Green Urates

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littlemay

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Hi there, been a long time since I've posted on these forums but I'm in need of some advice.

I have a 4 year old gammon ranges carpet python who has had a history of health issues. About two years ago he suffered a reasonably serious bacterial infection, which he was able to recover from with many months of antibiotic treatment. Since then, he has appeared to be fine, eating well and behaving normally. Final bloods done two years ago showed he had kicked the infection.

Recently, some things have happened which are concerning me. He has been off food for about five weeks now, which is very unusual for him (even at the height of his previous infection, he had a very strong feeding response). This in itself would not have bothered me too much, but on Tuesday he produced large amounts of bright green slime with his urates.

He has seen an experienced herp vet and we are waiting for the bloods to come back to find out more. I am trying to gather as much info on this as possible, as it seems a rather uncommon thing, I was wondering if anyone had any experience with this green slime?

I am at work atm, but can provide pics and further info this evening if need be.

Thanks
 
No experience with reptiles but in humans green faeces can indicate gastrointestinal infection or bile (bile is supposed to be secreted in to the intestine but would normally be reabsorbed). Did the vet tell you which blood tests they were sending?

My feeling is that it's either something simple - perhaps an infection, or something surgical which I don't imagine would be treatable. If I were investigating I'd focus the search on signs of treatable conditions.

Good luck, hoepfully it's treatable & you won't have to wait too long for answers.
 
my understanding of green urates is that it is sometimes associated with liver disease or anaemia.did you get samples of urate
 
Sometimes snakes can produce all sorts of colours with their stools, and it's often nothing to worry about. Bacterial or protozoan infections are often characterised by an offensive odour (not the normal snake-poo smell). If you're concerned, take a fresh stool sample to the vet. If the snake otherwise looks and acts healthy, then maybe the bloods will tell you a story. As others have said, green usually = bile, a powerful digestive juice in snakes, but it isn't all that unusual for it to add a greenish tinge to a stool. The bile is the green stain that often shows up first on the bellies of recently dead snakes, when it leaches out of the gall bladder. Please keep us posted.

Jamie
 
It may well be renal failure. A long course of antibiotics can do this to snakes. They don't seem to tolerate antibiotics as well as a lot of other animals.
 
Hi guys, thanks for your replies

Sometimes snakes can produce all sorts of colours with their stools, and it's often nothing to worry about. Bacterial or protozoan infections are often characterised by an offensive odour (not the normal snake-poo smell). If you're concerned, take a fresh stool sample to the vet. If the snake otherwise looks and acts healthy, then maybe the bloods will tell you a story. As others have said, green usually = bile, a powerful digestive juice in snakes, but it isn't all that unusual for it to add a greenish tinge to a stool. The bile is the green stain that often shows up first on the bellies of recently dead snakes, when it leaches out of the gall bladder. Please keep us posted.

Jamie

Unfortunately this wasn't just a green tinge, there was large amounts of dark green slime, more of the slime than the urates. I should be getting the results from the bloodwork today, so hopefully i'll know soon.

my understanding of green urates is that it is sometimes associated with liver disease or anaemia.did you get samples of urate

It may well be renal failure. A long course of antibiotics can do this to snakes. They don't seem to tolerate antibiotics as well as a lot of other animals.

Yes, renal problems from the previous antibiotics where our first concern. The antibiotic we resorted to was amikacin, which is known to be hard on the kidneys and liver. We did our best to mitigate this with supplemental hydration while he was on the antibiotics, but perhaps it was not enough :(
 
[Yes, renal problems from the previous antibiotics where our first concern. The antibiotic we resorted to was amikacin, which is known to be hard on the kidneys and liver. We did our best to mitigate this with supplemental hydration while he was on the antibiotics, but perhaps it was not enough :([/QUOTE]

I'm not sure why renal failure would produce green stool - doesn't mean that it doesn't just that I can't see a mechanism.

The current problem may be nothing to do with the antibiotics. It may be related to the initial illness that you were trying to treat with amikacin. To me this seems more likely. Without knowing the details of the initial illness I don't think anyone could hazard a guess but it sounds like you've done everything you could to treat a prolonged illness and it hasn't worked.

Good luck.
 
Hi everyone,

Sorry about the lack of communication. A biopsy revealed significant inflammation of the liver and sadly Snuffles passed away yesterday morning after complications post-surgery. He was my first and only snake and i am absolutely shattered :(
 
Hi westernrocky,

I'm not entirely certain what you are trying to communicate in your post. Are you asking if I noticed any irregularities in his feeding, shed and/or defecation cycles prior to the most recent signs of illness?
 
Hi everyone,

Sorry about the lack of communication. A biopsy revealed significant inflammation of the liver and sadly Snuffles passed away yesterday morning after complications post-surgery. He was my first and only snake and i am absolutely shattered :(

That's so sad, sorry to hear about Snuffles :(
 
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