bowel obstruction?

We have two corns who share a tank. I noticed that the younger (3 months) corn has developed a large 1 inch (length)lump at the base of her tail. It is dark in color. She is getting ready to shed but also looks like she may be a little dehydrated. Is it possible that she has a bowel obstruction? Her behavior seems normal and she ate a small pinkie today and I saw her drinking water. We're fairly new snake owners (2 years) and have had very few concerns until now.

My Youngest corn (adult but youngest) gets constipated from time to time, this is a possibility, I put them in the bath (make sure the water isnt hot, just a little warm) i fill it about 10 inches and leave him in there for about 5 mins, ( i always stay with him so he doesnt get anywhere he shouldnt !)
This works well and sometimes (although nasty) he will actually go in the bath, if not a little while after.

another tip I got from the shop i brought him from was to dip the back end of the mouse in some olive oil - this apparently eases the pressure when trying to pass no 2's !! (although i havent had to try this one as yet as the bath works quite well)

I hope this helps..

The first thing you need to do is separate them! This is especially important because there is such a big difference in their size. I donated a couple of corns to a teacher a few months ago. One of them was a yearling and the other was a hatchling. The teacher thought she had 2 separate tanks, but one ended up being broken. she put both snakes together that night. She didn't think it would hurt them to be together for 1 night. The next day, she bought another setup, went to separate them, and only found one very fat yearling. He had eaten the hatchling.

In addition to the risk of cannibalization, there are many other risks including disease transmission, illness due to stress, feeding problems due to stress, egg binding at too early of an age if you happen to have a male and female, and several others.

Now to address your question...If the little one seems dehydrated, then you should soak it for about 10-15 minutes in lukewarm water (The water should not feel warm to you. It should only be around 80-85 degrees). This may stimulate the snake to have a bowel movement. Hopefully it will completely rehydrate it, too.

Also, sometimes they have problems defecating during the shedding process. Many of mine will have a BIG bowel movement as their old skin comes off of the vent area.

Please follow what Terri said. You'll just have problems if you don't.
Just to add, do you feed outside of your Viv or inside? Because the little guy could of eatten some substrate.

bowel obstructed corn

We feed outside of the tank. Also, I fed her yesterday and I noticed this morning that it regurged. She seems awfully bloated near the vent and she seems very docile today compared to her usual energy level. Also, she is very cloudy and getting closer to the shed.
I'm going to try the soak and see what happens. Also, how often should I be feeding these snakes. The pet store we got them from said about every 10 days which is the schedule we've been sticking to. The 2 year old looks very healthy and is about 2 feet long now but again, the hatchling doesn't seem to be doing nearly as well. Thanks for any input.

Seven to ten days is fine for an adult but the hatchling should be fed every four or five days. Personally I feed my babies every five days and the adult every seven.