20yo bp sudden loose stool

[Bogertophis]

As you can probably tell, I've known my share of challenging snakes that didn't want to eat. (Most of them were BPs...but not all.)

You're feeding your snake too frequently for an adult snake. "Weekly" is for neonates & hatchlings, not adults. That's probably part of your trouble in getting her to take dead (f/t or p/k) prey...she's just not that hungry. I do understand how unnerving it can be though, for a snake to fast, since we can't help comparing them to how we'd feel, or how poorly our other pets would fare, but truly snakes have evolved to fast during cold seasons. I can also understand how you might be nervous about "rocking the boat" with any changes.

As far as treatments for parasites or pathogens, it's essential to find out WHAT needs treating, & not just guessing what will work. That's where a stool sample & a vet visit comes in.
Usually it's a matter of administering an oral medication, or an injection. It really depends on what the cause is though...there's many possibilities & the wrong medication won't help, & could hurt.

As long as your vet has experience with snakes, that's the main thing, as they're quite different from the typical warm-blooded pets, & different drugs are either safe or unsafe for them. It sure would be interesting to take some fresh stool from one of the live rats too. Not everything that affects warm blooded animals can affect our cold-blooded buddies: while I think what's ailing your snake is LIKELY from the sick rats (because it's a pretty big "coincidence" otherwise), it might not be, you never know.

[jenaero]

I always still try p/k during fast and to try and break the fast. It hasn't worked in years. I just figure as long as she IS eating that I'll just give her more often. I do know that fasting is normal and I don't stress over it anymore. I just figured get more in there while she's taking it y'know..

My vet is a herp vet and he's helped me with countless critters over the years.. 100% trust him. Just have to wait til Monday.

[jenaero]

While I was waiting in the exam room for the vet she started to drool. I have literally never seen that before.. First thing he checked was her mouth.. There was a lot of clear stuff coming up from her stomach in the back of her throat. He said based on her current housing situation, no pets in the house, no exposure etc., she picked up something from a sick rat. I was not able to get a stool sample but he said he wouldn't jump to the conclusion of parasites. Said we can test if I want but she'll be getting baytril injections twice a week to start and then down to once a week for a bit. Unsure of the timeframe but will test for parasites if this doesn't improve. He used a bunch of words that I don't recall but basically said it's a stomach bug.

On to a nice surprise... since her feeding response has been so strong lately I decided to try a f/t asf and she took it immediately. They run smaller than her usual size but I'll just do two at a time. Hopefully it wasn't a one-off and she will continue to take them.

[Homebody]

I wish your ball python a speedy recovery.

[Bogertophis]

Yes, likewise...I'm so glad you got her in promptly- let's hope Baytril does the job. As far as "drooling", with their elongated bodies, sometimes a snake that's handled right after they drink a lot of water may drool out some of the water when they're tilted forward, but I assume your vet knows the difference between plain water & actual stomach contents or mucus.

Since now she's eating again, it might be wise to grab the next fresh stool sample for the vet to test- to make sure Baytril is the right drug for the issue, or in case there's more than one issue. You can probably just drop the stool sample off to the vet (call first) because he's already seen & is treating this snake.

As far as feeding ASFs, I hope you have a reliable supply of them & don't mind the cost, since BPs usually prefer them & some may resist switching back to domestic rodents, in case you're not aware? But getting her to take f/t of anything is a big improvement! And in the future, you might use an ASF as an "appetizer" & then give a second (small!) domestic f/t after using the technique I described earlier, to get her to fully accept f/t domestic rodents. Anyway-