• Responding to email notices you receive.
    **************************************************
    In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

  • IMPORTANT! PLEASE READ!! About the Google Adsense ads being displayed

    =====================
    Posted 08/15/2025
    =====================


    Yeah, I know. They are a pain in the butt. But they pay the bills to keep my server running. Just a fact of life, I am afraid.

    Want to get rid of them? Simple. Just become a Contributor level member or above and they will be gone. -> Please click HERE."

    Is that too much for me to ask of you to keep this site running? Well, sorry about that. I too wish I could get everything for free. But alas.....

    =====================
    Addendum: 01/10/2026
    =====================


    Google Adsense ad revenue for December, 2025 was just $30 over the cost of the lease for the server running this site. So, in effect, the money providing the incentive for me to continue running this site is coming SOLELY from the paid memberships and sponsorships here. Which honestly ain't much....

Boa With Black stuff in cloaca and losing weight.

R

RomanCenturion

New member
Joined
Aug 6, 2015
Messages
4
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Location
Katy Texas
I recently bought a Colombian red tail boa about 3 months ago in June. When I received the snake she seemed healthy however she was losing weight relatively fast she also initially had a regurge problem that I corrected after about a month after having her so I assumed the weight loss was caused by her regurgitating. I went on vacation for all of July and she was left to a friend which has taken care of my other snakes before. When I got back from vacation in august I discovered the snake weighed 42 grams (weighed 62 in July) and now has extremely loose skin and has swelling in her cloaca. My friend says she fed her every 8 days and that she ate every time. The cloaca is show below I know some of the pictures are sortov blurry and I can get more if needed its just difficult to make her sit still. I was thinking an internal parasite and now i'm not sure since the cloaca is all messed up. Is anyone aware of what sort of infection can cause this?
 

Attachments

  • 002.jpg
    002.jpg
    104.3 KB · Views: 193
  • 001.jpg
    001.jpg
    106.9 KB · Views: 213
  • 003.jpg
    003.jpg
    192.9 KB · Views: 188
  • 004.jpg
    004.jpg
    160 KB · Views: 188
I'm not super familiar with boas but that looks badly infected and nearly necrotic (at least from what I can see in the pics, they're fairly blurry as I'm sure you know). I would take her to the vet asap and if you have any other reptiles I would closely monitor them. Were there any issues with substrate? Any issues with temps, humidity, etc? That can sometimes cause regurgitation but it won't cause an infection unless you aren't cleaning regularly.

Regardless, she needs a vet/antibiotics. I'm not a specialist but I don't think that's something that will go away on its own.

If you don't mind me asking, where did you get her from? It's not normal for a snake to regurgitate constantly and lose weight, especially not when they're that small. Are you feeding live or f/t? Sorry for all of the questions, but they're all relevant to what's going.
 
Also, the chance of a captive bred animal having parasites is almost non-existent, assuming it came from a reliable source. Parasites just aren't something that run rampant in a CB colony, so I would lean more towards a virus unless it's an importer who isn't quarantining.
 
Find a vet, today. That does not look good.

Also notify the seller as there are some diseases and parasites that can take a while to show up. Hopefully this snake was still in quarantine so whatever it has didn't spread to anything other snakes.
 
Black stools generally indicates either high parasite loads or internal bleeding. Blood shows up as black in stools. Definitely a vet visit to rule out communicable diseases and/or parasites.
 
Me being a novice snake keeper and retarded I ordered her from reptile city which I now know has a reputation for selling not so healthy animals. When I first got her she looked healthy although she regurgitated her first 3 meals but I think that was either because I was keeping the temps a little to hot (mabye) or it was because her feeding schedule was to close together. She eats a f/t Fuzzie every 8 days. She hasn't regurged since.

Her cage is in the same room as my other snakes cages but not close at all and I will be moving her to a separate room right after I post this.

I also am going to make a vet appointment for Saturday (assuming they have times
available)

Her stool doesn't really seem to be that much out of the ordinary at all sometimes it clumps together a lot and sometimes its a lot more mushy.
 
So after going the vet today he said there is nothing wrong with her cloaca and that she might have intestinal parasites but shes probably just dehydrated. He gave me some antibiotics to give to her for 3 days just in case. Guess I freaked out for nothing :/
 
From what little I can see from the photos, the snake looks emaciated. Dehydration can only be part of the problem. Can you please post photos of the whole snake? Is the vet an exotic specialist?
 
snowgyre said:
Is the vet an exotic specialist?
Click to expand...

the Vet isn't an exotic specialist but he sees snakes and reptiles on a regular basis. He told me that my boa was dehydrated and malnourished probably because of parasites but since the fecal matter I had was old he couldn't examine it. He gave her a 1 time antibiotic called Ivermetcin through the mouth and then gave her a injection of Fortaz and gave me some panacur to give her once a day for 3 days.
 
RomanCenturion said:
the Vet isn't an exotic specialist but he sees snakes and reptiles on a regular basis. He told me that my boa was dehydrated and malnourished probably because of parasites but since the fecal matter I had was old he couldn't examine it. He gave her a 1 time antibiotic called Ivermetcin through the mouth and then gave her a injection of Fortaz and gave me some panacur to give her once a day for 3 days.
Click to expand...

Ivermectin is a wormer not an antibiotic. Panacur is also a wormer which is better tolerated by reptiles. Be aware that it also acts as an appetite stimulant as a side effect so your snake may get a lot hungrier.

Fortaz is a broad spectrum antibiotic.

Keep a close eye on your snake over the next few days as Ivermectin is easily overdosed. Plus all of these medications can be hard on the liver or kidneys, so make sure your snake stays well hydrated - keep the humidity up as high as you can in her enclosure without turning it into a sopping wet mess. If you feed f/t feeders then offer them wet, that will also help with hydration.
 
I would also find an actual exotic specialist. I won't take my snakes to a vet who "sees" them but isn't specialized in them. A specialist will see what a vet who just "sees" them won't.

Also do you have an update?
 
Back
Top