Baby Ball Not Pooping? :(

No worries .. I used to play for over 3 years myself so I know how it goes haha... Figured that's where it came from, was just curious..

Cute puppy !

HI Amy =)

What temps are you keeping Hakkar at? Sometime's lack of right belly heat will cause a BP not to digest his/her food right, in result to not being able to digest their food will cause it to rot in their tummy. Which is not good :( IF you have your BP at the right temps ( belly and ambient ) than an answer has been previously elaborated to you by a peer. IF your temps are off than it will cause your BP to either not digest his/her food or take longer to digest.

I feed my collection and 4-5 days later they all poop like clock work every week, so.. I have a full time job it seems cleaning for those two days after work. I keep my BPs in the racks at 86 and ambient house temp is always 78-80

The temp during the day is around 85-90 Degrees with a basking spot around 100, and at night it's around 80. She's got a regular white light for day use and an ambient "moon glow" bulb for night time use.

Aspen bedding?

No Aspen bedding. I use reptile bark.

Mine is now on her 6th meal without a single poop. I feed here every four days and her food bulge goes away after two days and she basks fine, drinks fine, husbandry is correct...I am waiting for her to drop a huge load any day now :D

Babies especially digest their food the most thoroughly, so I figure she's just growing...and from what I see, it's a normal occurrence, so I don't worry about it.

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Originally Posted by Amy_Anthrax2010

No Aspen bedding. I use reptile bark.

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Do you have a non-contact thermometer? i would see what the ground/belly temp is. I really wouldn't worry tho. Mine used to get 3-4 mice in before going too.

So you are checking for what the ball feels of course, what heats making it threw the bedding.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Amy_Anthrax2010

Hey there =]
I am brand-new to this site and was a little confused as to where to post this thread (I hope this is the right section!), so hopefully someone out here can help me out!

I adopted a baby female Ball Python from work around the end of October of this year. She's never had any problems with shedding, eating, "peeing" or pooping.. Until recently. Now she still eats like a pig and is very active, but I haven't noticed poop in her cage in what seems like a month now. Is this normal? I have inspected her body for any signs of illness but she looks A-OK to me.

Here is some basic info on her:
*She's about a foot and a half long
*She's had one shed (a good one at that) since I've owned her
*She eats once a week
*She eats, and always has eaten, frozen mice ("fuzzies" to be exact)
*She hides a lot during the day but is always zooming around at night
*She lives in a 30 Gal terrarium with a nice rock house, plants, and giant soaking dish
*Humidity is always around 45-50% (unless it's shedding time)

She's also my first snake I've ever owned!

If anyone can shed some light on this situation, I'd gladly appreciate it =)

~Amy

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Your snakes weight would be helpful to know. Length is not a great indicator. For one most people have a really hard time getting an accurate measurement. Another problem is that without weight its hard to tell if the snake is at a healthy weight. From where I am sitting that snake looks underweight. I would be feeding 1 adult mouse every 5 days at least. Ass for the pooping issue. Your snake will poop when it needs to poop. Unless you see a bulge near the vent I wouldn't worry about it.

I bought her some larger mice a few days ago and she seems to eat them without much difficulty. Should I switch her to Aspen bedding, or is reptile bark okay? I was given a bag of reptile bark with the terrarium I bought and I just continue to buy it when I need it.
She also seems grumpier than usual, could it be that I hadn't been feeding her enough? I feel like a bad owner. I just want her to be a happy snake. Lol :snake:

To be honest...I think sphagnum moss is the easiest substrate for pythons. That's my own personal opinion, since the humid hide I have for mine tends to stay wet for 8-10 days after soaking, and the rest of the substrate provides exceptional humidity in the tank. I tried aspen bedding first and found the upkeep (mainly cleaning the tank weekly) and the cost to be unfavorable. So far, one $7 bag of Sphagnum moss has lasted me 6 months of deep cleaning her cage weekly (occasionally bi-weekly). I clean her poop and urates as soon as she delivers them (I check every morning), but to replace the moss is a very cheap option. My python seems very happy with the substrate. No problem sheds either, with the humidity hide. When she needs to shed, I just soak the moss and leave her alone until she's done. She loves to burrow in it as well :D

As to the feeding...if she starts roaming the tank after 72 hours off her last feed, she's probably hungry for more (at least that's the case with mine, since she never refused food when I fed her using that as a signal). I think you're doing a good job. Just keep the temps and humidity up and feed her when she's grumpy :D