Are my BPs healthy weights?

[Flicker]

Yep, sounds about right.
Although from your previous posts you have said that you house them together. Food refusal is very common with BP's housed together. Although you might not be having problems now, it would probably be more beneficial for them to be housed separately, especially if you are going to get a fecal done for each of them. That way you can tell who's poo is who's (haha).

A fecal float checks for parasites that could be leaching the nutrition from your BP causing them to either loose weight, or gain it very slowly. I am pretty sure only a vet can do it. I don't think a petstore would even know what one was.

Yup! I'm looking into a larger cage so I can add a divider-I really don't want to deal with tubs--They seem less secure than glass tanks and my Bps are major escape artists.

Would you reccomend separating a tank with something NOT transparent or using tubs?

[Flicker]

The idea of tubs is growing on me... In their an informational thread? I skimmed and I didn't see it stickied..

[Malpaso]

I have read is possible to breed something like "bonsai-BP". Only what you need to do is feed them less. Not let them starving. Just feed less than usual for first one or two years and they would not grow... I do not know how big nonsense it is or not...

[frankykeno]

I'll just increase their diet a little, and if I'm still having problems, I'll see a vet. I was planning to take them to our local petstore for a checkup on Tuesday anyway. ^_^

Your petstore has a vet?

Yeah, they do that sometime, but I take the hint and get them food as soon as I can. I think the main problem is that i waited WAYYYYYYYY too much time to switch them to rats. They are very picky eaters and used to refuse rats all the time, so I just kept them on largish mice. They're finally eating rats now and I think they're already putting on weight--and They're stopped cruising since I started them on rats too... I think that sounds pretty accurate, don't you?

Many bp's grow quite fine on mice. It's not a mice or rats thing, it's about providing the right total volume of prey each week. If you feed rats that might be one rat, if you feed mice that might be enough mice to equal the volume of one rat. It's also about providing a prey animal that is itself in top condition. No matter how much you feed, if the prey animal is dehydrated, underfed or sickly, it doesn't provide enough for your snake to grow much on.

[QUOTE}And, just wondering, what is the purpose of the fectal? Could parasites be causing a increased motabalism or something? And do they need special equipment to do it?--or does a petstore have the knowhow?[/QUOTE]

Again, I would ask, does your petstore have a vet on staff or that visits there? Most petstores quite honestly don't know their butt from a hole in the ground when it comes to good care. Most give bad advice or very outdated advice they are simply parrotting and really don't know why. If you have a good petstore that has real experience, then you are pretty lucky - most are not that way at all.

The idea of tubs is growing on me... In their an informational thread? I skimmed and I didn't see it stickied..

At the top of every page here is a Search function. Type in "plastic tubs" and you should find tons of threads (I just tried it and I did). Read a few of them to get a good idea of how to set up two tubs as I firmly believe part of your snake's issues with growth may be related to the stress of communal housing. Add that to feeding routines and the possibility of parasites.

Speaking of shared housing, one of your issues with taking in fecal samples is you are going to have quite a lot of problems doing that right now because unless you catch the snake's pooping, you cannot confirm who dropped what. Likely if one has parasites, the other does too but for the sake of knowing for sure, I would suggest you seperate them first into their own new homes, then do fecals on both after they are apart.

Again, most likely a good vet would suggest both be treated since they have lived together and been slithering over each others poop, laying together and sharing a water dish but personally I'd rather collect stool samples individually after they are seperated.

Phone around to vets now, ask who does fecal floats on snake feces onsite. Ask what they charge for that service (the snake doesn't go in, just the poop sample). If the report comes back that they have internal parasites, which suck the nutrition right out of whatever they eat, then you would take the snakes in and the vet would treat them.

[rabernet]

I'll just increase their diet a little, and if I'm still having problems, I'll see a vet. I was planning to take them to our local petstore for a checkup on Tuesday anyway. ^_^

A vet would be a better choice for a "check-up", not a pet store where they could be exposed to other illnesses and parasites. Especially since pet store workers don't have DVM behind their names, or have veterinary training.

To me the female looks underweight - you can see her skin folding some in the pictures.

A fecal exam costs about $20 and the treatment is about $5 a dose, if they test positive for internal parasites.

[rabernet]

I have read is possible to breed something like "bonsai-BP". Only what you need to do is feed them less. Not let them starving. Just feed less than usual for first one or two years and they would not grow... I do not know how big nonsense it is or not...

Never heard of such a thing - but I know that Joanna (frankykeno) rescued a 2 year old female who was very small from not being fed well - and now she's breeding this year - she rebounded quite well, once she was vet checked and put on a proper diet.

[southernboagurl]

Do you have a scale? I was just curious since you're giving weights. You could easily weigh the size of the feeder that you're giving them as well. It should be 10% of the animals body weight (as far as I've been told).

Some PetSmart's have vets there but I'd be very cautious as most vets don't specialize in reptiles. Just call and make sure to ask their speciality. If it were me, I'd only take the fecal samples into the vet since it's in a pet store since (as stated before) there could be many things that your snakes could catch from other snakes in the store. Or even if the vet tech/assistant or even vet didn't properly sanitize themselves, tables, equipment, etc before handling your snake after handling a potential disease/parasite infested animal prior to your snake's exam.

For the fecal: Take a sandwich bag and turn it inside out. Stick your hand in the bag (inside out so you're touching the outside of the bag) and pick up the poop. Then turn it right side in so that you can close it. Then stick into fridge and label who's sample it is and also the time that you collected it. Then just take to vet's and they should be able to give you results less than 5 minutes of checking it.

Good luck and keep us posted

[Flicker]

A vet would be a better choice for a "check-up", not a pet store where they could be exposed to other illnesses and parasites. Especially since pet store workers don't have DVM behind their names, or have veterinary training.

To me the female looks underweight - you can see her skin folding some in the pictures.

A fecal exam costs about $20 and the treatment is about $5 a dose, if they test positive for internal parasites.

What do you mean folding? where?

[Flicker]

Thanks for all the help and feedback everyone is giving me! You guys are being so helpful!

I havn't been feeding them 10% of their weight... I'll start that right away. I had NEVER heard that rule before.

Also, I called around a few vets and none of them specialized in reptiles...

[Kaorte]

What do you mean folding? where?

As for locating a vet, have you asked if any of them are willing to do a fecal float for a reptile?