Ball python threw up bloody fleshy something?

[BeddowFamilyReptiles]

My ball python is a 4 year old male. Had him since he was a baby. He goes off food during the winter months every year, never loses weight so I just watch him. For the past 3 months he’s been doing a weird thing where he puffs out his throat when he breathes sometimes and makes noises when he does. As soon as I noticed this I took him to the vet because first thought was RI. Vet looked him over and did an x Ray of his lungs and it can’t back clear. Vet just said up the humidity and sent us home. I was still concerned but thought it was out of my hands now. Now 3 months later the puffing of the throat is happening more often and the wheezes continue. I’m now seriously considering taking him to get a second opinion. This morning I woke up to check on him and found what looked like poop in his tank but then noticed it was a pink fleshy color and had blood on it. This totally freaked me out as I have never heard or seen anything like this. It does appear like it is vomit of some kind because there was some saliva on it and looked at his head and saw some of the same saliva on his lip. I’m definitly now taking him to a second opinion but wanted see if anyone on here has any clue what this could be. My best guess would maybe be this was from the last rat he ate from 2 months ago and it’s just been sitting in his stomach and he just finally decided to get rid of it? The blood just really concerns me. I bagged up and saved part of whatever this is and put it in the freezer to show to the vet. What do you guys think?

[zina10]

Absolutely take him to the Vet and as soon as possible. But just as important is that you take him to a reptile specialist. Not all vets routinely see reptiles.

The x-ray of the lungs being clear really means nothing. It doesn't need to be pneumonia (in the lungs) to be a wicked UPPER respiratory infection. So before you go, do your homework. Research and also call the vets, make sure a experienced reptile specialist vet will see your boy, esp. since this now seems to have progressed to something quite nasty.

Make sure that the vet does a culture. You all need to know exactly what kind of nasties you are dealing with. Most likely you will get a broad spectrum antibiotic to start treatment immediately while waiting on the result of the culture. If the culture ends up showing bacteria or other issues that need a different medication, they will then switch to the other meds.

Also make sure that any meds you get are to be injected, not given orally. That just doesn't work well with snakes unless its a medicine for internal parasites like worms or protozoans.

At this point its truly vital you get him to a vet fast. But it needs to be someone that routinely treats reptiles and has the specialized knowledge. I really cannot say that often enough..

[zina10]

In the meantime make sure your husbandry is absolutely on point (warm and humid enough). It would probably be best to keep him on paper towels for now, so you can keep his enclosure as clean and sanitized as possible while fighting off this illness. Check and double check temps, etc.

Good luck, and please keep us up to date, hope your boy will recover quickly..

[Bogertophis]

If this was part of a rat fed 2 months ago, it would be pretty stinky (like enough to make YOU gag)...was it? DO take that to the vet as well.

[CALM Pythons]

Im going to follow hoping your Snake recovers quickly and also to find out what this is. I find it extremely impossible that the blood is from the Rat he ate 2 months ago. The acid would have broken that down already and it wouldn’t be coming up blood red after much more than a week or so as far as I’ve seen regurgitation.
Good Luck getting him in asap.


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[Bogertophis]

Im going to follow hoping your Snake recovers quickly and also to find out what this is. I find it extremely impossible that the blood is from the Rat he ate 2 months ago. The acid would have broken that down already and it wouldn’t be coming up blood red after much more than a week or so as far as I’ve seen regurgitation.
Good Luck getting him in asap.


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Exactly ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ I was thinking the same thing, that's gotta be fresh blood from ??? since blood being digested turns brown or black.

[BeddowFamilyReptiles]

Just got back from the vet. I called ahead and they said it sounded like an emergency. We took him in they looked at him and consulted with a wildlife/zoomed/exotic specialist they had. After all the history I gave them they said it looked most like cryptosporidium. A parasitic infection. They have to do a gastric lavage and blood work in two days to confirm. They aren’t ruling out anything else yet but they said it looks highly suspicious of this parasite. I guess it mostly spreads through water or contact with other snakes. And it can lay dormant for a while. Trying to figure out where he could have got it from. My other 4 snakes are under a year aren’t showing symptoms but only two of them got here after he started showing minor symptoms. Oh and they also have no idea what he threw up but said it looked like some kind of fatty tissue. They said they’d look at it under a microscope and do a culture if needed. So thank you for all the responses and support. I’ll keep doing updates.

[Bogertophis]

Thank you so much for keeping us updated. I've seen my share of things but never anything like what you described with your poor snake...hoping for a good
outcome too.

[Armiyana]

Oooh, yikes. That is not a bug to mess around with. From what I remember:
Hand sanitizer is useless on that one. Wash your hands extremely well after handling anything associated with your noodle.
Bleach solutions of 5-10% were recommended back during the dark leopard gecko times...but now because of resistance I think Phenol and Hydrogen Peroxide are the ones I hear are recommended now. Phenols are extremely toxic to cats tho, so use caution if you own one.

It can cause thickening of the walls in the digestive system, so it could have been some tissue that dislodged.
Be careful where you're getting feeders from because that could have been a carrier source