Small lumps?

[mark67123]

Got a minor concern about my red-sided - in May of last year I noticed a small lump on the side of his body about 12" down from the head (he's 36" long and 2.5 years old), with another a couple of inches below it.
The largest lump is about 5mm x 3mm and stands out about 1mm, the other lump is around 30% smaller.
Had him checked by a vet last October and he said they could be small cysts or maybe just fat, and said to keep an eye on him but it was probably nothing to worry about.
The lumps haven't noticeably increased in size and behaviour-wise he seems fine.

Has anyone else encoutered anything like this?

I initially thought that they may be small wounds that had become infected - he used to be in a fairly tall 18" high viv, and although he loves climbing, he's not very good at it and often fell, so I thought he'd maybe got a couple of small wounds that way. (He's now in a lower 12" high viv.)

However, in the AVS book "Garter and Water snakes" it says that vitamin E deficiency can causes fatty lumps under the skin, so could this be the cause? He's been on a rodent only diet all his life so far.

Any opinions most welcome!

Mark.

[adamanteus]

Hi Mark,

Yes, I've seen that frequently in the past, normally in wild-caught snakes though (not just Garters). I've heard many explanations; cysts, fatty deposits, mites, poor diet, too damp conditions, but I never really found a definitive answer. In snakes I've had for longer periods of time, which arrived with these lumps, I've found they can gradually reduce in size with each successive slough until they disappear completely. There isn't any discolouration to the ventral scales is there Mark?

James.

[chloe]

I had a florida blue male that developed a lump on his side when he was 8 years old, the scales on it went an orangy/rusty colour. I took him to the vet and they opperated and removed the lump and sent it off for biopsy and it turned out it was a tumor. He died a year later.

There are many reasons for lumps though. I don't want to make you worry.

[adamanteus]

Once upon a time, long ago I had a snake (a large adult Coluber constrictor) which was pretty much covered in tiny subcutaneous lumps. The animal was in a shocking state; grossly under-weight, infected with just about every endo and ecto-parasite you could dream of. It was in such poor condition you could barely identify it to genus, let alone species. I took it to the vets, but this was way back in the days before herpetoculture was socially acceptable, the guy was clueless and couldn't seem to understand why anyone would want to cure a snakes' ailments. He lanced one or two of the lumps but got nothing out.

I kept the snake for some years, about 5 or 6 if I remember right (obviously treating it for mites and worms), and it's general condition improved. It never showed any further signs of ill health in all the time I cared for it. But until the day it died it was an ugly, lumpy beast. God bless it! You must bear in mind though, this was years ago, before anyone (certainly in the UK) knew anything about reptile husbandry.

So really my tale is of no use to you Mark, except that the snakes' lumps never seemed to effect his well-being.

James.

[Thamnophis]

Often those small lumps are caused by some kind of bacterial infection.
Most of the time they appear when a snake is in bad condition, when the hygienic conditions are not optimal or a combination of those two.

Let a qualified vet open a lump and determine what organism causes them.

Often those lumps are filled with pus that has dried after the inflammation is cured.

[Cazador]

I think people are rightfully showing that lumps could arise from a lot of different causes, including tumors, scale rot, too much oil in their diet, too little Vitamin E, bacterial infections, and even misguided parasitic migrations. I read about one instance when a vet told the owner that the persistent lump on their snake was probably a tumor. When the vet went to cut it open, out popped a tapeworm from slightly under the skin. It's not that rare, but the point is that lumps can be caused from a lot of things.

[mark67123]

So it could really be any of a number of things

I'm keeping a close eye on it and it hasn't increased in size at all, but it hasn't shrunk either.
If there's any change in it, or any change in his behaviour, etc, I'll get him back to the vets and maybe get it (the larger lump) opened up.

Cheers everyone,

Mark.