What is this?

[Mary-Beth]

I just noticed my hypo blood was having a hard time pooping. Some yellow pus-like stuff came out and then this hard thing came out with some blood on it.

She's fed in an empty tub and whatever this thing is is to hard to be aspen. Could the rat fuzzy have had a bone that was to big or hard for her to digest? Maybe the rat ate whatever this is and she got it that way?

I'll take some better pictures of it when it's light tomorrow. I tried it with the flash and you couldn't even tell there was anything in the spoon.

Thanks for looking.

*edit - There are two tiny things that look like ribs too. They were stuck to the big thing, but they look two small to be rat fuzzy ribs. :shrugs:

[Mary-Beth]

Front and back.

[Drizzt80]

I don't know what it is, but my first impression looking at it was a rat tooth . . . not sure it would be that developed in a fuzzy though, would it?

D80

[Taceas]

The big thing looks like a part of a lower jaw of a young rat. In most small mammal skulls I've found, the mandible has a cleft and will separate in half at the chin-area. I've seen a few teeth pass through mine as well, and I guess teeth are just hard to digest.

As for the smaller ones, they look like lower rib bones to me. I'm not sure what else they could be, really. Maybe the small bones in the forearm area perhaps.

Maybe someone with actual veterinary knowledge will poke in. =P

Hopefully it didn't hurt anything in its passage. Not quite sure what to make of the "yellow pus-like stuff".

Although you might want to re-think how ya typed that there. I knew what you meant as I read through, but re-writing it myself it didn't "feel right" saying it. ;)

[SnakeAround]

i think it's a nail of some kind of animal!

[Mary-Beth]

OMG! Thanks for pointing that out Misty.
:dunce: Please excuse me folks, it was past my bed time and I was pretty upset.

Thanks for the suggestions everyone. I'm going to dissect a rat fuzzy and try to see if the jaw of such a small rodent could be that big.

[colinmcc]

i think it's a nail of some kind of animal!

Lower jaw does sound reasonable but I was also thinking it looks like a cat claw or something.

If Mr Ratty met Mr Catty before he became a feeder? You never know .....

[Mary-Beth]

It's a jaw bone.
I checked out the ribs too, but they don't quite seem to match the little bones in the photos above. It's hard to tell from the picture, but the rib I took out is half bone and half cartilage. The bone portion IS the same size as the other bones, but it's not quite the right shape and the ends look different. I could very well be wrong though.

I need some advice. The snake had a really hard time passing the jaw bone and there was blood on it. Should I start, uh, de-jawing her rats? :shrugs:

[Mary-Beth]

Thought a side by side might be helpful.

[cornsnakekid92]

I still think the "RIBS" could be a arm bone, li8ke a forearm or somthing.

[Mary-Beth]

Nope not arm bones either.
I've had enough fun with OCD today though. I'm choping up and throwing the rat away or I'll just keep cutting it apart till I find those tiny bones that aren't very important anyway. lol

There appears to be a bone spur on one of these arm bones. I don't know much about anatomy though so maybe it's supposed to be there.

[cornsnakekid92]

well now i am just waiting for a Peta member to come on here and start chewing you out for cutting up an animal and then just throwing it away! :grin01:

[Mary-Beth]

:rofl: :rofl:
For research purposes only!

[Gintha]

I wouldn't worry about "de-jawing" her prey, if this is the first time this has happened. Treasure once passed a complete little skull, but only the once. As for the blood and yellow "pus-like" substance, I would keep my eye on her and watch for any signs of infection, as bones have a tendency to damage the delicate tissues in the intestines (having pulled multiple bones out of the back ends and bellies of multiple animals, I know how bad the damage can be ~.~) Chances are the yellow substance is a normal mucus that is produced by glands near the rectum and anus to facilitate in passing of feces, this is found in all creatures that pass solid feces, and is generally a yellow or light orange coloured, sometimes sticky, mucus. I've never noticed a smell to it when I have had it on me from giving enemas, but in the presence of the fecal matter it would of course take on the scent of said matter. I agree that those bones look wrong for rat ribs. Are they pliable at all? Or brittle? If they are pliable they could be something that the rat had eaten before it became snake-supper. Brittle would suggest bone, to me anyhow, but I cannot think of which bone they may be. Other than the ribs, the only tiny bones like that are located in the lower part of the hind legs (the fibula) these can be VERY tiny and slender, but again would be brittle at this point.