My first garter was a lovely red sided girl that also had an issue with a crusty vent. At the time I posted photos on KS.com and no one really knew what it was but someone said that they had had a girl with the same thing and that she had been dehydrated and died. I knew that my snake had always had water so that wasn't the issue. My girl did turn out to have an internal abscess not too far from the vent and she ultimately passed from it. It took a while for the abscess to make itself known and a fair amount of time until she actually looked and acted ill. I think Ginger was probably my favorite snake!

It makes sense to me that this would be a sign of renal failure. Infections can cause the kidney's to fail I am just surprised at how long snakes can hang on once they are ill.


I hope your girl is not having kidney or other problems and will live a long life at the Ranch!