Pooping

I have a five mounth old female ball python.I got her on January 6. I feed her hoppers every week(she has never not ate) and she has yet to poop since I got her. I don’t know if this is the normal for ball pythons to go a mounth without pooping. Should I be concerned and take her to the vet?

You shouldn't worry yet.
Every ball python has it's own schedule. Some poop weekly other monthly (mine poops monthly for example) and some of them take even more time.
I'd wait. If you're really worried, take a look at the far back of her tail. Is there a part that looks swollen? If yes, you could try to give her a bath in luke warm water. Many ball python relieve themselves then.

P.S. Are you sure a hopper is the right size for her? It sound a little small.

At 5 months she should be 200 grams + . But you need to weigh her to be sure. If she weighs 200 grams or more, she should be eating adult mice or a rat
pup. She doesn't poop, because there is nothing to poop.

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I feed her hoppers

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And she won't defecate until she is fed appropriately, you are underfeeding your female, hoppers are what are offered to BP out of the egg after that they quickly move through sizes.

Right now everything is utilize to sustain your animal, leaving little to nothing to be eliminated or allow proper growth.


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Originally Posted by ben463

I have a five mounth old female ball python.I got her on January 6. I feed her hoppers every week(she has never not ate) and she has yet to poop since I got her. I don’t know if this is the normal for ball pythons to go a mounth without pooping. Should I be concerned and take her to the vet?

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I'm new to the forum but I'll give my 2 cents. I bought a juvenile Columbian Red Tail at the end of December. She has eaten a small mouse every week since and did not poop til last night. I was also worried so I called the vet last week. They said just give her a soak in a warm bath every night til she poops. After the 3rd night...wammo! You have never seen such a pile...it was about as much as my juvenile ball python goes in 4 "sessions" (just FYI...the vet said if she didnt poop within a few days to bring her in for xrays, just to be safe). I know its gross, bit its just nature, so I'll continue. Most of the feces was "moist" except one hard little kernel, which I suspect was blocking the exit shoot. I am going to work on keeping her a little better hydrated, though I always have fresh water in her enclosure. I am in the process of acquiring a better enclosure (one like Vision Cages or Herpcages.com) to get rid of the aquarium I am using...just to hard to keep the humidity up in an aquarium when you also use an overhead heat source. I feel if you're gonna have an animal for potentially 15-20+/- years, provide the best habitat you can afford. Good luck!!!!

I agree 100% with Deb. You aren't feeding enough, there is not enough food energy, so there is no poop.

I would feed rat pups, as that what my 5-6 month old python eats. He's sometimes eats weaned rats, and he has even eaten a small rat, which looked gigantic next to him. It is very common for new python owners to underfeed.

Personally, I see that chart as "minimum" for weekly meals. Though I only have 2.5 years experience with a handful of snakes, they have all easily eaten larger meals than that chart at times, without any problem. Though others here have had way more snakes of all different ages for many years, and they all seem to agree with the chart more or less.