Urgent blood/constipated?

[Linda]

My ball, Sudan, who is three years old, male, had been staying in his hidey all week.
He was due to eat tonight but when I went in to feed him, I saw a shed outside the entrance
to his hidey. He has a round hat box that he loves to curl up in.

He had gone poop and pee since he was fed about a week ago. When I took the shed out
I saw some blood on the shed where his poop/pee comes out. Is that called the cloaca?
It wasn't alot.
But I did notice that he had shed all but the end of his tail and his head.
As some of you know, I have had problems with him since I got him several months ago.
His eye caps have never come off and his old owner said she had them removed once by a vet
but that they wouldn't come off again after that.

He shed once right after I first got him. Caps didn't come off and I sauna'd and soaked him but they just wouldn't come off. He is very head shy due to this, I think.

Well, I took him out of his sauna after about 45 minutes and was drying him off with a towel when he all of a sudden let out a HUGE amount of poop and some pee that fell to the floor. One piece of poop was about 5 inches long, another small piece was about 2 inches and the white/pee cube had a small string like thing attached to it.
I looked at his "cloaca" and there was some blood there so I wiped him off carefully and then I saw that his eye caps looked like some had come off but that there were still at least one or two on both eyes.

I am going to try the mineral oil on the eyeballs as soon as I can get to the store
BUT my main concern is that could the bleeding be from straining to poop????
What should I do?
Should I feed him or wait awhile?
I have no good herp vet around here so I am going to have to go this alone and with all of your advice.
Thanks,

[Shelby]

I'd say you humidity is probably way too low. Do you have a heat lamp? If so, ditch it for an under tank heater and cover up 3/4 of the top of the tank with saran wrap or similar to prevent the loss of humidity. Put in a humid hide (do a search on here, lots of threads on making them).

Sometimes with a shed the snake will bleed a little from the cloaca. That isn't something to worry about, but if it happens all the time, or there is a lot, you should do your best to get him to a vet.. far away or not.

Eye caps and tail tips should be free from that unshed skin, your snake's tail could get constricted of it's blood flow. For the eye caps, I've heard of people using scotch tape to remove them. Just be gentle!

[iceman25]

I'd say you humidity is probably way too low. Do you have a heat lamp? If so, ditch it for an under tank heater and cover up 3/4 of the top of the tank with saran wrap or similar to prevent the loss of humidity. Put in a humid hide (do a search on here, lots of threads on making them).

Sometimes with a shed the snake will bleed a little from the cloaca. That isn't something to worry about, but if it happens all the time, or there is a lot, you should do your best to get him to a vet.. far away or not.

Eye caps and tail tips should be free from that unshed skin, your snake's tail could get constricted of it's blood flow. For the eye caps, I've heard of people using scotch tape to remove them. Just be gentle!

Beat me to it

[Linda]

Hi, I use under the tank heaters and heat lamps along with plastic on the top of the cage already.
I also use 2 thermostats, one on each side of the tank, that show two temps and the humidity. Hot side is around 93 inside the hot hide, about 92-3 in the air above the hot hide and the humidity is normally around 50ish. But I mist more and keep it higher when he is blue.

Actually this shed was better than his last.
My main concern was the bleeding and why he kept so much inside of him for so long.
The poop was almost an inch around which seems awfully big to me and about 5" long.

Thanks for your answers and comments. I appreciate them.

[Shelby]

again.. ditch the heat lamps. They are only making things worse.

Constipation is often from low humidity. Try to get it up to 55-60%. Obviously something's not quite right. What kind of humidity gauge are you using? Anything other than digital is a waste of money.

[SatanicIntention]

She can't ditch the heat lamps because she is heating a 40gallon breeder tank.

Linda, if you can get a big, round, disposable tupperware container with a lid, you can make a humid hide. cut a hole big enough for Sudan to get inside, place moist paper towels(a good thick layer) in the bottom, and put the lid on it. Place this on the warm side(it's ok if the tank is crowded, they like it that way) and it will create a little snake sauna. That way Sudan can decide when he needs to be in there or not. You can keep it in there 24/7 or only when he is in shed mode. Either way. I kept Amani's in there 24/7 and had all good sheds. I don't use one for her anymore, and she sheds fine, but she's housed in a tub and lives in Texas weather

[rex322]

if im not mistaking, couldnt the blood be from shedding its spurs? just wonderin cause one of my old BPs did that after a shed.

[Linda]

Thanks Becky. I was just about ready to say that if I remove the heat lamps

there won't be any heat in there.

I'm not sure how to increase the humidity in the entire tank. It stays right between 45 and 50 unless I mist and then it goes up to HI.

I'll try the moist hide. Should I put it in in place of one of his other two?
With two hides, a big bowl of water and his favorite rock, I don't think I can fit a moist hide that big in. He is a big boy.
His hides are round boxes that dishes came in...look like old fashioned hat boxes.

What is this about shedding spurs?????

Thanks

[frankykeno]

Linda we use a humid hide like the type described tho just during Baby's shedding time as humidity here in Michigan isn't a problem right now. We just replace her normal warm side hide with the humid hide and check the paper towels every day as they dry out fast. It pushes the humidity up quite well. Also we generally keep her water on the cool side but if we need humidity up a bit more we just move her water dish closer to the warm side.

Baby seems to use her humid hide quite a bit when it's in there and her last two sheds have been complete since we started using it.


~~Jo~~