Alright so i have been working on this 3- month old little boy for a bit and its one thing after another with him. We are slowly working on getting him eating and gaining weight with assist feeding (he will not eat on his own, only assist feeding)… but just recently he became so super bloated he basically trippled his circumference due to all this bloat. I got him in a soak and worked with him until he got it out. Almost the entire bloat was gas. With very little of it being feces and urates.
I am trying to research more about this especially with his feeding issues, but i am hoping someone here might have some insight. I know ball pythons pass gas, but i have never seen it to the extent i have in this little boy. He literally could not pass without help. which is why i need help
Any ideas?
How offen are you assist feeding? Even babies don’t have to eat every week. Also what are you feeding because pinks of any kind have basically no nutrients.
How often are you assist feeding?
Think we were typing at the same time and I got distracted lol
I love it lol 
Currently he will only take two pinks a week. Last week he took a fuzzy size and then he went into shed. I havent assist fed him since he came out of shed last night
What are the temps in your enclosure?
Thermostat controlled. Hot spot around 88 cool side at 78-80.
So it isn’t the rodents rotting inside him from lack of heat…perhaps he has internal issues and that is why he doesn’t eat on his own? Sounds like a trip to a herp vet could be a good plan.
I have spoken to my vet about his issue with not eating. He said to just continue assist feeding.
I am not gonna go rushing to a vet for a snake that needs to fart just yet. Thats why i am trying to gather info from others and see what info i can find while working with him, cause currently he is fine and happy as a clam (besides refusing to eat on his own)
I would drop that temp at least 5 degrees. Hatchlings tend to do better and eat better at lower temperatures in my experiences.
If he is refusing to eat he isn’t happy (or potentially not 100% alright internally). Can we see pictures of his setup to see if something could be changed to increase his chances of not needing assist fed? @saleengrinch @ballornothing I don’t think I have ever heard of a BP becoming extremely bloated as described. Is there a chance it could be something wrong healthy wise? Maybe the gut bacteria is causing issues?
My vet says my Temps are fine. He’s actually recommended higher Temps up to 93… so I’m gonna stick with that. He hasn’t eaten by himself since he hatched back in July. Again… my vet said to just keep assist feeding. He takes food fine when assist fed. But will not take on his own. As far as set up it’s a baby bin in hatchling rack. He’s on reptichip and has a water bowl. Same as all his siblings who are either gone to new homes or still with me, as well as the bsbies I’m raising up.
Something tells me your vet might not know what they are talking about…temps over 90°F for long durations can cause neurological damage in BPs. @saleengrinch has been breeding BPs for many years. I would trust his word over a vet that recommends keeping temps that high and assist feeding instead addressing other issues that could be causing food refusal. Do you have hides in the bin he is in? And are the sides clear or not?
My vet is the most trusted in my area and is used by my local zoo for all exotics. He has 43 years experience in reptiles. I did my research when picking an exotics vet thank you.
On another forum there was a similar instance where a snake was bloated. They couldn’t get the snake into a vet in time and the snake ended up passing, I’ll link the thread when I have a chance (likely tomorrow). So a vet visit is necessary ASAP. Snakes aren’t efficient at passing gas so he may need help for a while unless the underlying issue is found and diagnosed. How do you try feeding and can you provide a picture of the enclosure? What time do you feed, how do you heat the feeder, how do you hold the feeder with the tongs, etc? The more details the better we can try and help. Assist feeding usually makes problems worse and is best avoided when possible. Temps above 90* are known to cause neurological problems. @saleengrinch is very knowledgeable about ball pythons and if I breed ball pythons I’ll use his advice for starting babies first. Your vet is likely knowledgeable for reptiles in general, but not for specifics on ball pythons. If they’re used by the zoo I suspect they are knowledgeable with rare and uncommon reptiles. The advice they told you for your ball python (to raise temps and assist feed) is known to be very dangerous. From my personal experience different vets have different levels of knowledge about different species. I’ve had a vet tell me to feed a leopard gecko fruit baby food and if I would have tried that it could have had dangerous consequences. When I get advice I usually check with both scientific/medical information and hobbyist information. Sometimes there are different views (and different amounts of information) and different experiences for each that help to make the best decision.
Can we see a picture of what it looks like not swollen? If it’s in good body condition you might want to feed it a little less frequently to give it longer to digest each meal.
I’ve had this happen and go both ways. The time I can think of in a hatchling that did fine, it wasn’t quite as bad you’re describing, but it looked pretty dramatic. Resolved on it’s own. Twice this has happened to me with poorly developed hatchlings, and them not make it. One of those was being assist fed. I’m fairly certain I fed it too frequently, with it’s weak digestive system.
I know of a breeder in the UK who had a snake he had to palpate for every bowl movement for a whole year, before it began doing it on it’s own. I have no idea if it’s still living.
I had a female breeder swell up pretty bad two months in a row last year. Bigger than an ovulation. She passed a huge urate blockage while I was soaking her and she’ been fine since.
It could be any number of things, I guess is what I’m getting at.
One other thing to consider. When you restrain the animal for force feeding the only conclusion it’s equipped to make at that age/size is that it’s probably going to die. Stress reactions cause the body to release corticosteroids and other hormones (among many other things I’m not educated enough to understand), which have to be metabolized and replaced. You see this with assist feeders over a large sample, they don’t get the same value from a meal that a baby feeding on it’s own does. That fact, plus the possibility of underdeveloped digestive plumbing, are why I try to give them as much time as seems prudent between meals, depending on body condition.
I am not home at the moment, house sitting for my aunt. I can get a picture tomorrow.
While I’m not a vet and have the upmost respect for any vets knowledge and training. I have hatched hundreds of ball pythons I am only trying to help you when you posted asking for help. The snakes problems is most likely stress related. And right know the most stressful thing it has going is the “assist” feeding. I can tell you I have lost quite a few hatchlings over the years and have learned a lot through bad experiences. I can tell you 
sure temps of 93 for a hatchling or any ball python for that matter is a recipe for disaster.
I would start by blacking out the tub and lowering the temps 5 degrees. Also decrease the number of times you are “assist” feeding him. Your goal here is to getting him eating on his own. Any time you breed snakes you run the risk of having hatchlings that fail to thrive.