Small amount of blood after defecating

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

That's wonderful news- especially that your vet has done this surgery before too. :gj: I would think that after the surgery though, she'll be on paper towels for a little while again? When are you having it done?

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Yes, I am planning on putting her back on paper towel after the surgery, and I really don't mind reassembling, disassembling, then reassembling again. I think I miss her old enclosure more than she does :D
I don't know exactly when we're going to do the surgery, but I'm assuming it'll be discussed after her test results come in later this week. Then there will probably be a bit of a wait depending on appointment availability.

I know what you mean- it's nice to watch our snakes enjoying their "home furnishings".

At least now you know what's going on- a little wait is no big deal, compared to the uncertainty you've had.

Her test results came back today. The cytology read as inflammation, nothing cancerous, but the bloodwork showed an elevated white blood cell count, so they think this might be associated with the inflamed scent gland and want to treat with injectable antibiotics first before we consider other treatments.

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Originally Posted by aurum

Her test results came back today. The cytology read as inflammation, nothing cancerous, but the bloodwork showed an elevated white blood cell count, so they think this might be associated with the inflamed scent gland and want to treat with injectable antibiotics first before we consider other treatments.

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Oh, your poor little snake! I'm not saying their advice doesn't make sense though- it does. I just feel bad for your little angel- hopefully this too shall pass soon, with her return to full HEALTH. :please:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Oh, your poor little snake! I'm not saying their advice doesn't make sense though- it does. I just feel bad for your little angel- hopefully this too shall pass soon, with her return to full HEALTH. :please:

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Yes, I also feel bad for her, it's been quite a long run figuring this out. Hopefully now that we have more insight things will progress faster since we're treating for the right cause. In a way though, this whole ordeal with her has been helpful putting reptile, and specifically snake, ownership into perspective for me. My species wishlist is definitely still extensive lol, and I do want more snakes in the future, but my realistic expectations for just how many I can handle, resource and time-wise, has scaled back quite a bit.

You didn't have such good luck with this one, in terms of "issues", but that's just it- we never know. Most of the time, most snakes are healthy for a long time. But we never know.

Wow! What a saga. Congrats on your vigilance and persistence with the vet to get to the etiology of this kingsnake’s condition. Curious as to the updates on this case. Has the vet recommended bumping up the optimal temperature in the enclosure to give the reptile immune system a boost? Also can you describe your setup for the reptile? Temps, warm side and cool side and any humidity levels you have? Are you working with a thermostat? :)

Also, consider more frequent water bowl changes because that will help eliminate a possible vector for contamination and illness to the reptile. Preferably daily but certainly every couple of days. Reptiles heal slowly. Partly due to being cold blooded and compromised immune systems.

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil...e53a8071a.jpegHere is one of Mr. Applegates bibles on the kingsnake and milksnake. Enjoy and keep us posted! :gj:

Hello everyone, it's been a while due life just taking me away from this forum. Sorry for the (long) wait, but essentially the medication was successful and we're no longer having problems with her irritated scent glands and passing blood.

However, unfortunately, the thing that brings me back here is that she's started biting her own tail recently, not unlike the snake in this thread (https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...iting-himself)). There's no weird stool or strangulation, but it's very concerning and stressful all the same. I don't know how long she might have been doing this for, but I found out because I woke up to a thrashing sound and found her biting her tail and acting as if she'd just gotten a mouse. I had no idea what to do, so I tried spraying her with water (like a cat I guess) but that wasn't very effective. Eventually she let go, but a few minutes later she did it again!

It looks kind of like a food response to me, she'll crawl over her tail, see it move, then get all excited and bite it, either tensing and thrashing afterwards or coiling and trying to constrict herself. Then after she lets go she is kind of quick and darty, very reactive to stimuli outside the tank, much like she acts when she knows there's a mouse coming. I don't know why there would be a sudden spike in food response out of no where though, I fed her two days ago, and generally she is on a schedule of one mouse the width of her body per week. I just have no idea what to when she does this, is there anything I can do to stop her? I tried picking her up too, and it didn't do much in terms of breaking the "food mode" behavior or uncoiling her.

I don't think the problem is overheating since my heat mat has a thermostat and the bottom of her enclosure is currently 83° right now. Her secondary heat source, a halogen light on a dimmer turned down as low as it can, gets about 88° on the basking platform, so I don't think that's the problem either. It's possible it could be worms/parasites in her GI tract, but she's already gone through tests and dewormers, so I don't know if it's realistic that she would've gotten them between then and now. The other option is internal pain, possibly from impaction, which bogertophis mentioned in the other thread I linked, and this seems most plausible to me. She's on a sand/soil substrate but there are some smaller wood chips on the surface that sometimes stick to the mouse when she eats. I never really thought this was a problem since I've seen other keepers' snakes ingest similar amounts from what just sticks to the prey item, and they don't seem to have any issues, but if it turns out this is the issue it would make the most sense to me.

The last thing I want to reiterate though is that, I know snakes don't exactly have clear pain responses, but her behavior seems most like she is looking for food. If I didn't know better, I would just think she was hungry and mistaking herself for food. The only weird thing is that it's happening over and over again, and she shouldn't have a reason to be this hungry. I hope this forum can help me out again, I just want her to be okay.