Baby Ball Not Pooping? :(

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

It's fine. They're very efficient when it comes to digesting, so they don't produce alot of waste.

You might consider upping her food size though. Feed a prey item that's slightly bigger around than she is at her largest point. You could probably feed every 5 days as well.

Fuzzy mice are quite small even for a young bp.

I was going to add that your bp should be on adult mice by now and probably isn't pooping due to the lack of food size with a growing youngster. Also could your bp possibly be near another shed? I've noticed that my girl will hold it until shed and then unleash hell. As she is doing right now. I know either tomorrow or th next day I'm in for a lovely clean up. And its off topic but buy a food scale that way you can weigh your bp and feed around 15% of the body weight. Also its good to know the growth rate or if they lose too much weight in future hunger strikes. Also I would keep your humidity at 55-60% and 70% during shed. Good luck.

By the way don't forget to post a pic. Always love to see the bps!

Woot, thanks for all of the advice! :D
I shall buy her the next size up tomorrow when I go into work. I just finished feeding her about two minutes ago and she still seems hungry.. I might give her an extra one =P
And I'll go ahead and post a pic of my lovely lady. Her name is Hakkar =D

On a side note, anyone know how to get a dog used to being around a snake? I recently adopted a dog (boxer/bulldog mix) and whenever I've got my snake out he seems to cower in fear xD

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18...-46-58_395.jpg
^Pretty snake on an ugly couch.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Amy_Anthrax2010

Woot, thanks for all of the advice! :D
I shall buy her the next size up tomorrow when I go into work. I just finished feeding her about two minutes ago and she still seems hungry.. I might give her an extra one =P
And I'll go ahead and post a pic of my lovely lady. Her name is Hakkar =D

On a side note, anyone know how to get a dog used to being around a snake? I recently adopted a dog (boxer/bulldog mix) and whenever I've got my snake out he seems to cower in fear xD

http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18...-46-58_395.jpg
^Pretty snake on an ugly couch.

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I have 2 boxers and they both are very interested in my albino. But they both know to keep their distance. No need to be near one another it will just stress the snake or I guess the dog in your case but there really should be no need to get them aquainted but the opposite IMO. Your bp really shoulnt be handled to the point where your dog will get used to it but in time your dog will become used to a snae in the house.

Good point.
It's just difficult to keep them apart from one another because my dog is always up in my business. Lol. She seems un-phased (is that a word?) in his presence.

She looks about the same size as my girl and I feed her adult mice every 4 -5 days. I am going to do that until she grows into small rats, she is at an in-between size right now.

And I would recommend never getting the dog and snake used to each other. I have a no contact rule with my snake and cat, not even in the same room. Where I live, I really don't want my cat to learn than snakes are safe because we have tons of rattlesnakes, so I would rather my cat instinctually keep her distance from all slithery things as opposed to me having to pay a major vet bill. :O Your dog is probably afraid on instinct too. Lots of snakes are deadly, so lots of creatures, including many humans, will naturally avoid them. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Amy_Anthrax2010

Good point.
It's just difficult to keep them apart from one another because my dog is always up in my business. Lol. She seems un-phased (is that a word?) in his presence.

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Oh I knows the feeling with those attention hungry breeds. And don't get me wrong my dogs lay right next to me when my snake is out but I've trained them to not get all in her business.
Your snake really won't be bothered my the dog unless they are like my 2 and want to play and be friends with everything that moves. But apparently your dog doesn't have that problem. But gotta love that mix. I can only imagine how cute your dog is!

My I ask where you got the name 'Hakkar' from? I have an idea, but it would reveal my true dorkiness..haha

Whew! Sorry for the late response.

Sadly, I must admit I got her name from World of Warcraft. All of the animals (except my dog, his name came with him when I rescued him from the pound) in my house are named after things on that game xD I know, I am a weirdo.

And I'll upload a picture of my dog for you all to see :3
http://i8.photobucket.com/albums/a18/Inu-Alex/JADON.jpg

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.

Quote:

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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

I actually bought a small bag of the sphagnum moss at work to bump up the humidity during her last shed. I love that stuff =) I usually rip off little patches of it, soak them, and place them sparsely through her cage. I notice every now and again she'll locate a patch off moss and semi-burrow in it. So cute =)

A tiny bit off-topic, but since your dog is up in your business all the time (like mine; it's his mission to try to help me go to the bathroom), you can try teaching her a "Leave It" command.

It'll take some time because you'll have to start at the bottom with treats and once she's got that, move her on to other things, but it'll come in handy for all sorts of situations. I've called my boy off dead squirrels he really wanted to roll in, deer poo, goose poo, you name it.

Kane has been really interested in my new BP, Pablo, but a simple Leave It has him laying down, pretending like he doesn't really, really, really want to snick his nose all up in Pablo's business.