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T O P I C R E V I E W
speedy231278
Posted - 18/10/2013 : 13:53:58 I might just be being paranoid, but I am a touch concerned about my latest addition. At Kempton, I picked up a male lesser hatchling. I don't know quite how old he is, but I suspect he was barely three months old at the time, as he was/is smaller than my previous Kempton purchase a couple of years ago that was almost exactly three months. I know size doesn't mean a great deal, but I was stupid enough to buy from a seller who didn't supply any feeding record or anything like that. Yes, I know, bad form. I shall never do that again.
Anyway, he was 52 grams when I got him two months ago. Since then he's eaten a number of rat pups, with one or two refusals early on. The weekend before last, he shed, and I had to give him a few soaks to get rid of some of it. When I was doing that, I noticed that when held up against a decent source of light, the last inch or so of him before his vent appears to be translucent, which is something I don't recall seeing on my other hatchling. He doesn't appear to be swollen, or in any discomfort, but I want to be sure there's nothing actually wrong. Having a lot of fairly pale patches on his skin and a pale belly, it might just be that being so small the skin at this point lets more light through. It comes through looking amber in colour, so not knowing snake anatomy that well I'm wondering if it's something as simple as him holding on to a huge wee? Or, is there some sinister fluid retention/buildup going on?
There's been plenty of evidence of him weeing to clean up in the form of the usual white pellets, however I don't recall much if any signs of significant liquid discharge. Apart from one slight smear, he hasn't produced else in the way of more solid presents as yet, although only having eaten maybe half a dozen rat pups so far I doubt there's much left over to give back!
One thing I've noticed about him is that it seems quite a common reaction for his vent to open if you pick him up. Occasionally this is followed by a small amount of fluid, but not always. I don't seem to recall my other hatchling doing that either, although in both cases, the first thing they did after the missus picked them up for the first time was to wee on her... lol I'm a bit out of my depth here, and I'm considering taking him to the local shop for them to have a look at him just in case. Does anyone else think it warrants looking into, or am I just being silly and some time shortly about to find a huge present waiting to be cleared up? I have a couple of rubbish pics on my phone, that I'll try and work out how to add....
2 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
coxcats
Posted - 27/10/2013 : 18:43:38 My Boris floods the place when he goes! He does massive wees!
Lotabob
Posted - 19/10/2013 : 01:26:45 You hold anything up to a decent amount of light and you'll see through them. As far as I remember it's the kidneys that are located before the tail, you've probably just put light through those. It wouldn't go through all the body as the food being digested is dense. As are a lot of the organs higher up.
They do hold their poops and wee for a really long time, my Royal only goes to the toilet about every 4 months and in 3 years has only wee'd in a liquid form once to my knowledge.
Not 100% sure about the vent opening. Possibly musking in defense. It's unusual for a Royal to do this and if it is this it should grow out of it.
I don't think you've anything to worry about but if you want to get him checked over it's not a bad idea as he is new and someone with the snake in their hands will know far better than a forum if there is anything wrong.
(To add photos see the photobucket stickie in the photos area of the forum)
