Ball Python Having All Kinds of Life Problems

Hi everyone, I was wondering if I could get some advice before dropping several hundred dollars on a vet exam.

My ball python is around 5 months old, and has been eating pinkies once a week, every week since I bought him. He usually moves around quite a bit and is very friendly and curious.

Recently, he has taken to curling up in his hides and not moving. He ate on Wednesday morning, and yesterday night I tried to take him out for some exercise. He appeared to be in the process of defecating, so I put him back (to give the little guy some privacy!) About an hour ago, I took him out again, but he didn't appear to have made any progress whatsoever. I saw someone else's post about ball pythons needing to be soaked and massaged, so I tried, and some very strange and stringy white stuff came out, along with something that looked like blood.

Now he is back in his tank, curled up and so sad looking! ): I've included a picture of his poor little bottom... does anyone know what's wrong? He has a kind of brown/yellow crust on the scales around his poop dispenser (I'm not sure if it's very clear in this photo). He has also been looking very skinny... but has been eating every week?

If anyone can tell me anything about this, I would greatly appreciate it! Thank you!http://i.imgur.com/DVDNTl2.jpg

Pinky anything is too small for him. He is likely under fed and therefore looking skinny.

I feed a rodent 10-15% of the body weight every 4 days for a guy his age.

The stringy stuff could just be urates and poop. Sometimes BP poop looks weird and most of the time it is nothing. I would clean it off and see how it looks.

As far as hiding goes, that is what they do. A happy BP hides all day and comes out to look around in the evening. But a lethargic under fed one can do the same.

I suggest double checking husbandry, then getting a scale and sorting out the feeding, and the rest will likely take care of itself.

You need to be feeding him hoppers. Especially at 5 months. Even most hatchlings feed on hoppers right out of the egg.

My 5 month old champagne female eats small rats!! Even hatchling BPs get offered something larger than a pinky....unless it was an extremely tiny baby. Whats his weight in grams? That would def help in determining the appropriate sized prey for your baby. Id start upping the food and closely monitor his poops then. And "poop dispenser" is definately amusing :p

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Oh! I'm sorry! I was told when I bought him that I should feed him pinkies once a week until he got to around 6 months old. ): I will try offering him a fuzzy once every five days - does that sound about right?

Thank you so much for telling me!

Dont go by time try to refer everything to weight more you know what i mean. Age doesnt mean a whole lot with reptiles everything differs from individual to individual. They all grow at different rates and stuff so try to refer to how big it is when judging things like appropriate food or habitat sizing. Hope that helps!

Hi everyone,

He ate a fuzzy on Sunday just fine, but is still having trouble pooping. He's got a big lump of very awful smelling poop stuck at the end of his tail, and it's red looking ):

I've attached two photos... can anyone offer any opinions?

Thank you so much!
http://i.imgur.com/Uw7Drve.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/R5FW3d2.jpg

oh my! You can try soaking him in warm water for a bit to see if it moves things a long. If that doesn't help, you can try to "massage" him to help him poop. Poor thing! :( I hope you can help the little fella out...

Oh, poor guy! I know a warm soak has helped Magnus move things along in the past. Not so pleasant to clean out of the bathroom sink, but definitely better than keeping it in! If that gets worse, or maybe even before it gets any worse, perhaps a vet visit is in order. I've never seen that kind of redness before.

Thanks for the advice everyone! He seems to be feeling much better today after getting it all out and is having some fun playing between the windowpane and the screen, but now his tail is rather swollen... which is somewhat confusing because when held up to the sunlight, there doesn't appear to be anything in there... it's just bloated?

I think I will make an appointment for tomorrow, but thank you all for your help! This is such a great community (:
http://i.imgur.com/XcexpL3.jpg

I'm not sure why nobody said this after the first post you made, but there is definitely something wrong with his vent area. You need to get that animal to a vet. The picture in post #1 is definitely a medical issue and the most recent pic does not look good at all.

I don't mean to hit you while you're down, but this is why you should take your animal to a reptile vet when it's got something wrong with it rather than rely on crackpot advice from internet heroes to solve medical issues.

Hi everyone, I just wanted to post an update in case anyone else encounters this issue (I hope not!) Pokey went to the vet yesterday and had a fecal exam. They said he had an overgrowth of flagellate parasites and that he had likely had them since I brought him home from the pet store - hence why he's had trouble gaining weight. They tube-fed him some special carnivorous mush with metronidazole benzoate to help him gain weight and fight the parasites. He is at a critical stage, and I have to closely monitor him so that he doesn't go into refeeding, but I love the little guy and I know he can pull through!

Thank you for your input MrLang. You are right, I am new at pet ownership, and just wanted to get some feedback, but diagnoses should be left to the professionals.

Hope everything turns out OK - Please keep us posted!!!!

Andy-:snake: