How Do We Approach This... Extremely Loud Ball Python bowel movements, is this normal?


This is a little out there, maybe. But I’ve noticed that one of my ball pythons pretty regularly has extremely… audible bowel movements. As far as I can tell, they’re healthy and so is he, but whenever it’s time and “nature calls”, you could almost picture him shooting around in the likeness of a cartoon, propelled by the action of which he is making such a horrendous sound by… The dog was startled by this enough the other night that he had to come and get me, and I have to admit, if I didn’t catch on to what was going on, it was a pretty scary sound… :joy: Anyway, I’ve kept ball pythons for a long time, well over 15 years, and I’ve never encountered this before. Is it pretty normal, like it just happens to be HIS thing or should I be concerned about something going on?

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I have a female ball python and she’s VERY audible when she goes but she’s perfectly healthy :sweat_smile:

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It could be a problem but snakes do not have an efficient system for getting rid of by-products from digestion. So when bowel movement occurs some gas does go with it, some are likely more audible than others.

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Are you certain these are bowel movements?

A snake with a serious respiratory issue makes a very loud, wet-sounding “cough” that people often mistake for flatulence

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Very sure, unless he only ever breathes that way during defecation, I’ve only ever witnessed it as he was making a bowel movement.

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Additionally to what’s been mentioned are you sure he’s not blowing bubbles in his water either? I don’t know the biology behind it but if they’re really thirsty they tend to drink for a minute, then blow blow bubbles loudly. I hear it all the time because I do 60-80 water cups at a time. No idea why, but I’ve seen most species do it :man_shrugging:

On another note, I cleaned a couple tubs yesterday where walls were painted at high velocity and that had to make some noise.

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I’ve never heard it myself but I have heard quite a few stories about ball python flatulence. People were surprised at how loud it actually was. I ended up googling it. It’s… intense lol

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Yes, this is definitely a “high velocity discharge” kind of situation, and all coming from the back when it happens. Everything comes out looking normal, but like I said, if I didn’t watch it happen, from the sounds you’d half expect him to be self propelled and airborne during the process.

Similar to this, I suppose, without his mouth open, though.

I have 2 females that sound like A-10 Warthogs every time, worse if I have to switch ASF to rats for some reason.

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It happens with our male banana ball python. It literally woke us up out of a dead sleep many times. My wife and I look at eachother like it “it wasn’t me!” Then laugh for 15 minutes.

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If you have actually witnessed a defecation event with the sound then that would eliminate the cough possibility. I had to ask though, because over the years I have seen too many people laughing about their animal farting all the time only to have said animal die sometime thereafter due to an untreated respiratory infection

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