Food lumps, or hernia?

[kawasakirider]

Hey everyone, last night I gave two of the jungles a bath because they had some poo on them. I noticed that the female had oddly shaped bulges in her stomach. She has recently had her food size upped, but I can't imagine it could be a problem, because she ate a fuzzy rat the exact same size last week without an issue.

I wanted to see if the lumps bothered her, so I very lightly touched them a few times. She didn't try to get away or anything, so I don't think it's causing her pain.

Here are some pictures (the red tinge is from the heat lamp)

The lumps seem to be less pronounced depending on her position, so I'm hoping it is just undigested food. Here is what she has been eating:

Does this seem to be too big for her? She has no issues getting it down, and as I said, last week she ate one exactly the same size without a drama.

Can snakes get hernias? Any help is appreciated.

 

[Asharee133]

looks like rat? just keep an eye on it and good luck with the after food poop...smelly :3

 

[kawasakirider]

Haha, this one is a real stinker... She does it everywhere -.- Thanks

 

[Asharee133]

heh. wait till they get big. FUN TIMES!

 

[Torah]

yah look like a rat to me too ....

 

[Bluetongue1]

It looks to me like you are over feeding her. The ideal food item should be about the same maximum diameter as the maximum diameter of the snake. Or between 5 and 20% of the mass of the snake. Or, once swallowed and in the stomach (about one third the way along), the food item should create a perceptible but only slight bulge. Pythons are capable of swallowing much larger items but this doesn’t mean that’s what they should be given in captivity, especially on a regular basis. Young pythons can be killed by over-feeding at one meal whereas the equivalent meal in an adult would not be an issue.

A good rule of thumb is feeding once a week for the first twelve months and stretching that out to once a fortnight after that. You can feed more and more often (so called power feeding) but this may well put the health of your animal at risk. So the figures I have quoted are conservative in that they will not produce obesity related health issues but do allow good growth and for maximum size to be ultimately achieved. Your choice,

Keep the heat up to assist digestion, including at night. Never cool a snake you are still feeding. Ensure it gets plenty of exercise, either self induced or by taking it out of the cage to encourage it to move around. This will assist the passage of material through the gut. The next two days should see a significant change in the size and location of the bulge. If that doesn’t happen (unlikely) I’d seek veterinary intervention.

Good luck.

Blue

PS: Others will no doubt advise you that can push the feeding much more than I have suggested. However, to my mind it should not be about how quickly you push your snake to adult size because you want to breed it or whatever. It should be about ensuring you raise a healthy snake and enjoying that journey along the way.

 

[jacks-pythons]

food looks to big to me too. drop down from fuzzie rats to pinkie. for a hatcho that size its plenty. after a full packet then upgrade if appropriate

 

[Darkhorse]

Yeah the food size does look too big... it would take ages for it to eat and digest it.

 

[kawasakirider]

Thanks for the replies. It takes about 4 days for the lump to be fully gone, about 3 for it to be decreased noticably.

 

[Bluetongue1]

How many people here have telekenetic powers? Raise my hand.

PMSL You just made my day!!

Thanks,
Blue

 

[kawasakirider]

PMSL You just made my day!!

Thanks,
Blue

I might be missing something, but that post, albeit funny, isn't in this thread?

It looks to me like you are over feeding her. The ideal food item should be about the same maximum diameter as the maximum diameter of the snake. Or between 5 and 20% of the mass of the snake. Or, once swallowed and in the stomach (about one third the way along), the food item should create a perceptible but only slight bulge. Pythons are capable of swallowing much larger items but this doesn’t mean that’s what they should be given in captivity, especially on a regular basis. Young pythons can be killed by over-feeding at one meal whereas the equivalent meal in an adult would not be an issue.

A good rule of thumb is feeding once a week for the first twelve months and stretching that out to once a fortnight after that. You can feed more and more often (so called power feeding) but this may well put the health of your animal at risk. So the figures I have quoted are conservative in that they will not produce obesity related health issues but do allow good growth and for maximum size to be ultimately achieved. Your choice,

Keep the heat up to assist digestion, including at night. Never cool a snake you are still feeding. Ensure it gets plenty of exercise, either self induced or by taking it out of the cage to encourage it to move around. This will assist the passage of material through the gut. The next two days should see a significant change in the size and location of the bulge. If that doesn’t happen (unlikely) I’d seek veterinary intervention.

Good luck.

Blue

PS: Others will no doubt advise you that can push the feeding much more than I have suggested. However, to my mind it should not be about how quickly you push your snake to adult size because you want to breed it or whatever. It should be about ensuring you raise a healthy snake and enjoying that journey along the way.

Thanks for the detailed reply, I appreciate it. I've been told that I should be feeding food items 1.5 times the size of the snake. The first time I fed her one this size, she took a while, but the second time she got it down quick. She's eaten 3 so far without an issue, but if it's going to be extremely detrimental to her, I'll go back to pinkies. Even with pinkies, I was feeding two at a time, which would be the equivalent to one of these?

