my snake smells like woah!

a few questions...1) howdy! my hatchling smells bad. i can't describe the odor, it isn't one my nose is familiar with. okay...it's kinda like the smell you inhale when you unzip your gym bag that's been sitting in your laundry for six months. funk! he smells like funk! i'm guessing this stench could be a result of the little guy being stuck in a deli cup for 2+ days? or...he may have musked when i picked him up, who knows. i don't wanna give him a bath yet, he's still too shy and freaked out. it's kinda cute that he smells in a way, i still like him.

2) i noticed a pinkish mass near one of aelfric's hides and immediately assumed he regurgitated a mouse. i picked it up with a paper towel and looked at it under a brighter light. it smelled bad, but not like the mouse norbert upchucked on my hand. not that bad at all. then...crunched up the paper towel and threw it out only to decide about two minutes later that i wanted to re-examine it. when i opened the paper towel the pinkish mass was no longer intact, it split and in the core was matter that looked like normal droppings, so i'm guessing this was not a regurgitation? when norb threw up he was very inactive for a few days afterwards. he seemed disoriented and dizzy...his head would fall to the side, he couldn't hold it up, poor little guy...fric on the other hand was trying to escape all night last night. he didn't seem sick or anything. so...i know it's been asked before, but...do you think this stinky mass i found was a dropping or a regurged mouse?

3) norbert is finally shedding, but it doesn't look like it's gonna be a good one. oi. the skin toward his midsection is beginning to lift and fall off, but he hasn't begun to peel from the top down yet. he's been more active...but he's not really attempting to start the shed. do snakes have parts of their skin lift up/peel away before they start the rolling process? i'm not sure what i'm doing wrong.

1. I don't know what the musk smells like, so I can't advise you there...

2. Ummm... How long after you fed him did you see this? I'm guessing it's not a regurg as you would have smelled it before you saw it... honestly, I dont know this one either.

3. Humid hide.

The only way I can describe the smell of snakes is a "cold" smell. What you described though with the pink lump was probably in fact a regurge, just more digested than the one that norbert hacked up. I've never seen a snake defacate any other color but brown, white, and black. If it was droppings, then you would need to get that snake in to the vet fast. Pink (or red) droppings mean some kind of internal bleeding. I would bet alot that it was just a regurge though, or else your snake would look and act "sick." Just give him about 2 weeks to build his stomach acids up enough to digest again, and give him another small meal. As for norberts shed, just spray his entire cage down with a water bottle. A humid hide can work, but there is no guarantee that he will stay in the hide long enough for it to be efficient.

Spirit said:

Ummm... How long after you fed him did you see this? I'm guessing it's not a regurg as you would have smelled it before you saw it... honestly, I dont know this one either.

Click to expand...

Actually if you catch the regurg RIGHT after it happens it won't smell much worse than poop, though it will have a different smell.

Corns can keep a mouse down for well over a week only to regurg it later if conditions aren't correct. I know. It's happened to me in the past.

OK, this is a brand new...

snake. i never fed it. i picked it up at the philly narbc show. it's a little...uncool to think that i purchased a snake with a health problem, i emailed the breeder and explained what is going on. i will be calling the vet later on today to set up an appointment. i would assume that this snake was not fed shortly before the long trip from florida to pennsylvania. is it possible that some of the skin on the mouse did not fully digest and that that is what i am seeing? the pink portion of the dropping was definitely skin, which made me think it was a regurgitation, but because of the normal looking poo underneath the skin i assumed it was just a dropping that had some under digested parts to it. if it's a regurgitation i will simply wait a little longer to feed him and hope that he doesn't up chuck again.

Hmm..please let us know what happens with the little guy. Also, let us know what the breeder says. Hopefully it was just a foul smelling pooh. I also got a hatchling snow at NARBC this past weekend and I fed her a small pink today. Hopefully we won't run into any problems... :uhoh:

Good luck with everything!

thanks man...

i have a feeling that he'll be fine and that it probably isn't anything major, but i'm gonna get him checked out anyway. i probably will just bring both my snakes to the vet for my own reassurance and advice.

now...norbert started shedding, but...the skin is falling off in some areas including around the eyecaps. i don't know how he is gonna roll of his skin now that the skin is gone from the starting point of a good shed. i can see wrinkles down his body where the skin has lifted up, but it's just staying there. this is his second bad shed and i'm gonna have to do something about the methods of heating his viv. i have a day glow light that i only leave on during the day. at night i just let the heating pad provide the right temperatures...is red heat alright? as for getting the skin off, i'm gonna soak him and let him slither through a paper towel. if that doesn't work i'll be going to the vet a few days earlier than intended. oi!

-discouraged

Thats what I did with my last little guy with a bad shed. I soaked the paper towel and kinda wrapped it around him for a minute. Then a got another soaked paper towel and I let him sqiurm thru it with just a tiny bit of pressure to capture the loose skin. It worked like a charm!@@

norbert03 said:

i would assume that this snake was not fed shortly before the long trip from florida to pennsylvania.

Click to expand...

I don't know about the breeder that you bought it from, but one of the breeders I know will bring live pinkies with him and feed his snakes right when he sets up his table (before people come into the show), that means that if this breeder did the same thing, that would account for the regurg.


I've talked to one person that said he had seen a snake pass a partially digested mouse (through it's vent). I hadn't known until then that this was possible. So, if you saw feces with it, it's probably just a poorly digested meal, but I personally would treat it as a regurg anyway just to be safe.

yea...even though...

i doubt it was a regurgitation i'm gonna wait until saturday now to feed the little tyke. thanks for the guidance.

norbert shed with a little help from me! it was a lot easier than i thought it would be, but it did take a half hour. he was so relaxed the whole time, too. i thought he would try tag me as a result of his crankiness. he did almost go into the toilet though...uhhh...i won't explain that one, but i assure you i was not using the toilet at the time, i just happened to be helping him out in the bathroom. i soaked him for about twenty minutes then used the paper towel trick. wet first then dry. the wet towel didn't work so well, but the dry worked like a charm. when i put him back he opened his mouth real wide, probably just a little yawn after all that exercise, but i thought he was gonna up chuck. he only opened up once and then just sorta hung out for a minute and then had some water and started trying to escape again

:toiletgra