Quote Originally Posted by MoJo View Post
My first garter was a lovely red sided girl that also had an issue with a crusty vent. At the time I posted photos on KS.com and no one really knew what it was but someone said that they had had a girl with the same thing and that she had been dehydrated and died. I knew that my snake had always had water so that wasn't the issue. My girl did turn out to have an internal abscess not too far from the vent and she ultimately passed from it. It took a while for the abscess to make itself known and a fair amount of time until she actually looked and acted ill. I think Ginger was probably my favorite snake!

It makes sense to me that this would be a sign of renal failure. Infections can cause the kidney's to fail I am just surprised at how long snakes can hang on once they are ill.


I hope your girl is not having kidney or other problems and will live a long life at the Ranch!

Thanks for your info. I hope this isn't anything serious. I don't get that feeling from this. My Vet. thinks she may have built up some scar tissue in that area and it may be collecting feces and causing an irritation. She's up stairs with me for a solid month. Just having her in a very controlled situation has already improved the crusty area. She may always need some help in that area but she's worth the time. She was a rescued gravid radix from last year. I think she likes me. Once I get her out she calms down and sits with me while I'm in the living room. She's a very relaxed character.