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Ball Python Help Needed!! Constipated snake? :(

Shelliebear

Shelliebear

Team Snug
I know this is a corn snake forum, but I had a question about my new ball python.
Assuming that symptoms of constipation are the same in corns and BP's, how do I tell if my snake is constipated? He is about 6-8 months old, and I fed him one F/T fuzzy on the 19th of this month.
As of today (Saturday) he still has not passed a stool. He seems to be ok, i.e. not experiencing any pain or acting unusual, and I didn't notice him ingest any substrate (we have Aspen shavings).
Also, I don't know if this relates to the possible issue or not, but he does have some light white/gray colored patches of skin stuck to different parts of his head. Could this be an incomplete shed? It is not flaky at all, but smooth and doesn't match the rest of his skin.
Should I take him to an exotic vet, or wait it out?
Thanks much. Cheesecake, our corn, is doing fine. :)
Shellie
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I moved your thread, and added to the title to see if we could get a BP person interested. I _may_ have heard that they don't poop as often, but when they do, it's major. As for the scales on the head, I might soak him for 20 minutes and see if they loosened up, and if not, wait for the next shed. When he goes blue, I'd make sure he was nice and humid- mist every couple days, maybe soak a couple times near the end of the blue period.
 
Yup to the above posts. I have 9 ball pythons, and the MOST often they (non-babies) poop is every 2-3 weeks... the big gals sometimes go over a month without stool! Urates usually come every 1-2 weeks, though, and can be a variety of colors & consistencies - yum. :cool: So don't worry, as long as the snake seems fine otherwise. Is he normally active (which for a BP means super lazy, LOL), eating his meals, drinking water, etc? If so, I wouldn't be concerned unless he's going 2 months without pooping... in which case, it probably means the meals are too small & he's needing to absorb every last bit. What are you feeding him, btw?

As for the patches on his head, if they're as smooth as the other scales, he probably just lost a few on the last shed... wait one more shed cycle, and see if it looks better then. Hard to say for sure, though, without seeing photos. Does it look something like the pictures below? It's my black pastel BP, who lost a few scales during a rough shed, but was back to normal 2 sheds later.

DavePaco5.jpg


DavePaco11.jpg
 
Yeah, regarding the scales, even with "good sheds" (i.e. it's one big giant perfect shed) sometimes a scale or two will get stuck. Seems to happen most often on the head. Not a biggie as it will come off the next shed. Only major concern is if an eye cap doesn't shed or the tip of its tail doesn't shed. Either one of those you'd want to remove.

And obviously an incomplete shed you want to do your best to remove the stuck shed.
 
I know from experience that a retained spectacle is a major big deal- you don't ever want to have to deal with that!!
 
Thank you so much for all the terrific help--and Nanci, I'm so sorry for placing this in the wrong location, thanks for moving it and adding to it. I appreciate it. :)
As for the scales on his head, yes, they're the same consistency as the rest of him, but they're quite a bit larger than the pictures people posted on this thread. The biggest one is probably 2-3 centimeters wide.
We are feeding him fuzzies, I am pretty sure. I never go with Max to the store to buy them, so I'm not totally sure. I'll check with him, but I believe they're fuzzies. He's eating well and acting normally--which, you're right, lolo, means he is SUPER lazy :D
Cheesecake, my corn snake, NEVER sits still, ever, whereas Nergal is content to wrap around my neck and sit for hours. :)
Thanks so much for the help, and I won't worry as much. I was really getting quite a few panic attacks over the issue--I love my snakes tons! I'm hopelessly addicted, and I would be so, so sad if they got ill.
:)
Shellie
 
(by the way, lolo, those are some BEAUTIFUL BP's. Absolutely gorgeous. I bought mine from stupid Petco and they don't know anything about his breeding or possible morphs--do you think if I posted a pic you might know what he is? Looks a lot like your snakeys. Thanks :) love those BP's!)
 
dont worry, and once ut happens, you cant miss it. Looks like a small dog got into the cage. Also, mine poops brown one day, and usually a couple days later pumps out the white urate.
 
I have two balls, my subadult girl sometimes won't pass a stool for 2-3 weeks at a time, and care guides say not to be worried about them until it's been well over a month. BPs have an extremely efficient digestive system so they can take longer I guess ;)
 
Shelliebear said:
(by the way, lolo, those are some BEAUTIFUL BP's. Absolutely gorgeous. I bought mine from stupid Petco and they don't know anything about his breeding or possible morphs--do you think if I posted a pic you might know what he is? Looks a lot like your snakeys. Thanks :) love those BP's!)
Click to expand...

Thanks! :) Btw, that's the same snake in both of my pictures, with & without flash... he's a young adult black pastel, from the Ian G line (which is lighter than your typical black pastel). Go ahead and show us your baby, and I'll see if I can identify him - although if you bought him from Petco, chances are it's a normal/wildtype. Normals come in a wide array of shades & patterns, so you can see a group where none of them look like each other! Personally I still love normals the best, due to the variety in their appearances. Great snakes, aren't they?

P.S. You should start posting on my BP forum, but I'm not sure if I can put the link here. ;)
 
Thanks Lolo. :) Maybe you could PM me the link? I'd love to post. I bet you're right, after looking at some pictures of BPs I'm pretty sure he is a wild type. Gorgeous! I had no idea the "normal" type of snake could be so beautiful and so diverse.
 
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