A little worried about my ball passing her mice

[Riv]

Frankly im a little concerned about how infrequently she's been defecating. My fiance says that he cleaned out some feces mid september, but she's eaten quite a bit since then, and I havent seen anything but urates lately. Heres her feeding chart for the last month. *Just for the record, her feedings are so close together because shes pretty under weight. Its temorary until she's an appropriate weight for her age and size*

9/9-Fuzzy
9/16-Fuzzy
Poop
9/23-Fuzzy
9/27-Fuzzy
9/30-Small Mouse
10/3-Small Mouse
10/6-Small Mouse


I cleaned out the substrate again today while my fiance was feeding her, and there was nothing but urates. Should I be worried? Five meals no poop?

[C&H Exotic Morphs]

Hatchlings and small juveniles can go quite awhile without pooping. This is because they are using almost everything you feed them to gain weight and grow.
Since your little female is already under weight she may not have anything to poop out.

Also from seeing your pics and reading your other thread; if I remember correctly you said she was 8-9 months old and 150 grams; I would try to get her switched over to rat pups and get her on a 5-7 day feeding schedule.

[Pollux]

i'm not sure, but for an eight month old bp, it should be eating larger than a small mouse. how underweight is yours?
mine is only 5-6 months old and already pounding weaned - small rats, but on longer time intervals, maybe 6-7 days once.
according to the folks here, young bp tend to defecate less as they are absorbing more from their food, basically its part of the growing process.

mine pooped after her 4th meal since her first poop.

[Riv]

Thats good to hear. Ive been feeding her more frequently in order to get her to a better weight, but as of today before she ate she's still only 174G. Im assuming some of that weight is whats left from those mice she ate. Am I feeding her too frequently then? She's taken every meal ive offered her since we got over her anorexia. There was one meal she didnt seem too enthused and missed her mark twice, but every other time shes eaten it only took half a second for her to strike and coil.

Beleive me I would LOVE to get her on rat pups but I cant seem to find any. Hell I think she's just now going to be able to get down a medium mouse safely.. But I've looked at Petsmart, Todays Pet, and Petco and I havet seen any frozen rats whatsoever. Just mice, so ive been working with whats been available. Where do you all get yours?

[LotusCorvus]

Wow, well I feel better now. I was about to make a thread just like this XD

As for rats, you can try and find out if there are any regular animal/herp expos or events near you. There's normally plenty of people selling live and frozen feeders of all sorts there. There's also always ordering online but the shipping charges can be pretty killer, especially if you're only ordering for a small number of snakes. Or even do a little networking here, find out if there are any other herpers on this site that either breed rats, knows a good rat source, or that you could go in with for online purchases to make the shipping charge worth it.

[Riv]

Theres definitely potential there. I had planned on breeding my own once I got a few more snakes, but while im only at one youre right theres really no point. Its too bad they dont carry them at pet stores. Ive got a few friends in the area with snake collections. Ill ask where they get rats. Theres always the option of double feeding mice I suppose, but that seems kind of troublesome. I dont know why it puts me off it just seems like a weird thing to do. XD

[rabernet]

Theres definitely potential there. I had planned on breeding my own once I got a few more snakes, but while im only at one youre right theres really no point. Its too bad they dont carry them at pet stores. Ive got a few friends in the area with snake collections. Ill ask where they get rats. Theres always the option of double feeding mice I suppose, but that seems kind of troublesome. I dont know why it puts me off it just seems like a weird thing to do. XD

There are quite a few breeders in the Maryland area - heck, Ralph is up there. I'd ask around and see who they're getting their feeders from. Check mom & pop pet stores, they almost always have feeders. Petland even has rat feeders in the back.

[AK907]

she's still only 174G.

Hell I think she's just now going to be able to get down a medium mouse safely.

At 174g she will have absolutely no problem eating a medium mouse. Even large, retired breeders wouldn't be a problem. I think you underestimate what they are capable of eating. They are more than able to eat meals in excess of half their weight, although I don't recommend feeding them meals that large. I would offer her mice/rats in the 25g range, which would be roughly 15% of her body weight. When you can find them get her switched to rats. You'll notice a BIG difference after switching.

[Riv]

Ill have to talk to my old friend google and see if I can find anyone in the area = P Im glad to hear theres a good amount around here. that means somebodies more than likely getting frozen rats somewhere XDD

Also, the box her fuzzies came in said that they were 30 grams a pop. And Im not looking at the box, but I I remember correctly, the box of Small Mice says they weigh 46 grams a piece. As far as her meal sizes go, Even if she was capable of taking as large as you mentioned, im not sure she'd actually go for it. I guess I figured such a large meal might scare or freak her out because it was a drastic jump?

[Riv]

Hooray! I found a place very easily actually XD Its called House of the Tropicals.
Their website says they carry Frozen Small rats, Large Rats, Mice and guinea pigs. Not that Ill be feeding her guinea pigs haha. Are small rats going to be too big though? Should I give her a pack of medium mice before I give small rats a go?