Confused and need help

[MaggieMay]

I have what I always believed to be a Male BP who is now 19 years old. We had 2 at one time and have had him since he was approximately 1 year old. At this point I am not certain if we had a male and female or not. But our other BP died over 10 years ago and he has not been around another snake since. We do have a ghost corn snake in the same room but not in the same tank. Anyway, "he" always ate pretty well, except during a shed of course, but after this last shed "he" would not eat. He acted hungry but struck once and gave up. We were getting a little worried and were going to try a dead mouse. He usually prefers live food.

This morning we found what we have now identified as an egg, in the far side of the tank.

We are shocked. "He" had some blood on his side, about 4-6 inches from his tail. We gave him a lukewarm bath and washed off most of the blood. Did not see anything that looked like a wound.
Any clue as to what happened or what I should do now?
Our vet is good but doesn't have a lot of experience with snakes.

[BPelizabeth]

Well it sounds like your male is a female....lol. Try to take a pic of this for us to take a look at. Snake eggs are leathery. They will drop non fertile eggs sometimes. Make sure after you take it out...you clean everything with very hot water and soap....you need to disinfect everything. Then give your snake a bath. This gets the smell of the egg outta there so that your snake will eat. Wow kudo's to you on keeping a snake that long. Would love to see pics!!

[wilomn]

Could you post up a picture of the egg?

It may have been a ball of urea that got stuck then tore him a bit on the way out.

[MaggieMay]

Here are some pictures. Thank you for any help you can give.



I am not sure how to add a picture. Let me know if this works.

http://thumbp7.mail.vip.ac4.yahoo.co...=813&fid=Inbox

http://thumbp7.mail.vip.ac4.yahoo.co...=813&fid=Inbox

[Kaorte]

You need to upload the photos to a photo sharing site like photobucket or flickr, or you can upload them to your user gallery here on bp.net.

[West Coast Jungle]

We cannot see your pic but I would tend to agree that it is most likely a large urate. Sometimes when they get a bit dehydrated it can be rather difficult to pass thus the blood. A bath or soaking is a good thing as it will help rehydrate her.

The other reason to think its a urate is eggs usually come in groups of at least 4

[MaggieMay]

I added the pictures to my member's gallery (at least I think it worked).
Let me know if you can see them now.

What is a urate?

[Kaorte]

There ya go.

To me, that looks like an egg. The pictures of the blood on the tail. Was it just blood? Could you wash it off? From the pictures, it looks pretty bad

[RR - Mackenzie]

I added the pictures to my member's gallery (at least I think it worked).
Let me know if you can see them now.

What is a urate?

Here it is (the picture):



It looks like a "slug" (which is a dead, infertile egg). Here is what a slug looks like:



What do you think?

Oh, and urates are when the snake uses the restroom.

[MaggieMay]

It doesn't look like a "slug" at all. I think you are right, it is an egg.

We did give her a bath but could not wash off all the blood. I was afraid to hurt her but she did not flinch at all. Did not act like it hurt when I was rubbing the spot under the warm water. I did not use anything except water. I bring her in the shower with me sometimes, when she doesn't shed completely. She always seems to like it.

Do you think she might lay more?