Some feeding confusion

[RedRabbit]

So the good news is, he ate normally last Thursday evening. The less encouraging news is, he still hasn't pooped, and as far as I can tell, I haven't seen any liquid urine or solid urates from him either. So last poop date was 1/7/19, and it's also been around 2 weeks since I've seen any pee from him. The latter is probably what's worrying me more, because I don't want to be late in detecting anything affecting kidney function. However, when I've brought him out to handle him, he's still been alert and moving normally, and I cannot feel any kind of obstruction at or near his vent. The vent area itself looks unremarkable. Still no sausage butt either, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for to assess whether he looks overall "bloated" or not. At this point, what should I do?

[Jamiekerk]

So the good news is, he ate normally last Thursday evening. The less encouraging news is, he still hasn't pooped, and as far as I can tell, I haven't seen any liquid urine or solid urates from him either. So last poop date was 1/7/19, and it's also been around 2 weeks since I've seen any pee from him. The latter is probably what's worrying me more, because I don't want to be late in detecting anything affecting kidney function. However, when I've brought him out to handle him, he's still been alert and moving normally, and I cannot feel any kind of obstruction at or near his vent. The vent area itself looks unremarkable. Still no sausage butt either, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for to assess whether he looks overall "bloated" or not. At this point, what should I do?

Could be like my male he never poops or passes urates until he sheds


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[Treeman]

I wouldn't worry at all about the not pooping. My BP poops on average maybe once every third meal, and that's when he's eating regularly. When he goes on his winter fasts, he can go a while without pooping, simply because he doesn't have anything in him. I don't really worry about constipation unless I can feel a blockage, or see a particularly large buildup near the "poop chute"

[ballpythonsrock2]

It is notable that his last meal 7 days ago was a bit on the larger size.

I had a snake do the same thing once. I might have been wrong but at the time I wondered if it had hurt it's jaw biting a rat. Anyway I sized down to smaller size. I think I even tried large mice for a while. It eventually went back to small rats.

I would do a large mouse to see what happens. If it don't swallow the mouse than I'd say it might not be hungry. But usually when a snake isn't hungry it avoids the meal or just smells it and goes away from it.

Or maybe this is just a weird type of winter fast and it wants to keep them squeezing muscles in shape.

Opps I missed where you said it ate last Thursday. Glad for that anyway.

[RedRabbit]

Thanks for the reassurance, guys. It's good to know that it's not uncommon for BPs to go for several weeks without needing to pee or poop. I think I just need to keep reminding myself that I can't set my expectations for urine output and bowel movements based on what would be "normal" for humans, or even mammals in general.

[RedRabbit]

Dropping in for another update on Iggy - still no poop or pee, but he once again ate promptly yesterday evening. He's looking pretty plump, but quite honestly I don't know if this is bulk he's expected to put on as he grows, or just a whole lot of poop, lol. At any rate, he looks reasonably comfortable and alert, so I'll give him until next week before worrying again about if any further intervention is needed. In the meantime, here are pics of him just for the heck of it! First one is from a couple weeks ago, second is from the day before yesterday. (No handling on feeding day, of course.)

[MR Snakes]

Great looking snek!

[RedRabbit]

Great looking snek!

Heh, thank you!

[RedRabbit]

I am exasperated but relieved to report that, after a whopping 37 days, Iggy FINALLY pooped. He continued eating like clockwork the whole time, so he had 4 or 5 feedings' worth saved up. At around the 30-day mark, his butt was looking very sausage-y so I tried the warm water soak, but all that came of it was some pee and three large urate blobs. It reassured me that his vent wasn't obstructed, but that was about it, and then it was back to the waiting game.

What finally worked? The "darn it, I JUST cleaned that!" technique. Yep, I decided it was time to deep-clean his enclosure anyway, so he went into a little temporary tub while everything was getting washed and wiped. Right as I picked him up to put him back in his fresh and pretty home, I got a funny feeling and eyed his rear end. Sure enough ... his tail started lifting up. I immediately pulled him back towards the temp tub, just barely in time for the tub to catch a powerful JET-STREAM of pee, followed immediately by a poop pile bigger than anything my DOG has ever produced. I don't think there's a moral to this story, but ... hooray?

[Bogertophis]

Nothing like the magic of a clean cage to "inspire" a snake! I believe they'd laugh if only they could... Congratulations!

He's a really pretty snake, btw...and he looks very healthy.