Crusty Vent

[guidofatherof5]

For the last month one of my adult female radixes has had this reoccurring problem with a crusty vent. Last night when I checked on her I was shocked to see what appeared to be an abscess on her tail. Pushing on it I thought I would lose her from something like this. I felt the best way to help would be to open the area up and get some sulfadiazine on it.
To my surprise it wasn't an abscess but a retained shed problem. She had retained an entire shed and when she defecates some of the feces has gotten trapped under he old tail shed and caused an irritation(something like diaper rash).
She spent about an hour in a shed box but it didn't do any good so it was to the bathroom sink for a manual shed. After the shed was complete she went into a container with a cloth for substrate. I'll keep her in this for a few days and watch for improvement.
This photo is from last night. The white stuff isn't infection but sulfadiazine. This morning much of the redness is gone and it looks better. I'm guessing she'll make a full recovery. She is one of my rescued females from last year. She has taken to Ranch life very well and is a joy to interact with.

[gregmonsta]

Ouch, it does look inflamed. I'm sure she'll recover well though

[Quibble]

Nice save, Steve!

[ConcinusMan]

eeeww. doesn't look all that great.

[Stefan-A]

I had that happen to my male parietalis a few years ago. Thought it was a bad shed at first, but the vent kept getting crusty no matter how hard I tried to keep it clean. Anyway, long story short, it seems that it was a sign of dehydration caused by kidney failure and was ultimately fatal.

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks for the heads-up.
Since I did find a retained shed and the fact it's looking much better today, I'm not concerned it's anything serious. That is good info. to know though.
I soaked her vent in a weak tea Betadine solution. That will be daily along with the sulfadiazine cream. She's acting normal in all other ways.

Was your male normal in all other ways or were there any other signs of trouble? Was he an older snake? Sorry to hear you lost him.

[Stefan-A]

Thanks for the heads-up.
Since I did find a retained shed and the fact it's looking much better today, I'm not concerned it's anything serious. That is good info. to know though.
I soaked her vent in a weak tea Betadine solution. That will be daily along with the sulfadiazine cream. She's acting normal in all other ways.

Was your male normal in all other ways or were there any other signs of trouble? Was he an older snake? Sorry to hear you lost him.

He was normal in every other way right up until about 24 hours before he died. He even ate a few days before, IIRC.

I think he was 3 or 4 years at the time, but I'd have to check my notes.
edit: he was probably born in 2004 and died in 2007, so 3 years.

[guidofatherof5]

Sorry for all the questions but how long did he suffer from the crusty vent?
What was the time frame from discovery until death? Any meds. administered?
Additional question. Are those dried urates in your photo?

[Stefan-A]

Sorry for all the questions but how long did he suffer from the crusty vent?
What was the time frame from discovery until death? Any meds. administered?
Additional question. Are those dried urates in your photo?

Time frame... correction 2, maybe 6-8 weeks from identification of the problem to death. Was not on meds, was kept in sterile conditions and the vent was cleaned with betadine. Those are dried urates.

I started a thread back then.
http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/showthread.php?t=1460

I'd have to go through my PM's and MSN logs (I do save them all) to be able to give more precise information. Right now, I'm writing this from memory.

[guidofatherof5]

Thanks. The old thread answered all my questions.

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