Lamp dimmer. (Get at lowe's or home depot for about $10)

2. Accurite thermometer with probe (Get at walmart/lowes/depot for about $10)

Hook your heating pad into the lamp dimmer. Tape the thermometer probe to the heat pad directly. NOT in the tank, tape the probe on the heating pad outside of the tank.

Fiddle with the dimmer for a while until your temps are about 92-95. I keep mine at around 96-97 because of the air pocket in between the pad and the tub/tank. This way it's about 93-95 in his tub.

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Originally Posted by AkHerps

Get rid of that sand. Its going to hold bacteria from his poop/urine and may be causing infections/scale rot. Put him on paper towels or newspaper for now.

I would also suggest getting him out of that big tank and setting him up in a tub set up. Tanks are very bad at holding heat and humidity.

No bright lighting, they do not like it. Only use red bulbs if you have too. Like if your house is too cold to keep the ambient temps up. But the bulbs are going to sap the humidity out of his air and cause him to have bad sheds.

You need to go out and get a couple things.

1. Lamp dimmer. (Get at lowe's or home depot for about $10)

2. Accurite thermometer with probe (Get at walmart/lowes/depot for about $10)

Hook your heating pad into the lamp dimmer. Tape the thermometer probe to the heat pad directly. NOT in the tank, tape the probe on the heating pad outside of the tank.

Fiddle with the dimmer for a while until your temps are about 92-95. I keep mine at around 96-97 because of the air pocket in between the pad and the tub/tank. This way it's about 93-95 in his tub.

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Absolutely agree with this! Sand = big no no. Put him on the paper towels for now til you know what's wrong with him. Once he's better or deemed ok by your vet, you can use aspen or cyprus mulch if you prefer something more natural. But you won't be sorry you used the paper towels in the meantime.

And do get the dimmer and accurite. You won't be sorry you did this either.

He may not have an impaction, but that sand could be causing other issues such as scale rot or a bacterial infection. Sand harbors all kinds of bacteria even when you think it's really clean. Just an fyi....

You definately need a digital thermometer with a probe so you can accurately measure the ground temps. The lamps get way to hot if not controlled and this could have burnt your snake which is what it sounds like to me! I would get rid of the lamps! You also need better hides! You need one on the cool side and one on the warm side which has only one opening and just big enough for the snake. A five year old ball that is just under 3 feet is definately underfed! He should be about 4 feet and I would start by feeding two mice a week then go to 3 mice after a few weeks! Pics of the snake, his injury and the setup would be great help in finding the problem! Here is a caresheet which will help you have a happy snake if you follow it: http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...ius)-Caresheet GOOD LUCK!!!