 

[redlittlejim]

yes but it wont be as fat. it could digest two thinner pinkies faster than one bigger food item

 

[Australis]

I might be missing something, but that post, albeit funny, isn't in this thread?

Yeah it is.

 

[kawasakirider]

Yeah it is.

The signature -.-

 

[notechistiger]

How long has it been since you've fed her? If it had only been a few days since feeding her, then obviously it's a food item (although that first picture looks a bit odd xD). Unlike others in this thread, I give my snakes food items that size, however I leave them alone for a little and space out their feeding a bit more (so instead of feeding a week later, I found feed again after two weeks instead). I also wouldn't be bothering my snakes at all a few days after feeding such a large item (photos and baths a strict no-go! =D).

 

[kawasakirider]

How long has it been since you've fed her? If it had only been a few days since feeding her, then obviously it's a food item (although that first picture looks a bit odd xD). Unlike others in this thread, I give my snakes food items that size, however I leave them alone for a little and space out their feeding a bit more (so instead of feeding a week later, I found feed again after two weeks instead). I also wouldn't be bothering my snakes at all a few days after feeding such a large item (photos and baths a strict no-go! =D).

I fed her the same size again last night.

The pic was taken 3 days after the feed, she was fed on wednesday night and the pic was taken during the day on Sunday. So there was over 12 hours before it was 4 days. The lump was gone the next day.

I don't handle them unless the lump is gone, but she was covered in crap, so I just gave her a bath.

Thanks for the reply.

 

[wokka]

It looks to me like you are over feeding her. The ideal food item should be about the same maximum diameter as the maximum diameter of the snake. Or between 5 and 20% of the mass of the snake. Or, once swallowed and in the stomach (about one third the way along), the food item should create a perceptible but only slight bulge. Pythons are capable of swallowing much larger items but this doesn’t mean that’s what they should be given in captivity, especially on a regular basis. Young pythons can be killed by over-feeding at one meal whereas the equivalent meal in an adult would not be an issue.

A good rule of thumb is feeding once a week for the first twelve months and stretching that out to once a fortnight after that. You can feed more and more often (so called power feeding) but this may well put the health of your animal at risk. So the figures I have quoted are conservative in that they will not produce obesity related health issues but do allow good growth and for maximum size to be ultimately achieved. Your choice,

Keep the heat up to assist digestion, including at night. Never cool a snake you are still feeding. Ensure it gets plenty of exercise, either self induced or by taking it out of the cage to encourage it to move around. This will assist the passage of material through the gut. The next two days should see a significant change in the size and location of the bulge. If that doesn’t happen (unlikely) I’d seek veterinary intervention.

Good luck.

Blue

PS: Others will no doubt advise you that can push the feeding much more than I have suggested. However, to my mind it should not be about how quickly you push your snake to adult size because you want to breed it or whatever. It should be about ensuring you raise a healthy snake and enjoying that journey along the way.

A lot of posters publish information on the net which if followed can cause problems, so be wary of opinions as opposed to facts.

The University of Western Sydney has done feeding trials on pythons. At one end of the scale pythons were fed minimal amounts of feed ; the other group was fed to refusal which resulted in consumption of in excess of 30% of bodyweight each week.

There was no measurable difference between feeding groups except that the refusal group grew faster and reached maturity quicker than those on a restricted diet.

There is a point at which restricting feed will cause death. I suggest (opinion not fact) that 5% of bodyweight each week would be at or below that point.

Those interested may wish to seek out the facts from the University study!

 

[kawasakirider]

I'm interested to read the results of the trial, because I've spoken to a zoologist and a vet. They both told me if they're eating two pinkies comfortably, I should up the food size. Unless I to back to mice, this is the next size up?

 

[wokka]

I'm interested to read the results of the trial, because I've spoken to a zoologist and a vet. They both told me if they're eating two pinkies comfortably, I should up the food size. Unless I to back to mice, this is the next size up?

That size food item looked fine to me. It is true that two pinkies will digest quicker than a single food item equalling the combined weight. We feed hundreds of hatchlings and have never had one choke on oversized food. By upsizing your food item you are probably getting a better nutritional value particularly when hair, bone and more developed internals are included.
Given that a lot of inexperienced keepers use this site for information my post was directed to them. Don't believe everything you read!

 

[kawasakirider]

Thanks mate, she has eaten 3 of your fuzzies without a drama, so I'll continue to feed her those. She takes about one day longer to digest these than two pinkie's, and with these, both her and the male seem very satisfied. The males hunger is almost insatiable, come last Tuesday he was hunting around in a frenzy, it was awesome to watch

I'm surprised to know that keratin has nutritional value for snakes