Blood stain + possibly constipated?

[natywanderlust]

Hello I've got my happy baby pastel ball python, Buttercup, in early April and she's been acting fine but I have a couple concerns.
Here's basic info first.

1. How long have you had your ball python?

Since April 2015, at 10months old

2. How old (or how big) is your snake?

Female, 11 months old

3. Does it eat on a regular schedule?

Yes every wednesday

4. How long since its last meal?

Last wednesday

5. What type/size prey is being offered?

Rat pup

6. How often do you offer food?

every wednesday

7. What type and size of enclosure does it live in?

Glass aquarium, screen cage top, I think about 30x18x18

8. What are you using as substrate? If it has depth, how deep is it?

2 layers of paper towels

9. What type of heating do you use?

heat pad under half of the tank connected to Herpstat 2 from Spyder robotics

10. Do you use a thermostat to control temperatures?

Herpstat 2 from Spyder robotics

11. What do you use to measure/monitor temperatures?

Laser thermometer gun

12. What are the surface and ambient temperatures in the enclosure?

89 cool side, 93 warm side. evenings down to 88.

13. What is the average humidity level?

55-60. never lower than 50 (except once details below) sometimes up to 65-70

14. How many and what type of hides does the snake have?

2 hides, coconut half on the cool side (she spends a lot of time there) and a heavy slightly larger cave on the hot side.

15. Is water readily available at all times?

yes, one of those small restaurant ramekin in the middle of the 2 hides

16. Does the snake live alone or does it share the enclosure with anything else?

alone

17. How often and for how long is the snake typically handled?

about an hour 2 times a week, maybe 3 times 'cause she's social

18. Does the snake have any medical history (old injuries or illnesses)?

no

19. Do you have any other reptiles? Have you brought in any new reptiles recently?

Already had 2 chameleons when I got my snake, nothing new since

20. Is there anything specific or unique about your situation that we should be aware of?

She's a very good eater, never hesitates to take her meal. however, she hasnt pooped in a couple of weeks but she will have healthy urates time to time.
I should mention her first shed with me (first week of may) did not go too well, it came off in pieces and took a few days. I think it was because her humidity went down just as she started her shed and perhaps i was handling her too much at the time (?) when she was in blue so I've reduced how much she comes out and moved her water dish to be over the heat pad (this did help raise humidity) and i'll spray a little mist in there at least once a day too.

So what I'm concerned about is what I found on Thursday the day after she had a meal. It appears to be a dark liquid stain from where she was coiled up in her big cave leading out to where she was when i found her, in her small coconut on the cool side. I removed the big hide and everything else to get a good look, but left buttercup in her coconut. There is this unhealthy looking small drop of half poop half urate...and i'm not sure if this may be a sign of constipation or what. And at first i thought the dark stain under the cave was a little liquid poop because it trailed directly to the weird poop/pee drop, so i thought maybe she has a little diahrreah? but on closer look, it looks dark red. Is it blood? It's so small and I havent seen anything since..but i'm not sure what's wrong. Behavior-wise, she seems fine, no strange movements, no bulges in her belly or rear end. no marks on her underside, no blood or wounds that i can see at all on her body.

I will post pictures as soon as i figure out how..lol sorry I'm a new user

I hope that's enough details and if anyone has any info or advice, it would be much appreciated!

[natywanderlust]

PICTURES : http://imgur.com/gallery/HvZLs

[Mustang5]

First off welcome to the forum! Everything sounds good except for maybe you might want to try small rats every 7-10 days instead of rat pups. Now to the blood problem do you feed your snake inside the cage? If so it could be rat blood she dragged into her hut.

[KMG]

I agree with the above. Up the prey size and I bet the blood was from the rat. My big Blood Python squeezed a good amount of blood out of its last meal. I left it until the following day and changed the paper. No big deal. Just wait til you have a feeder pop open and guts go everywhere. Those are always fun.

[BoiseBallz]

Wow. Outstanding job on the history.

Couple of things...

I would recommend lowering the temperature on the "cool" side. You only have a 4 degree temperature gradient which doesn't give your snake an opportunity to cool down. The cool side should be around 78-80 ish.

