Constipated? Please help!

[sorakitty]

So I'm just wondering, how can you tell if a snake is constipated? I fed my girl about a week ago, and she has yet to go poo. I know people told me she'll go when she's ready. The other feedings she would of gone by now, but the other feeding where with small mice. This time it was a decent sized rat. Deff bigger then the mice. So I'm sure she needs more time do what ever she has to do. Her temps are 94 uth side (the probe is under her substance so I assume that it might be a degree or so less on top) and 80 on the other with her humidity around 60%. She's due to feed tomorrow. So I have a few questions, should I still feed her tomorrow? and if so what size (smaller or same size)? At what point should I give her a luke warm bath? And at what point should I be concerned if she hasn't gone by x amount of days?
I'm still learning as I go, and I've read it can be a serious issue if the don't go by a certain amount of time. I can post photo's if you guys would like any.
Oh, also, she did leave me a nice pile of urinate about 3 days after she ate(I don't know if that's important or not but I figured I'd add it on just incase).

[Vypyrz]

Just keep feeding her on schedule with the appropriate sized meals. Mine only go about once a month. Usually it's about a 3 in, 1 out schedule. Plus the bigger meal may take a little longer to process. She will be ok...

[Kaorte]

Yes, feed her tomorrow.

I personally would not give my snake a bath just to make it crap. They will crap when they need to.

The longest I have had a snake wait to poo was about 5 weeks, but they can go longer. I usually find that they like to poo right around when they shed.

Please don't worry about when your snake uses the bathroom. As long as her rear end isn't hard (instead of slightly squishy) then it is not an issue. I have honestly heard of maybe a handful of impaction cases. None of which had become "serious issues" so I don't know where you heard that. Impaction is more common with insectivores who commonly eat a lot of substrate with the bugs they try to catch. Ball pythons have such an intense digestive system that even ingesting a ton of substrate won't lead to impaction.

They don't poop every time they eat. Kind of like how you don't poop after every meal three times a day. Perhaps you go once a day or once every other day . Its similar with snakes, except they have a veeeery slow digestive system so it takes much longer for them to digest everything.

[ballmom]

I got my little girl in November (she is an 09 baby) when she was on mice she went like clock work. Now that we have her on rats she goes when she sheads which may mean up to 3 or 4 rats in at one time.

I was told that as long as she is eating she is a happy snake.

[kilabyte]

I have my girl on large mice and have her since 3/9. It took her 4 feedings/weeks before she 1st went. Once she went SHE WENT. I would not worry they go when they need to.

[sorakitty]

Okay. Thanks for explaining it better every one. Like I mentioned, when I fed her the mice she went like just the day before her next feeding, so I was a little concerned at she hadn't gone. I assumed it would take a little longer for her digest the rat, but I was still a little worried. And I read on a different forum site about how it can turn into a "serious problem". I'll try and not worry myself about her bathroom use. I'm just one of those people who gets paranoid about the smallest things. Especially when it has to do with new things. I'll just keep an eye out to make sure the end of her body isn't hard.

[don15681]

If she's new and hasn't taken a dump for you yet. then don't feed her right away. take it slow until she goes. I would feed her smaller than normal until she goes. a snake won't eat for months and then start. keepers make the mistake on feeding too much too fast. I have a female spider that a 1 year of age was over 1500 grams. I offer food to my snakes often and I get them to size fast . but I won't slam a snake with food until I know her digestive track is working and normal.

[blackcrystal22]

Ball pythons don't always poop on a schedule or as soon as you'd think they would. Some hold it in for a couple weeks.
It's normal, just feed him once a week. If you notice a hard bulge that lasts for a few days around his vent and he hasn't defecated in a few weeks, then you can soak him.

[sorakitty]

If she's new and hasn't taken a dump for you yet. then don't feed her right away. take it slow until she goes.

She's not that new. I've had her for a month. She's new in the sense that I have never owned a snake before, so I don't know everything about them and how they should act, how often some tend to go, thing's along that line.
I did offer her the rat today, and she striked and is eating it now. She's eating it backwards though. I almost began to panic, but then I realized I've read on here it's not to big a deal if they eat it backwards. I assume she might be eating it backwards because she is entering "blue". I just noticed her eyes are clouded and her color is faded from the amazing glow it had after her shed with me.
Thanks again to everyone who explained everything for me so I know what's going on.