My bathtub drain has gone from being sluggish to taking hours to drain completely. (Luckily, I live alone!) I've used Drano. I've snaked it, and the snake is catching on what I assume used to be a part of an old drain stopper mechanism inside. Currently, there's no drain stopper in the tub. The snake catches about two feet into the drain on something that won't budge and sounds quite metallic.
Question 1: can I attempt to remove this evil thing myself (and how)? Note: the plumbing in my bathroom is very "creative", and the back wall of the shower is merely a thin plastic sheet that can be easily removed.
Question 2: if I call a plumber, what jargon can I drop on them to let them know I'm not some helpless female calling for help!
Thanks!

If the drain is accessible 2' out, where the stoppage is, then yep: disassemble it to get to where you can remove the stoppage.

If you're not handy to do this yourself, get the plumber out and simply tell them you have a stubborn blockage 2' from your drain. The plumbers heavy duty electric snake will have a better chance of pushing it to the main.

It sounds like the metallic ohbstruction might be a drum trap. Is there a round plate on the floor near the tub? If so, there is a drum trap under there. Your clog might be in thje trap or further down the line. The snake won't fish through the trap, but you can get down the line if necessary once it's open.

Hi Robyn,

For his first post in AMHD mikrodot impressed the hell right out of me. He put his finger directly on a drum trap as the cause of the snake hanging up. There aren't too many of us oldtimers left that remember installing drum traps in bathtubs anymore. I have put up a image of a typical drum trap installation in case your plumber isn't familiar with them, (see below).
Notice the top cover screws on and removing it will give him a clear shot with the snake. If the cover can't be seen then it's hidden under vinyl or tile floor covering or under the floor tucked away up in the floor joists and must be uncovered.
Afterwards, and this you can do yourself, flush the tub drain out with two large pans of boiling water. This will loosen any grease and hair that's left and flush it out into the main. As to question one, you can not remove the drum trap and as for question two, if he's a young plumber you might just know more about drum traps now then he does. Good luck, Tom