My snake has yet to poop

I've had my BP for about 5 weeks now. He has eaten three times since I've had him (didn't feed the first week - settling in, ate two f/t rat pups each week for the next three weeks, I didn't feed him this week since he has yet to pass any feces). I feed him in a separate enclosure so that I can spot clean and wash waterbowls, etc. so I know he has not ingested any substrate since he's been in my care.

He has passed some urates twice now. I've dug through his enclosure and there is not sign of poop. He eats extremely well and has an excellent feeding response, he drinks and moves around at night, but has yet to poop or shed.

He's youngish and around 300 grams but I have not weighed him since he's been here, so he may have very well put on a few grams.

Should I be worried yet?

Babies seem to process their food much more efficiently than older snakes for some reason. 5 weeks is kind of a long time, but some snakes only poop after they shed, which can sometimes be 2+ months apart. Keep feeding him and if he starts getting "sausage butt" then it might be time for a warm bath, but he's fine. Keep feeding him, he'll poop eventually.

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Originally Posted by Inarikins

Babies seem to process their food much more efficiently than older snakes for some reason. 5 weeks is kind of a long time, but some snakes only poop after they shed, which can sometimes be 2+ months apart. Keep feeding him and if he starts getting "sausage butt" then it might be time for a warm bath, but he's fine. Keep feeding him, he'll poop eventually.

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Thanks!

He really isn't a baby snake... a little younger than 1 year old I think. The previous owner was keeping him on a maintenance diet of adult mice every few weeks so he is small for his age. When I first got him he was slim, but not terribly skinny or anything. Since I've had him on rats he has pudged up a bit so I know he is digesting the food, he is just not excreting the waste.

I have noticed the "sausage butt" a few times so I gave him quick dip in some lukewarm water and that is when he passed urates, but no feces. I bathed him for a short while earlier today and he passed a tiny amount of urates but nothing more.


One question I have is, can pythons produce musk? In the past when he passed urates I noticed they smelled quite strong and reminded me of the odor of musk produced by my garter snake (but less pungent). In my experience urates do not usually smell as strong, but maybe I was paying too close of attention. My garter musks frequently, and my corns have musked before, but never my boa so I always assumed musking was limited to colubrids.

300 grams is still small enough that he won't be pooping that often. I've noticed an increase in size and rate of pooping at about 600 grams, so long as the snake keeps eating.

Ball pythons don't necessarily "musk" though females do have scent glands used mostly, I believe, in courting a mate. Urates smelling a lot is strange, do they seem out of the ordinary as far as consistency goes? Just in comparison to your other snakes.

No the consistency of his urates seem normal to me. The smell could have been exaggerated because he passed them in a tub of warmish water as opposed to me finding them dried up in an enclosure though.

I'll keep feeding him his regular meals then and hopefully one of these days he'll decided to poop out his all of his past meals...

Sometimes they go awhile without pooping, I just had my normal girl go 3 months and finally layed down a big one. And there is no such thing as a " maintenance diet" for young snakes. He was starving, he very well could be converting most of his nutrients ro growing now , and that may be why he is not having a bowel movement.