Hasn't poo'd in 3 days and...

*EDIT 5 DAYS

we fed my ball python on the 3rd and we usually wait to hold him till after he poops just so we know he's digested, and he hasn't pooped yet, hes peed that white stuff like 3 times.... soo...
i guess he's probably stressed, but what can i do to make sure he's ok??

i just am super worried about him..

his water gets changed almost everyday. and he's only soaked in the water like once... that i have seen.. but i figure theres a ton of humidity here anyways i live like 6miles from the beach in FL.. and he usually slithers around but i just held him and he was perfect necklace around my neck, squeezing a little. idk,he not moving around as much as he was last week before we fed him... but in his cage he moves alottt..

http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...0908082011.jpg

ANY advice is appreciated....


he has the aspen for his bedding.... should i change to newspaper???

i took the aspen out tonight and replaced it with paper towels..
when he eats i don't want him gettin the aspen stuck in his mouth again..


help... :(


my boyfriend held him the day after he ate for a little bit, which he probably shouldn't have....


and today i changed his water and there were like 5 clear scales floatin in there...

is this stuff abnormal or... am i just freaking out over nothing???

i don't want him to die:(

its 93 deg. in his hide out place and hes sleepin in there all day and he's up all night out of the hideout moving around...




good:snake:bad???


http://i538.photobucket.com/albums/f...08082012-1.jpg:snake:

He's fine. Snakes sometimes go for weeks without a defecation. Don't sweat it. :)

Some of mine go a full month without pooping. I wouldn't be concerned about 5 days.

Mine used to poop like 3-4 days after eating then suddenly it has not pooped in over a month.

Sounds like your doing everything properly. as for handling after feeding, its best to wait 48 hours dont worry about waiting for a poop or you can be waiting weeks!

Unless you have corn snakes or milk snakes, I don't suggest waiting for a poop to clean. Spot clean the aspen and clear the enclosure every 2 weeks or when he lets out a big one.

My ball has gone 3 weeks max. It's nothing like bloods, which I hear can go over 2-3 months at a time! :O

oh man, thanks for the fast answers!!!


thats a huge weight off my back. i'm def. not as stressed..

what about his underside scales coming off. not a ton, but i found a few in his water, then i saw underneath him when he was going up his tree and it was like flaking off a tiny bit.


i have a good book on Ball Pythons, but this kind of stuff isn't in there.

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Originally Posted by TaRawr

oh man, thanks for the fast answers!!!


thats a huge weight off my back. i'm def. not as stressed..

what about his underside scales coming off. not a ton, but i found a few in his water, then i saw underneath him when he was going up his tree and it was like flaking off a tiny bit.


i have a good book on Ball Pythons, but this kind of stuff isn't in there.

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How are you measuring temperature? Do you have a light that the snake could wrap himself around and burn himself?

Are his eyes blue like he's about to shed?
Pictures of his belly would be helpful. ;]

Sometimes I find that when they are about to go into shed, they hold back their poop. Then when they finish their shed cycle they release it. Maybe he's going to shed.

Also, snakes (especially ball pythons) don't always poop on a set schedule. I have one that poops practically every 5 days, and then I have another that just went two months without pooping to no ill effects.

I wouldn't worry too much about it. Keep an eye on the end of his tail. If you start to notice a bulge there, he may be constipated. Usually a warm bath relaxes the muscles enough to convince them to poop.

Everything that you've described sounds normal and healthy. It's especially good that you knew to take the aspen out while he eats. The aspen can be a big help in keeping humidity up, though. Maybe you could provide newspaper over the entire bottom of the enclosure, and then offer Aspen only over half of it? I don't know; you'd have to find a way to work it.

Anyway, don't worry about him. He'll poop; give him time. :)

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Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

How are you measuring temperature? Do you have a light that the snake could wrap himself around and burn himself?

Are his eyes blue like he's about to shed?
Pictures of his belly would be helpful. ;]

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as for temp, i have a thermometer that is suctioned on the tank and there's a rod on the end of a wire thats under his new bedding inside his hideout spot.

and we don't have a light in there, he's near the window so he has all natural lighting.

his eyes aren't blue like he's about to shed either..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TaRawr

as for temp, i have a thermometer that is suctioned on the tank and there's a rod on the end of a wire thats under his new bedding inside his hideout spot.

and we don't have a light in there, he's near the window so he has all natural lighting.

his eyes aren't blue like he's about to shed either..

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Snakes don't need UV light like lizards do, so a window might cause more harm than good unless it has some sort of heavy drape over it.
Drafts can make temperature changes annoying, but if your not having trouble, then I wouldn't worry about it.

What does his belly scales look like? Are they coming off in whole SCALES or just the outer skin of the scale (like a shed sort of)?

Double check your temperatures and make sure there isn't a hot spot that he could've burned himself on. Other than that, I can't think of anything else to cause belly scales to fall off.

