any ideas

North · 04-29-02, 04:36 PM

I lost a snake this afternoon, one of my favorites a 4 year old male Ball Python, he seemed in good health with no signs of stress or anything, temps etc were fine...he had just eaten for the first time since Dec, about 3 days ago .... upon inspection I found what looked like a small white string hanging from his rectum.. it was the last 2/3 of his hemipenes.. it seemed quite rotten and broke off at the last third which still looked like healthy skin...I have no real access to an autopsy here so thought I would ask and see if anyone had seen anything like this before. I did a fecal on all my snakes in December and found no signs of parasites so I don't think that was the culprit..

Corey Woods · 04-29-02, 06:05 PM

Sorry to hear about your loss! It always sucks when you lose a snake.

Anyways, about the long white thing comming out of the vent. It sounds to me like it could be a tape worm. That, however, should have come up in the fecal test though.

Corey

North · 04-29-02, 10:58 PM

Tks Corey but nope was definately his hemipenes... was still attached and wasted away and very rotten.... was strange... I will do another fecal float on all of them just to check it out but was nothing showing last time..........am at a loss

Linds · 04-30-02, 12:05 AM

So sorry to hear about your loss

I hope everything gets resolved soon!

KolleenJ · 04-30-02, 02:53 AM

It always is a bummer to loose a pet.

As for the tape worm thing, they dont always show up in fecal exams.Actually, we only actually see them in fecals 50% of the time,and the other 50% they are found directly in fesces, but only in severe cases.... So it is a possibility.

Again, im truly sorry!!!

LOL