Kitkat, James,

I think you're both helping to put together a pattern that I though I noticed a while back. As you might remember, I normally feed caribou meat as the primary food source, and I supplement with worms, fish, vitamins, calcium, etc. Anyway, when/if I feed a strip of meat that has a lot of tendons in it, the snakes sometimes regurgitate it. Sometimes they pass it only partially digested. I'm not sure what causes it, but I try to trim these sections of meat off before feeding. Maybe that contributed to the abnormally fast passage and incomplete digestion?

By the way, that was a great, descriptive picture Kitkat. The second lump was clearly beyond the stomach and just anterior to the cloaca. It definitely showed a blockage. Though not certain, I think sepsis is a very reasonable diagnosis. Can you please remind us how old this snake was and how long it had the lump before dying? The age/timing may help others in the future.

This sounds rough, but I just had a female go through a rather difficult birthing process. Some of the young became blocked and died in utero. The female couldn't pass them for nearly a month. After about three weeks, I figured that the female was going to die if nothing was done, so I began to try to manipulate the blocked (and it turned out - partially decomposed) offspring by the equivalent of a deep massage. I never pressed her from the sides for fear of breaking ribs, but I stroked her fairly deeply from the vent anteriorly to separate the young. Sure enough, she began passing the young soon afterward. I want to be clear to everyone that this was a last ditch effort, though. In hindsight, Kitkat, your problem may have been even more difficult. If you were too rough in manipulating the blockage, the bone (undigested foot) may have punctured the digestive tract. Sorry for the rotten outcome, Kitkat.

Rick