Rat-Lax?!? What is it? Is it safe for your snakes?

Recently I was talking to a fellow snake owner about my constipated BP. He told me when he has a constipated snake he injects mineral or veg oil in his frozen thawed mice/rats. Is the oil harmful to snakes for them to ingest? I've already when to the vet for my BP and I'm going to stick to his regiment; but hearing this really peeked my curriosity. Anyone even hear of this or have you tryed it?

What make you think that your BP is constipated?

Constipation is in fact very rare in BP as they are very efficient, the expectation of the owners however often does not match the reality of how digestion and bowel movement work.

The frequency that a snake has a bowel movement depends a lot on the frequency of the feeding schedule. A younger snake will utilize most of the prey for nourishment and not have a bowel movement as often. Adult snakes may not even have regular bowel movements. As Deb asked, what makes you think your snake even needs a laxative? Not to be rude, but I have never heard of such a thing in my life and I would not risk doing such a thing to my own snake. It just doesn't sound safe or reasonable in my opinion.

SMH......
If you think your snake needs to poop but wont either clean the tub OR place them on your clean bed.
I can guarantee they will go!!

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Originally Posted by Deborah

What make you think that your BP is constipated?

Constipation is in fact very rare in BP as they are very efficient, the expectation of the owners however often does not match the reality of how digestion and bowel movement work.

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He was very bloated for a small guy after I bought him. I watched him try and pass a poop and some blood came out, so thats when I brought him to the vet, and they gave him an enema and got the blockage out. I don't know if there could still be some in there but im just following what the vet said to do which is feed him 2-3 fuzzies every 5 days opposed to the 1 med mouse ever 5 that I was feeding him (150g BP). I've only had him for 3 1/2 weeks or so and I've done a lot of reading on how to take care of these guys, but im still learning.

But have you heard of this oil thing? I don't want to try it, I just thought it was weird enough to make a post about.

Yikes, I don't take advice from random pet owners, or random vets for that matter, it'd have to be someone long experienced keeping, breeding or treating reptiles for me to consider it. If this guys snakes are constipated on the regular, I'd be questioning his husbandry and thinking he's likely creating more problems than he's fixing. I've never had a constipated snake and don't think it's very common if properly kept/fed.

I do not think he need a laxative lol, it was just brought up in a conversation and I had never heard of it. Im just asking if anyone has.

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Originally Posted by GoingPostal

Yikes, I don't take advice from random pet owners, or random vets for that matter, it'd have to be someone long experienced keeping, breeding or treating reptiles for me to consider it. If this guys snakes are constipated on the regular, I'd be questioning his husbandry and thinking he's likely creating more problems than he's fixing. I've never had a constipated snake and don't think it's very common if properly kept/fed.

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Thats what I was thinking. I really wanted to say to the guy your probably getting it sick, but I didn't know him and didn't want to argue. I don't know any better anyways I've only had mine for 3 1/2 weeks and am not considering experimenting in any way or taking advice from randoms. Thats why I ask my questions here.:)

Soaking the snake is how I would deal with any suspected bowel movement problems. However I think pit might be onto something....

Usually the bloating issues that can be seen in snake is usually either all gas, or there is a blockage generally cause by dry urate, poor hydration can cause this, however in both cases a enema is not needed, the vet took advantage of the fact that you have limited experience.

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2-3 fuzzies every 5 days opposed to the 1 med mouse ever 5

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A 150 grams snakes fed 2 to 3 fuzzies every 5 days is not gonna poop any time soon since the animal will utilize most of the prey item for growth.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Usually the bloating issues that can be seen in snake is usually either all gas, or there is a blockage generally cause by dry urate, poor hydration can cause this, however in both cases a enema is not needed, the vet took advantage of the fact that you have limited experience.

A 150 grams snakes fed 2 to 3 fuzzies every 5 days is not gonna poop any time soon since the animal will utilize most of the prey item for growth.