The stain could be blood from feeding. Thawed rodents often ooze blood from their nose/mouth. Live prey sometimes bite the snake. It could also be some "waste" staining if your snake voided a little bit (they don't always drop huge loads). I wouldn't be too worried about it. Paper towels as substrate are great (I use them), but they do show everything.

Change the paper towels out, and you likely won't see anything for a while.

I wouldn't worry about constipation or obstruction. Ball Pythons are very variable in how often they stool, and if they are anywhere near shed, they will often hold it until just after shed. Your snake doesn't look the least bit distended.

[natywanderlust]

First off welcome to the forum! Everything sounds good except for maybe you might want to try small rats every 7-10 days instead of rat pups. Now to the blood problem do you feed your snake inside the cage? If so it could be rat blood she dragged into her hut.

Thank you so much! I will give her the last rat pup in the freezer today and will go out and get some small frozen rats. And yes I do feed her inside her own enclosure so that blood is probably from what you said! I cant believe I didnt think that the blood could be from the rat pup! That makes a lot of sense!! hahah PHEW!
Thank goodness! Thanks for your quick reply!

[natywanderlust]

I agree with the above. Up the prey size and I bet the blood was from the rat. My big Blood Python squeezed a good amount of blood out of its last meal. I left it until the following day and changed the paper. No big deal. Just wait til you have a feeder pop open and guts go everywhere. Those are always fun.

Thank you! I cant believe I didnt realize this sooner hahah
haha wow that sounds nasty but I know I will do whatever it takes for my baby girl ..... just hopefully no rat guts to clean until she's a lot bigger lol

[natywanderlust]

Wow. Outstanding job on the history.

Couple of things...

I would recommend lowering the temperature on the "cool" side. You only have a 4 degree temperature gradient which doesn't give your snake an opportunity to cool down. The cool side should be around 78-80 ish.

The stain could be blood from feeding. Thawed rodents often ooze blood from their nose/mouth. Live prey sometimes bite the snake. It could also be some "waste" staining if your snake voided a little bit (they don't always drop huge loads). I wouldn't be too worried about it. Paper towels as substrate are great (I use them), but they do show everything.

Change the paper towels out, and you likely won't see anything for a while.

I wouldn't worry about constipation or obstruction. Ball Pythons are very variable in how often they stool, and if they are anywhere near shed, they will often hold it until just after shed. Your snake doesn't look the least bit distended.

Thanks I read through forums a lot and I always follow the rules/guidelines. Plus what's the point in asking others for help if you're not gonna give all the necessary info, right? lol
And yes thank you I'll go home and lower her temps, I was wondering the same thing since she spends a lot of time in her coconut on her cool side, so i had started to think that she finds it too warm in there. Is night time temp at 88 okay still or should that be lower than the temp of the cool side, 80?

The blood is most likely from the feeder, i was just a bit quick to freak out and didnt even consider that lol. And I only feed frozen, got a firm policy to not let anything hurt my snake. Thanks so so much for your reply, it really puts my mind at ease that there's nothing wrong with her!


Thanks snake lovers!

[Mustang5]

Thank you so much! I will give her the last rat pup in the freezer today and will go out and get some small frozen rats. And yes I do feed her inside her own enclosure so that blood is probably from what you said! I cant believe I didnt think that the blood could be from the rat pup! That makes a lot of sense!! hahah PHEW!
Thank goodness! Thanks for your quick reply!

Glad it helped!

[BoiseBallz]

Thanks I read through forums a lot and I always follow the rules/guidelines. Plus what's the point in asking others for help if you're not gonna give all the necessary info, right? lol
And yes thank you I'll go home and lower her temps, I was wondering the same thing since she spends a lot of time in her coconut on her cool side, so i had started to think that she finds it too warm in there. Is night time temp at 88 okay still or should that be lower than the temp of the cool side, 80?

The blood is most likely from the feeder, i was just a bit quick to freak out and didnt even consider that lol. And I only feed frozen, got a firm policy to not let anything hurt my snake. Thanks so so much for your reply, it really puts my mind at ease that there's nothing wrong with her!


Thanks snake lovers!

I would recommend keeping your warm side roughly 90-92 and your cool side roughly 78-80 day and night. Doesn't have to be exact. No need to vary temperatures with time of day unless you are breeding, and even then, it isn't absolutely necessary.