Lumps and Bumps - pics included

[bella]

so last week when i took out my cornsnake i noticed she had several 'bumps' along the last third of her body. two above her vent and few down each side. they felt pretty firm and not squishy. she has been eating normally (a mouse every 7-14 days) drinking and pooing normally. i ended up taking her to the vet today to be on the safe side. im not sure how often this vet sees reptiles but she is one of a few in our city even qualified to do so. according to her the lumps by the vent were little fat pads, and seemed to think that the 'lumps' were also just small fat deposits since she couldn't feel anything abnormal in her abdomen and they seemed to be between the muscle and skin. she said she would be more worried if the lumps were only down one side of the body which would lean more towards tumors or something. she also said to keep an eye on her and if they started getting larger to come back and get some x-rays done.
i was just wanted to post this and see if this seems like pretty sound advice and maybe some of you guys have seen this before and have any opinons on it. maybe she is overweight? i was just worried because i had read all sorts of issues that could cause this...such as fact deposits, carrying eggs, tumors, etc.
Bella will be 3 in July and is a creamsicle corn snake, she weighs in at about 550g. i have included some pics to try and show what i am talking about.

[GothPixel]

That last pic looks like "hips" on a snake, which is a fatty deposit, and not much to worry about. The ones higher up, I have no idea.

[Sweetseraph]

It doesn't look like eggs because that one lumpy area in the first picture (on the right hand side) is too far up her body. With eggs, the bottom third of her would be uniformly fatter than the top 2/3. The bottom picture looks like hips, as mentioned, which is normally seen on overweight snakes. The strange part is that she doesn't look really overweight in the picture. I don't know if fat deposits would normally look like bumps all over like that. Hopefully someone else has some insight.

[Asbit]

I would also say that the bottom pic looks like "hips", an indication of an overweight snake. The snake itself as a whole does not look largely overweight, although the last third of the body does to look a bit "thick".

I have heard of reptile getting fatty deposits but have no actual experience with overweight snakes. What I can tell you is that if you would like to ensure that she does not continue to gain and possible become more overweight(which can shorten her lifespan and cause health complications, just like with humans) I would slow her feeds down.

My biggest girl is a Snow Motley Corn who is just shy of 4 yrs old and weighs 477g and she is fed every 14 - 21 days(for the last 6 months), as well she is taken out at least twice a week(sometimes 4-5 times/wk) for 15-30 min of exercise to ensure she remains muscular and does not get overweight. Even with this time frame she is still gaining weight(she has put on 63g), but like I have said she is exercised often, so some of that is probably muscle.

I would also ask what you are feeding your snake, an adult corn or creamsicle does not need more than one regular sized adult mouse per feeding. There is no need for Jumbos, unless you are prepping a female for breeding or after laying, the same goes for feeding your snake rats (they have a much higher fat content).

Ways you can help your snake to loose weight or at least tone up, other than reduce the feeds are:
-swims in the tub (make sure the water is no warmer than 85 degrees and no cooler than 75-80, watch for signs of stress-some snakes do not like to be in the water and will "flail around" like maniacs, others like my big girl enjoy it and will calmly swim around and then when she is done she uses the taps to climb out)
-stair climbing
-tree climbing(just be sure to make sure she does not go higher than you can get her down from)
-daily supervised slithers in the house(better if you can get her to climb something)

Also know that taking weight off of a snake, or reducing the "hips" takes a very long time, I have read often a year and sometimes the fat deposits just never leave but the overall weight and tone of the snake improves slowly.

Finally as your vet said, if your snakes behavior changes:
-stops eating
-starts regurging
-stops drinking
-starts to become lethargic
-poops change and become abnormal
OR
-the lumps continue to get larger than you definitely want to go back in and see the vet again.

Hopefully it is just a weight issue and hopefully I was able to be of some help.

[bitsy]

I had a female who developed fat lumps - one of my first trio. She was fed at exactly the same rate as her clutchmate who had no problems at all and was a normal shape and size. The vet told me that this was an inherited metabolic disorder which causes some Corns to process food incorrectly and lay down abnormally large deposits of fat. In the relatively early days of UK Corn breeding, this was apparently quite an issue in our captive-bred bloodlines. Eventually, the lumpy female ended up at least twice the size of her sister, despite me taking her feeding right down. She died aged six and when the vet investigated, her internal organs were also choked with fat deposits.

Long story short - there may be nothing you can do about it and it might not be linked to excess feeding. However, mine was probably an extreme version and "lumpy" females can live normal lives. Just make sure she isn't getting too much food (which will make the problem worse) and that she has the opportunity to move around and exercise. My adult females get one adult mouse every two weeks - one every three weeks in winter, as long as they've recovered from egg laying.

[bella]

thanks for all the replies. since the vet hasn't called back ( she was going to do some reading and call back if she thought it could be anything other than fat deposits) i think i am going to try and cut back her feedings to at least 2 weeks and get her out the cage and doing excerises a couple times a week. hopefully i can slow or prevent more deposits in the future if nothing can be done about the current ones.

[SnakeLuv]

That's why the bumps on Frost looked like before it turned into my abscess nightmare. I hope this isn't the case for your guy!

[eileen7400]

Hi I fed my cornsnake this morning and noticed that is looked quite bumpy and wondered if anyone has any idea what could be wrong. I don't know if the photo will show up as am not sure what I am doing LOL

https://fbcdn-sphotos-h-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xpf1/v/t35.0-12/11015723_10204691316416830_1994274616_o.jpg?oh=fdb a07735abf55a3d6e2052c0917d2e5&oe=54F78823&__gda__=1425492978_42b302bfa36ecc4677ce062e56af8fe 1

[eileen7400]

Sorry the pic has turned out so huge.