Am I just paranoid?

Hey all! I have just bought my beautiful male pastel. He is a very healthy snake, love the touch of the hand and seems to enjoy his new 40 gallon aquarium. Yes, I know, I am a bit young. But I know a fair amount of knowledge about Herps. Anyways, I fed him Tuesday and he STILL hasn't pooped. Also, can A mouse be too big for the snake? He's a subadult, just to let you know. Thanks guys (:

Yup, you are being paranoid. He or she will poop when he's ready. Mine rarely go and it drives me batty. Are your temps right etc? Some say proper belly heat helps them digest, some disagree.

As for the mouse... It would be rare for a mouse to be too big as long as the snake is well beyond the hatchling stage. Best way to gauge prey size is the snakes weight. By grams, the prey should be about 15% of the snakes weight.

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Originally Posted by MsMissy

Yup, you are being paranoid. He or she will poop when he's ready. Mine rarely go and it drives me batty. Are your temps right etc? Some say proper belly heat helps them digest, some disagree.

As for the mouse... It would be rare for a mouse to be too big as long as the snake is well beyond the hatchling stage. Best way to gauge prey size is the snakes weight. By grams, the prey should be about 15% of the snakes weight.

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Thank you. (: I own many Cornsnakes and I fell in love with a BP at a Reptile expo. Anyways I wont be on later. Have to drive home from AZ from a herping trip. (:

You are only 14! Good for you seeking advice, it shows maturity. Even old fossils like me still have much to learn. I only have one BP so I am not qualified to give you definitive advice about pooping schedules, but I do believe I have one possibly useful hint for you.

What is normal for each individual snake varies, just like with people. I've found the best way to find out what is normal for our BP is to keep a simple notebook.

This is certainly not necessary especially for experienced keepers, but time flies and it is really hard to remember how many days/weeks since this or that happened and what else was going on at the time. You can also use your log to help a vet or expert if your BP needs care, assess patterns over the time of the year if that is an issue, etc.

It will help you figure out what is normal for your BP and ease your mind. If YOUR snake only poops once a month for a year, and he is fine, you won't worry at all after 1 or 2 or 3 weeks. If YOUR SNAKE poops every week like clockwork, you might want to watch him more closely after 3 weeks of no poop. You must take care not to freak out and panic right away if something varies; that isn't the intention. Things change a bit now and then for snakes just like people. But it will let you know for sure if something is unusual for your BP.

My notebook has the date of
1) each feeding and what was fed (type, size, etc) and if it was refused
2) each pee and/or poo
3) dates his eyes cloud up/clear (I have no idea why I track that) and his actual shed date (and note if the shed was not optimal)
4) his weight in grams (I use a $20 digital kitchen scale which is also useful for other adult things like postage but for gosh sakes don't let your family measure your food off it without super disinfecting. I weigh his hide alone first, and then weigh him INSIDE his hide upside down and subtract out the weight of the hide. Even my cheap scale has a feature that does that for me.)
5) dates of enclosure deep cleaning (so time doesn't fly without it happening)
6) anything unusual like a major change in habitat or food source, etc

Good luck!

I'm 13 High five:D

lol

I wish I was allowed to have a snake at your age!

Yeah they will go weeks in between pooping, don't worry about it.

A mouse can be too big for the snake, but as long as it isn't much bigger than the snake is at its widest point, shouldn't be an issue. Most of the time if its too big they simply won't eat it.