Honda is Sick

[guidofatherof5]

For the last couple of weeks Honda, my W/C female Plains garter snake(T.radix) has been off food and staying away from her group.
Checking her last night I found a dirty vent and a lump 1 inch from her vent. I've never felt a lump like this before. I was able to move it some.
It's the size of a shelled peanut. Her attitude seems subdued and withdrawn.
I gave her a warm bath this afternoon and worked with the lump. I cleaned the vent up and was able to get some musk smelling liquid out.

Which lends me to this question.
Where is the musk gland located? I don't see it in any of the anatomy pictures on the forum.
Could this also be an infection in the ovaries?
She will be seeing the Vet A.S.A.P.
Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers.

[kibakiba]

Awww. Poor Honda. I hope she gets better soon, Steve. She'll be in my thoughts.

[RedSidedSPR]

In my prayers, hope she's OK.

[BUSHSNAKE]

sounds like a retained jelly...i just aqiured a snake with this problem, i palpated 8 jellies out of the poor snake

[i_heart_sneakie_snakes]

Oh no We (Failte and i) are sending all our healing thoughts her way.

[guidofatherof5]

sounds like a retained jelly...i just aqiured a snake with this problem, i palpated 8 jellies out of the poor snake

You might be on to something Joe. She passed jellies this year.
Thanks. I'm going to call you.

[jitami]

Good luck to you and Honda!

[katach]

All I could find on the google was it's in the vent area. Good luck with her Steve!

[guidofatherof5]

After talking to Joe(BUSHSNAKE) on the phone all the evidence was leaning toward a retained egg as the problem. Dr. Joe gave me instruction on how to proceed.
I went down to the snake room and with the help of my Gabby started moving this lump toward her vent(cloaca).
I must admit I was very worried about hurting my girl. She means a lot to me as she actually came to me in instead of me catching her.
I pushed this lump to the vent and expected to see a yellow or lightly colored item. Instead I saw a dark mass.
I picked at it and immediately knew what I was dealing with.
She had a mouse hair compaction. I've heard about large species of snakes with this problem but never a garter snake.
After picking a few small pieces off I was able to removed the larger mass.
This all make sense as her last meal was an adult mouse.
Honda will spend the next few days upstairs and hopefully make a full recovery.

Thanks Joe for all your help.

[katach]

Wow. I'm glad it was something that was remedied quickly. Give Honda a hug for me!