Is Somthing Wrong???? Please Help!!

[mars]

My rtb is not active at all during day or night. He dosent even thurmolegulate(sp) the only times he changes hides is when i take him out of a hide (hot side) to handle him (wich he is avtive) and when i put him back he goes to the cool side hide. When he was in his old cage he would move hot side to cool side. So i really dont know whats going on.The reson i thought he wasent active was becouse he only has the hides, water bowl, and a small rock in his cage so maybe he thinks his cage is boring. So i cleaned his cage and put a paper towl tube and a bow with holes cut out in it, and crumpeld newspaper. I just put him back in his cage and he went right back to his hide!!!!!!!!!!!


The
scond thing is he used to poo on his own (once a month) but the last time he pood was 5/21/07 and i had to put him in a bath tub. At first i thought it was normal becouse he was eating 2 adult mice a week for 3 weaks before 5/21/07 (and some people say the fur couses the snake to be constipated(sp)). But he has been on small rats since 5/31/07 and its know 6/18/07 and he still hasent pood. I have had him for 5 months and with know problems tell know. And all his poos have bean dark.

SO IS SOMETHING WRONG WITH MY RTB?????????? PLEASE HELP

[Gooseman]

Haha, you'd be surprised how much we get to talk about poo here!

At this stage in the game there is probably little to worry about, he may just be building up for a monster poo after his next shed. I think constipation is not too far behind the skipped meal ordeal when it comes to problems snake keepers over worry about. Now if he doesnt poo for say, another few weeks then I would definitely head to a vets office, but right now.... I think your fine.

[Shaun J]

Does he eat? How often does he eat? And are his stools runny?

Maybe you should just take him to the vet to make sure he's ok. Even if there's nothing wrong, just take him for a checkup.

[mars]

What about the inactive part????

[Gooseman]

a happy ball python is a ball python you never see. most of the time mine will only sit on the cool side and will only hit up the warm side after a meal to aid in digestion. What are your temps looking like? How are you controlling them?

[Shaun J]

a happy ball python is a ball python you never see. most of the time mine will only sit on the cool side and will only hit up the warm side after a meal to aid in digestion. What are your temps looking like? How are you controlling them?

Yeah but it's a boa

[Christina]

well, to go back to the poo part real quick- from what i understand, rats are more nutritious than mice. so he probably doesn't need to poo as much because he's getting more from substance from the rats. i hope that makes sense.

[Gooseman]

Yeah but it's a boa

oops... slipped out. i know i know... *needs smiley were i hit myself*

however my RTB doesnt use hides, yet he acts the same. Just chills on the cool side until he eats. Other than that he'll only go to the warm side if my ambients drop a few from the a/c. however it's nothing more than 3-4 degrees total. And belly temps stay constant.

[Gooseman]

well, to go back to the poo part real quick- rats are more nutritious than mice. so he probably doesn't need to poo as much because he's getting more from substance from the rats. i hope that makes sense.

by the numbers a rat is more nutritious, however equivalent sized meals should take roughly the same time to digest. Even so, I dont believe there to be any real difference in snakey bahavior due to the mice/rat argument.

[qiksilver]

the first thing to do is take a deep breath. it's good to worry because it shows you care, but you seemed totally worked into a tizzy. if you have things set up correctly, the snake will know what temps it wants to be at. mine never move... ever... well the male does, but the only time i see the female is when i feed her.
poo is poo, sometimes it's regular sometimes it's not. a snake can digest and excrete in as little as a week, or as long as they want which in the case of blood pythons is long, but a boa not going for a month is no reason to worry too much unless something else seems off.