Fatty deposit?

[Lolo]

I did some searching on the forums, and saw a few threads regarding this issue... but nothing really definitive, so thought I'd start another one. It seems my female amel (Coraline) has a small fatty deposit by her vent, which is apparently not unusual for some females - especially older ones. I got this girl off craigslist and don't know her history, since her former owners got her from somebody else, etc etc.

Here's a picture, and I was hoping somebody could say if it looks troublesome. Also, does this mean she's older... and/or should I refrain from breeding her? She seems otherwise fine, eats GREAT, poops & pees normally, and is fairly active. Any thoughts?

Sorry, pictures aren't great... I'll get more when I can, since she's digesting a meal right now.

 

[Lolo]

P.S. It's definitely not a poop/urate, since she has eliminated numerous times since I noticed the lump... and I also doubt it's a slug (egg), since it's rather small and squishy.

 

[Asbit]

Lolo that looks to me like what is called "hips". Hips is an indicator of being overweight, just like in a human. You will notice by the second pic that she is the same size right until just before the vent and then it dramatically drops off, same as a human with big hips.

She should have a stretched out feeding schedule and an exercise regiem to try and loose a bit of weight. Overweight snakes can have a shortened life span as it is hard on their internal organs(heart) just like us.

As well with her being a female, fatty females vs muscular females have a higher chance of becoming egg bound.

Ways to exercise her are get her out and moving around the house frequently, giver things in your house to climb on, if you have banisters get her to slither on them she will have to use muscles not to fall off(supervise so she does not fall off), stairs put her on them and encourage her to go up and down them, and some corn snakes do not mind water so you could give her swim time(make sure the water is no warmer than 85 and if she immediately wants out, then she does not like it and it is stressful for her so you probably do not want to use that one).

If you go here and look at this progression thread you will see how I helped to tone up one of my future female breeders, although I was also putting weight on her as she was not overweight just flabby.
http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=93431

Hope this helps.

 

[Lolo]

LOL... Only I would get a snake who needs to go on a diet. I currently feed her one mouse weekly, so should I stretch that to every 10 days?

 

[Suzy]

Asbit has some great advice. You could also do the Corn Snake Treadmill (Look at Nanci's posts and videos in that thread), which could help her out as well.

I would say to go with every 10-14 days instead of 7 days. It looks like you've got her on the right track now.

 

[Nanci]

I'm currently feeding my bigger females on a 14 day schedule. They think they are starving...I've heard that stair-climbing is good exercise. Swimming, too.

 

[Asbit]

I was also going to say I would go with 14 days for feeding as it is hard to get excess weight off of corn snakes. When the weather is nice enough, you can let her climb in trees just make sure she does not get to far away from you that you can not get her back down.

 

[vanderkm]

This condition is distinct from generalized increased body fat and may not respond well to increased exercise and a reduced feeding plan - just be aware that you may be able to drop the female's body weight with cutting back on food, but these 'hips' may persist. In some instances it has been associated with abnormal scute development - so there may be a heritable basis for the problem. While your belly photo is slightly out of focus, it does appear that the belly scutes are irregular rather than being straight across - especially as you approach the tail. This abnormal scute development may be associated with increased tendency to hip fat deposits.

 

[Asbit]

Wow, Mary you are so observant and I have just learned something new.

 

[vanderkm]

Just a photo illustrating some of the abnormal scute formations in a female affected with fatty hips. The pink circle is around relatively normal area and the blue circles show weird shapes.

Not all females with fatty hips will have these abnormal scutes and not all snakes with abnormal scutes will develop fatty hips, but the abnormal scute shape may be an indication that the underlying rib development is not normal and this may predipsose to fat deposits.

 

[Asbit]

Thank you for that very nice and detailed picture, it is very helpful in understanding what you are explaining.

 

[Asbit]

Now just for curiosity's sake I am going to go and look at the scutes on all my females!

 

[Lolo]

Thanks all for the advice... good stuff! I'll try to get some better pics tonight, and will start her on a "diet" as recommended above. Do they have a Jenny Craig plan for snakes?

 

[Lolo]

Here are some better photos... she doesn't like to sit still for long, LOL.

And based on these shots, does she look generally fat to you??

 

[Susan]

How old is she? It might be due to the angle, but IMO, her head is slightly out of proportion to her body size which is an indication of a young snake that hasn't fully matured or has been powerfed to some degree. If she was gravid, I would say her looks are normal, but since she's not, she does look a little overweight.

 

[Lolo]

I don't know her age, since she was a rescue (from somebody who got her second-hand)... maybe 2-3 years old, I'd guess? I'm also not sure what they were feeding her, but the previous owner said "one mouse a week" - who knows how big of a mouse, though.