Crusty vent?

I've been cycling the males through their girlfriends, and removing my male OG from his honeymoon suite last night I noticed his vent is beginning to look crusty. Just a tiny but of stuff just under the edge of that vent scale.

Should I give him some extra time off? Is there something I could/should do to treat it?

Is it sperm?
-Steven

sounds like a sperm plug to me... Is it sorta brownish yellowish at the tip? try popping him, and if it starts coming out of his hemipenes its defnately a sperm plug..

Here's a picture. It's definitely NOT a sperm plug.

http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...ls/boovent.jpg

Quote:

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Originally Posted by stevenkeogh

Is it sperm?
-Steven

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I don't think so. It kind of looks like he's had a rough few nights, maybe some carpet burn? :rofl: He's in good health otherwise and has even been taking small meals for me throughout the season.

This is my first season breeding, and I've heard of crusty male vents from over-breeding in my studies, and I want to make sure I do what's right for the snake.

No. It's not a sperm plug. It is likely from too many rotations in too short a time. At my house, that boy would be done for the season. Give the boy time off for it to heal or it will get worse. How often is he breeding?? What rotation is he on?

~Kat

3 days on, 5 days off. And only with the one female.

I appreciate the advice. He'll be taking an early retirement this season. Is there something I can do for him, other than keeping the cage clean and watching for infection? Neosporin and some weak chlorhexadine soaks, or would that just make it worse?

Hmm. Doesn't sound like you've been pushing him unless he's been on this schedule for months. I'd just keep him clean and off damp substrates, a little betadine or neosporin touch-up wouldn't hurt. He should heal up just fine since you caught it before it got reallly bad. :gj:


~Kat

I started my pairings just after Christmas. To be honest I was a bit surprised to see that last night and immediately felt horrible that I hadn't noticed it sooner. I hadn't noticed any locks with him and his girl, but I also just left them completely alone for the times they were paired. Maybe he's just an aggressive breeder?

Hopefully he'll heal quickly and with no problems, and I'll make a note of it in his records so he can be watched for it in seasons to come. Some guys just can't handle the pressure I guess. :rofl:

Just bringing this back up as a reminder to keep a close eye on your snakes and look them over regularly for problems.

As I took him out of his tub tonight to do the daily cleaning and treatment of the area, I found pus underneath the small scab when I wiped it away as it was loose. Digging deeper, I found even more pus. Right now I'm doing what I can until I can get Boo in to the vet tomorrow. I feel horrible that I didn't notice all this going on sooner.

Please say a prayer for the little guy. And a huge thank you and a hug to Heather for the advice on what to do until I can get him in.

This is what it looked like the night I found the pus.
http://i26.photobucket.com/albums/c1...s/boovent2.jpg
Sorry for the poor quality of the picture. If I could have gotten my husband to hold the snake while I took it instead of him being such a sissy..

Like I said, more reason to look them over regularly from head to tail. I caught this early enough that a couple good cleanings and some bacitracin on the area had it looking much better. There appears to be an abrasion on some of the tissue just inside the vent. Monday morning a visit to the vet and a shot of Gentocin and hopefully he's well on his way to healing completely. I'm continuing the cleanings and keep a bit of bacitracin on there. He's being kept on paper towels. The external vent area is back to looking normal, and damage can only be seen when you pull the scale back and open it a bit.

One thing you might want to check for is that if you had him on aspen while breeding sometimes they can pull a piece of aspen in when they pull their hemipene back. I have had it happen quite a few times. I would try popping him to see if that may be causing the problem. I usually pop all of my males every couple weeks just to check.

That's exactly what the vet and I think happened. As much as I love keeping snakes on aspen for the absorbency and less cleaning I have to do, it just isn't worth the risk to me anymore. I've changed everyone back to newspaper.

When I cleaned out the area I was able to massage a bit of material up out of the penes. None of it looked like aspen, but I'm sure it probably doesn't take much to irritate such a sensitive area.

It appears that he has been breeding even if you didn't see the locks. Give him some rest and some fresh water. Maybe even a waterbowl for him to soak in.

Brock

I'm kind of partial to daily Chlorhexadine soaks myself. You can also clean a lot of the crusty stuff off by working at it with a Q-tip.