Impacted Urates - Holy Crap!

[Aedryan Methyus]

A couple nights ago I discovered that one of my Blood Pythons - "Dexter" had severely impacted urates that were poking out against the sides of his tail. So, last night one of my local breeder friends and I soaked/swam him in warm water while trying to massage the hardened urates out of him and after about an hour they finally started working their way out. I couldn't even believe the amount of crap that ended up coming out of that poor little guy's behind! Here is a photo:



There was even more hardened urates, which dissolved in the water. Two terds, which were about the same size as the urates shown in the photo also came out, but they weren't hardened. This poor fella must feel sooo much better now!

Can any of you guys possibly tell by looking at the photo about how long these urates might have been being backed up? This snake hasn't taken a dump since clear back on 12/09/17 and as some of you might recall, I had started having regurgitation problems with him back on 12/05/17. I would say it's pretty obvious that all of this backed up urate must have been the cause of his regurgitation issues, wouldn't you guys? Can you guys tell me what causes urates to become impacted and how it can be prevented?

Just to give a little more history... This snake came into my possession on 5/10/17... Since then he has only defecated 4 times - On 9/14/17, 10/23/17, 12/09/17 (massive) and a tiny little bit on 12/26/17.

[AbsoluteApril]

holy smokes! glad you guys 'worked' it out
I bet he feels so much better now

[Bogertophis]

First off, I have no direct experience with bloods but I understand that "saving it up" is what they typically do. While it makes perfect sense to "connect"
the regurgitation to the constipation, I wouldn't want to assume that's the only possible cause. One thing you can do (assuming they take f/t prey) is to
thaw their prey in water & serve it wet to help with their hydration. A periodic soak wouldn't hurt either, & make sure their enclosure's humidity stays up.

[Bogertophis]

And if bloods are like most creatures, being too sedentary contributes to this problem, so maybe a bigger cage would help? and more handling & "field trips"?

[Aedryan Methyus]

This was definitely far beyond what would be considered normal. If you notice the urate on the right side in the photo, it has a bend to it. That is what was poking out against the sides of his tail. My guess is that due to that bend it became lodged and he was unable to pass it, which then caused the the rest of the urates to get backed up. Bloods and Short Tails actually urinate A LOT on a pretty regular basis (a couple times per week at times), which he had not been doing. Judging by the size of these hardened urates and the amount of them and the fact that he hadn't defecated since December, I think it's pretty safe to say that these urates have been building up for many months. So, waste from months worth of feedings would keep accumulating due to his inability to defecate and he would swell up like a balloon. I feel like this must have been causing him a very difficult time digesting his food properly then in turn, causing him to regurgitate. Does that make sense?

Either way, I'm just sooo glad we were able to get all of that out of him! It obviously saved his life... I was prescribed Panacur for him (as a precautionary measure) at the vet back in January and I had decided against giving it to him at that time. He had stopped regurgitating clear up until about a month ago then he regurgitated again. I took him off of food again for another month, while treating his water with Nutribac. He has had 2 small meals since I started feeding him again a couple of weeks ago. I have been very concerned about how he hasn't been putting on weight or growing properly and how his spine continues to stick up more than it should no matter how much he eats or how fat (swollen up) he gets, so 2 nights ago I decided to go ahead and give him the Panacur as a precautionary and to be able to rule out parasites. That was when we discovered that he had impacted urates. So, anyway... He will get his third and final round of Panacur tonight and afterwards I am going to mix some Nutribac up with water and syringe a nice dose of Nutribac down his hatch to get some good healthy probiotics working in his gut and help replenish any gut flora he may have lost through all of this. I'm going to give him a couple more weeks off of food then start him back up on very small prey items and slowly work him back up to appropriate size meals. Hopefully this will be the end of his problems so he can get back to growing properly...

[Craiga 01453]

Yowsers!!! Dexter must feel so much better.

[Aedryan Methyus]

Yowsers!!! Dexter must feel so much better.

He SURELY must! I was cringing every time another piece was working it's way out. That definitely could not have have felt very good coming out! He acted sooo calm, still and solemn once it was all out. I'll be happy once he has had his last panacur treatment and has gotten a nice dose of Nutribac tonight, so I can just leave him alone for a couple of weeks. It has been a big past 3 days for the poor little fella...

[Craiga 01453]

He SURELY must! I was cringing every time another piece was working it's way out. That definitely could not have have felt very good coming out! He acted sooo calm, still and solemn once it was all out. I'll be happy once he has had his last panacur treatment and has gotten a nice dose of Nutribac tonight, so I can just leave him alone for a couple of weeks. It has been a big past 3 days for the poor little fella...

How was he during the soak and the whole process?

[kristan]

Eek! Hopefully he's ok after this. His first few poops he had with you seem ok. I only had an impaction issue with one of my bloods. She didn't go for at least 10 mos, and when it came out she proposed. I was able to fix her up at home, and she was always very "regular" after that. I don't know if she was as backed up as yours but she never regurged. All of my other bloods were very regular. How often does he soak? I agree that more frequently soaks (like in a bathtub so he can move) would be helpful.

[Aedryan Methyus]

How was he during the soak and the whole process?

He was squirmy and flighty, which i'm sure actually helped a lot. We kept sorta draping his back end over the side of the tub as we massaged and worked the urates out. Surprisingly, he never struck or tried to bite through all of it. He has always been such a sweet boy...

Eek! Hopefully he's ok after this. His first few poops he had with you seem ok. I only had an impaction issue with one of my bloods. She didn't go for at least 10 mos, and when it came out she proposed. I was able to fix her up at home, and she was always very "regular" after that. I don't know if she was as backed up as yours but she never regurged. All of my other bloods were very regular. How often does he soak? I agree that more frequently soaks (like in a bathtub so he can move) would be helpful.

I'm guessing you must mean prolapsed? Dexter was definitely happy afterwards, but not quite happy enough to propose to me! lol But, seriously... Yeah, I was scared to death that was going to happen the way his innards were stretching outwards when the urates were coming out.