1 month old baby ball eats 1 fuzzy a week, still no poop... Is this normal?

He fully swallows them, no regurgitation, but i have yet to see and feces or urine in his enclosure. He has his UTH with thermostat that stays at 86-87 degrees. Aspen bedding and clean water every night. This is my first ball python so it does worry me just because i read online that they should poop every 3-5 days after a meal. Its been 3 weeks. If anyone can help me out on what to do or if hes fine just let me know please. Sorry if i sound like im worrying to much but i just want to be sure hes fine and reassure myself. Thanks :)

It happens, you don't have much to worry about. Does he have the "sausage butt" look yet?

Bump the hotspot up to about 90 degrees over a week or so and keep his humidity up and you will find a nice poop shortly after :)

Some babies poop a lot, and some don't. Once you get his hotspot up he will start digesting food a little better.

Are you feeding a fuzzy rat or mouse?

If a mouse: a fuzzy is much too small for your little one, I would bump to at least RAT fuzzies or mouse hoppers/weanlings. They may look big compared to your guy but he can easily handle them.

If you're feeding a fuzzy rat then perhaps he's just not ready to go yet: personally I've never had a BP poop 3-5 days after eating. The only snakes I have that poop consistently are my colubrids and bull snake and I don't even think I've seen poop three days after a feed with them either.

Good luck!

Sometimes they just don't poop, it worried me at times to but now I don't worry about it. I just fed one of my male adult balls a large rat for the last three weeks and he just pooped a few days ago. That sure wasn't a pretty sight to see (and smell) to clean up lol!! That poo was bigger than cat poo!

If you are feeding fuzzy mice you are underfeeding.

BP do not have a schedule they go whenever they need to, it can be a few days to a few weeks, what you want to look for is signs of impaction which would translate in a bulge near the cloaca.

Hatchling are using most of the prey item for their growth therefore it is VERY important to feed an appropriate size prey, hatchling get started on hopper mice or crawler rats so either way the prey offered is not adequate for a 1 month old animal.

No food or inadequate food size = no defecation.

The fuzzy is translating directly into raw snake power - none is wasted!

I'm willing to bet he's using whatever he gets. It can be a sign of under feeding. My hatchlings are only on rat fuzzies for the first 3 to 5 feeding which happen every 3 days. By a month old they're on pups usually. I keep them in a 3 day feeding schedule until they're getting close to 300 grams and then they get bumped down to a 5 day Schedule until they are 700 to 800.

Like others have said, you could be slightly underfeeding. I feed my hatchlings rat pups right from the egg and usually keep them hotter than my adults. Around 90 to 92 degrees. :)

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Originally Posted by MarcsReptileShed

He fully swallows them, no regurgitation, but i have yet to see and feces or urine in his enclosure. He has his UTH with thermostat that stays at 86-87 degrees. Aspen bedding and clean water every night. This is my first ball python so it does worry me just because i read online that they should poop every 3-5 days after a meal. Its been 3 weeks. If anyone can help me out on what to do or if hes fine just let me know please. Sorry if i sound like im worrying to much but i just want to be sure hes fine and reassure myself. Thanks :)

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You said your thermostat reads 86-87 degrees? Do you mean thermometer? What is your surface temp above the UTH?

thanks for everybodies help, will deffinately try live hoppers, i dont think the pet store around me sells rat pups :( but hopefully this will work. I will try the hopper tonight and then see what happens and let you guys know! Again thanks for the help and info :)

If you're on FB search for a local reptile group and see if you can find a private source for feeder rats - in the long run it'll be much cheaper than feeding mice.

Pretty soon you'll wish he didn't poop. :P My 900 gram Orange Ghost just dropped me a load the same size my 9 lb cat leaves me in the litter box!

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Originally Posted by Punkymom

Pretty soon you'll wish he didn't poop. :P My 900 gram Orange Ghost just dropped me a load the same size my 9 lb cat leaves me in the litter box!

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Lol cause its true!