Temp's in the hideout about 87 right now. well now that you mention it, with the aspenin therethis morning when i was changing it to the papertowels,i noticed a spot where he moved all the aspen and it was just the bottom of the tank.. almost above the heating pad.. maybe he did singe the scales on his tummy. they felt like scales, but like shed...
and it'sonly a few of them..

oh and, itsnot direct sunlight. theres a screened in porch outside the window with a roof over it.. just so he has natural light during the day and nice darkness at night. i made sure not to have direct sunlight.

and theres blinds on the window, they're never more than halfway open...

He is fine:gj:. If some time passes and your still concerened a soak in warm water helps them poo but after only a week or so nothing to worry about.
The white stuff your refering to is urates ( urate (n.) A salt of uric acid. )

can we make a poop sticky??????

Or something that pops up when you log in that says, bp's can hold their poop for weeks????

hahahaha

"urates"--- "pee rocks"--- same thing.. lol..

kidding,

Thanks for informing me:).

i'll try to remember that one :):)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Patrick Long

can we make a poop sticky??????

Or something that pops up when you log in that says, bp's can hold their poop for weeks????

hahahaha

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No.

..
:P

Check the temperature on the glass directly above the heating pad. If it's over 100, you should lower the temps. :]

how would i lower the temp of a heating pad.. its the stickon one from th pet store...

its not too hot..not 100 at leastt but, just wondering..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TaRawr

how would i lower the temp of a heating pad.. its the stickon one from th pet store...

its not too hot..not 100 at leastt but, just wondering..

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Welll, technically you should have a dimmer, thermostat, or herpstat controlling your UTH. All UTH's get much too hot for any snake and need to be controlled.
If you only have one snake, I suggest getting a dimmer of some sort to plug your UTH into. You'll have to wiggle around with the temperatures to get it right, but it'll be well worth it.

looks like i'll hvae to shop for a dimmer this weekend then.. lol. :)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TaRawr

looks like i'll hvae to shop for a dimmer this weekend then.. lol. :)

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You can probably go to ace hardware and get one from the lighting section. A light dimmer would work alright. For about 50 cents.

Or you could go to a petstore and get a zoomed dimmer which is like 6 bucks or something.
Anything is better than nothing. I personally have a 70 dollar thermostat to regulate temperature even with temp changes in my room. ;]

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Originally Posted by TaRawr

looks like i'll hvae to shop for a dimmer this weekend then.. lol. :)

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I bought a zoomed rheostat and it would not turn it down low enough, so be warned. It was a waste of $20 (I had not stuck the uth to the underside of teh tank so I was able to pad it and lower the temp enough that way). Instead of wasting money on that rheostat I should have spent $3 more and got a zoomed thermostat online.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sonya610

I bought a zoomed rheostat and it would not turn it down low enough, so be warned. It was a waste of $20 (I had not stuck the uth to the underside of teh tank so I was able to pad it and lower the temp enough that way). Instead of wasting money on that rheostat I should have spent $3 more and got a zoomed thermostat online.

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I have a zoomed rheostat and it works just fine.
You probably had a faulty one.

i had the same problem with the zoomed rheostat.it only dimmed the pad to 108 degrees.and they are over 20 dollars here,where did you find it for 6?
here is a link to the ones i use.they dont buzz or make a sound like others.
http://www.dimmers.net/credenza_lamp_dimmer.asp

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Originally Posted by blackcrystal22

I have a zoomed rheostat and it works just fine.
You probably had a faulty one.

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Maybe you had more stuff plugged into it? I only had one small UTH plugged into mine. Like butter said, even at the very very lowest setting it was still going over 100.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Sonya610

I bought a zoomed rheostat and it would not turn it down low enough, so be warned. It was a waste of $20 (I had not stuck the uth to the underside of teh tank so I was able to pad it and lower the temp enough that way). Instead of wasting money on that rheostat I should have spent $3 more and got a zoomed thermostat online.

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Mine was the same. Turned all the way down, and still couldn't get it to drop bellow 100 on a ZooMed UTH. I took it back and got a Ranco.

ookkkk now its starting to sound like gibberish to me. lol....

UTH is the under tank heating pad???
right??

i have a heating pad underneath on one side, and its like 90 ish down there,,

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TaRawr

ookkkk now its starting to sound like gibberish to me. lol....

UTH is the under tank heating pad???
right??

i have a heating pad underneath on one side, and its like 90 ish down there,,

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UTH does = Under Tank Heater. You say it's 90ish, what does your digital thermometer probe read when it's laid on top of the substrate inside the warm side hide?

Here's a sticky to help you understand how to use a lamp dimmer as a rheostat.

http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...432#post873432

Normally you can find these type of lamp dimmers at any Home Depot, Lowe's, WalMart, etc. They generally run about 9 to 10 dollars but the nice thing is once you upgrade to a proper tstat you can always re-use this rheostat/lamp dimmer on your household lamps (I love multi-use stuff! :))

normally its at like 91. right now he's laying all curled up on top of it so its at 93 degrees.

ohhh thanks for the dimmer info!!!