Bruminating Snake Smells Funny... help?

[HazAnga]

hope everything goes well. no one likes to loose their pets

[Mommy2many]

Fingers crossed and hoping he'll be OK!

[gregmonsta]

Fingers crossed for you.

[Ryachanira]

So went to the vet yesterday - apparently it was musk, which I felt a little silly about once she said that is what it was. It was just not what I thought of at first since he has never done that before and there was no liquid.. I did not know they could musk without liquid also! So yea, felt a bit silly, but very glad to hear that was the smell! I think that maybe he was musking because I hadn't held him for like a week, and he was unsure of me? Either way, he is not doing it anymore now that I am handling him a lot more again.

However, she didn't really like the idea of bruminating him with the head/eye wounds still in the process of healing. She said she has seen some bad outcomes from bruminating sick or injured snakes and thought he would do better to stay inside and stay warm. Since he is still not eating, this means tube feeding! I now have some sort of carnivore food mush that I push into a cat catheter tube and shove down his throat to feed him once a day for a week... hopefully he will start eating again soon!

So overall, Silv is doing well enough and I am actually pretty glad to have him back inside - I missed him!

Thanks for all of your help and concern for my baby. She said he was probably 4-5 months, so he is a baby indeed!

[guidofatherof5]

Good news. Glad for that report.
Keep us posted. We're all pulling for Silv.

[kibakiba]

Runt does that, musking without liquid coming out. I don't hold her often though, I've only held her twice this week because she was shedding and I wanted to check on her since she went opaque and went back to clear for a pretty long time, and today since she shed last night and she was missing an eyecap on her shed so I used a washcloth to get it off. Both times she didn't appreciate the help

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Often when snakes musk, they defecate at the same time... making it appear that musk is liquidy, but actually, it's more like a thick nasty paste (I have unfortunately had to squeeze it out of the musk gland directly before) There is only a small amount in there, but they only need a tiny dab to make it stink to high heaven! When snakes musk they often rub it on themselves. This is so that they smell/taste awful and nothing will want to eat them!

Also... different types of snakes have really different smelling musks! Garters smell like... garter musk..... keelback and natrix musk smells identical to skunk... my ornate flying tree snake's musk actually is not unpleasant at all! And my king rat snakes for some reason... their cages always smell like anise... not sure why!

[guidofatherof5]

You are right about the awful taste.
Had it tailwhiped in my mouth a couple times. It was radix musk. Nasty stuff.
Is it Spring yet. I miss herping. I hate Winter.
The only good thing that comes from Winter is the Spring radix blossoms

[Mommy2many]

You've got a long way to go! It as just begun, my friend. Hunker down and snuggle with the 300+ radixes you have in there. Spring will come in March. Till then...

Sorry, all doom & gloom, got carried away there