Constipated Ball .. HELP!

[Lucien]

Hello Experts,

This is my first time posting here so pardon my lack of info, if any.
So i bought a late 2010 Super Pastel ball early February 2013 and have had him ever since. He weighed ~ 450 gms and was 30" when i got him. The breeder said he was used to eating small fresh killed rats, but I tried feeding him FT a week after i got him and ofcourse he didn't eat, he was probably adjusting to his new environment. Anyway, to cut this short, i switched him to FT small after a month of getting him, and fed him one small rat every week successfully. As he started to grow, I thought I'd switch to MED rats which I did early May and he didn't take the first meal, tried again a week later with the same result. He finally ate a med rat towards the end of May, pooped 3 days later and I found some aspen in the poop. I knew he had ingested some when he ate and when i saw it in the poop, I thought it all came back out.

He didn't eat his next meal, or the one after. I weighed him and saw that he had dropped about 30 gms since his last feed. I tried feeding him again the week after but in vain, and noticed a further loss of about 20 gms. I called the vet and she said to give him warm soaks and switch his bedding to newspaper from aspen, which i did. That same week i gave him a SMALL FT rat and he took it, I had to tap it on his nose a couple times to tease him for it though. This helped him gain back some weight but a few days later it started to fall again..this has been happening for a month now, he's been eating well, doesn't poop, and his losing significant weight. He has seven rats in him now, continues to get warm soaks in which he passes normal white urates but hasn't pooped yet.

What am I facing here?? I'm worried about the weight loss..and I want him to poop so I can get a fecal done on him. Can I administer any laxatives myself? Prune juice? If so, how much and how??

He's at 962 gms now ( 982 three days ago ).. His temps and humidity are fine, but he's not as active as he was two weeks ago. He just shed a week ago in one full piece and has fresh water everyday.

Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks a lot guys..

[The Serpent Merchant]

Welcome to the site!

Honestly I don't see anything crazy going on. Keep in mind that a BP isn't going to translate all of the rodent's weight into body mass so your snake should "lose" some weight after the rodent is digested. As for the pooping that seems normal as well, BP's don't need to poop after each meal, some only poop after a shed. When a BP is constipated it is very obvious. The BP's tail will swell up and look like a sausage (thus the term sausage butt) You can post a picture and we can tell you if there is anything to worry about if you are concerned.

I would stop soaking your BP, soaking can stress them out and might be contributing to your feeding issues.

[Lucien]

Thanks a lot Aaron,

You put me at ease. His tail doesn't look swollen at all, I looked at pictures of bloated/constipated snakes and my fellow looks nothing like anything in the pics. His tail isn't firm or anything and still curls around my arm fine when i hold him.

I was wondering why he kept losing all this weight even after the meal was digested( Aren't passing urates a sign of digestion?).

I'll stop soaking him now, but should I continue to feed him? He ate a small AND a medium rat last thursday, almost 190gms of food. Should I feed him again this Thursday? When should I start worrying about constipation/Obstipation/ Impaction?

He just shed beautifully last week.

Thanks a ton again,

Mak

[DooLittle]

Yeah, I wouldn't worry too much about the poo. They will go when they need to. I also would quit soaking him. You might try sticking with small rats for a bit. Maybe he is full longer on the mediums. Thats alot of rat. I would do a small rat weekly. Also, like Aaron said, you aren't going to see the rats weight just add on. It sounds like he is growing fine. They use most of the rat when they are younger. Which is most likely why you aren't seeing much poo.

[Lucien]

Thanks DooLittle, I'm gonna go back to small rats then. Is it normal for them to lose so much weight when they're off feed? He went almost three weeks without eating and lost about 60 grams in that time which was a couple months ago before he started eating again...