Hello everyone,

I recently noticed that my garter snake has a very large mass of what seems to be dead skin (about the size of a quarter) a few inches above her vent. I am not sure how long it has been there as she likes to hide away during the winter months and doesn't come out often other than or feeding. She is active still and very responsive but the tail looks gruesome and I fear that this may be a life threatening issue. Everything below the bump appears to look discolored. My working theory is that it could be due to a possible stuck shed above the vent that then become a problem whens he tried to defecate. Due to the weather I will not be able to get her to a vet until tomorrow at the earliest. Has anyone heard of something like this? and is there anything I can do in the mean time?