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So should I go back to the diet I was feeding him? I had already posted a thread asking if the vets advice was credible and the answer was he was trying to get my BP's digestive tract back to proper working conditions.

Btw love how you guys are so concerned, it's really helpful thank you

As long as you are feeding from equal to the widest point of your snake to a bit larger for a bump you are doing fine.

I will say that in my opinion a dosing of mineral oil will put a strain on the gall bladder, liver, and digestive tract. I hope that this is not a habit with your friend, for it could have life shortening effects in the long run.

Step 1: Make sure your temperatures and humidity are where they should be. Make sure your substrate is unlikely to cause an impaction (ball pythons seldom get impactions, but you don't want to create one).
Step 2: Feed your ball python an appropriate sized prey item every 5-7 days.
Step 3: Keep your husbandry up; clean enclosure, water, temps and humidity.

Ball pythons are fairly hardy, in the right environment in captivity they are very unlikely to have issues. Some species are difficult to keep even in the right environment, following the logic of "it is possible to do everything right and still have things go wrong, that is life." With ball pythons, aside from genetic disorders and prior husbandry ghosts, it tends to be very rare that doing everything right will have something go wrong.

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Originally Posted by Reinz

As long as you are feeding from equal to the widest point of your snake to a bit larger for a bump you are doing fine.

I will say that in my opinion a dosing of mineral oil will put a strain on the gall bladder, liver, and digestive tract. I hope that this is not a habit with your friend, for it could have life shortening effects in the long run.

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Deffinetly not a friend haha, just some random dude I was talking with while picking up some food for my BP. From what I'm gathering from everyone here, he is probably hurting his snake pretty bad; unfortunatly I don;t think I'll see him again otherwise I'd probably tell him that he is killing his snake with that.

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Originally Posted by Oxylepy

Step 1: Make sure your temperatures and humidity are where they should be. Make sure your substrate is unlikely to cause an impaction (ball pythons seldom get impactions, but you don't want to create one).
Step 2: Feed your ball python an appropriate sized prey item every 5-7 days.
Step 3: Keep your husbandry up; clean enclosure, water, temps and humidity.

Ball pythons are fairly hardy, in the right environment in captivity they are very unlikely to have issues. Some species are difficult to keep even in the right environment, following the logic of "it is possible to do everything right and still have things go wrong, that is life." With ball pythons, aside from genetic disorders and prior husbandry ghosts, it tends to be very rare that doing everything right will have something go wrong.

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Everything is how it should be, I check more times than I'd like to admit. The only thing I'm doing questionably is feeding him the smaller prey (fuzzies) but thats orders from my vet. I'm torn between just going back to what I was feeding him (1 med mouse every 5) and just following what the vet had told me because there was undoutable a problem passing feces since there was blood and no feces. On the other hand he could have been impacted from the pet store since the substrait they were using was more like dirt than the substrait I'm using for him now.

Fuzzy mice??
I hope not.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

Fuzzy mice??
I hope not.

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fuzzy mice yes, thats the vets orders for yah

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Originally Posted by Ragtag

fuzzy mice yes, thats the vets orders for yah

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Vet is an IDIOT........
Out of the egg hopper mice are only good for the first couple meals.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

Vet is an IDIOT........
Out of the egg hopper mice are only good for the first couple meals.

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So what food are you suggesting for a 150g BP?

Either rat pup or small mouse.

This should help.
...and find another vet. Find one with experience with exotics. That vet may see exotics, but find a vet that is knowledgeable about exotics. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d645127385.jpg

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Originally Posted by craigafrechette

This should help.
...and find another vet. Find one with experience with exotics. That vet may see exotics, but find a vet that is knowledgeable about exotics. https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/201...d645127385.jpg

I took a look at that chart earlier and just ordered some rat fuzzies. From the reactions I'm getting from you fellow BP owners, in gonna have to take things into my own hands instead of listening to the vet with his smaller feed regiment. He is around that weight (150g) were that should be a good food source, that won't be hard for him to digest. Thank you all even though this thread wasn't necessarily about my BP :)

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