My ball python is now entering into her third cycle of constipation. Each time I give her a cycle of soaking and trips to the vet, in which we give her enemas and (for the last cycle) laxatives. The blockage is quite far up inside her, not at the entrance, and is fecal matter, not urates. I can confirm this with at least one X-ray taken during the first bout. She's definitely not gravid.

Obviously, a snake with a healthy appetite that can only eat one mouse every month or so is going to have problems. The frequent soaking has also been leading to a touch of scale rot, and I'd like to get her stable before.

In the middle of the second cycle, my python has been switched into a large Rubbermaid tub with UTH, maintaining a temperature of 83 degrees, with the humidity around 60-70%. She eats adult mice, though she might be about the right size to take a small rat. I've taken her out for exercise since the middle of the second bout and given her belly massages as recommended by the doctor on a daily basis. Still, I keep ending up where I started.

(If the answer is heat, please also tell me how to raise it. Seriously, I've got two UTHs cover nearly the entire bottom of the tank at full strength. I'll have to regulate them at some point, but right now, that just seems ridiculous.)

I can also say that this snake is nearly three years old, and she has never had this problem before. She's been through much harsher winters than this with little or no problems.