Soo…sorry that my second post is about pooping, lol. But, i’m a bit concerned. I’ve never had any of my other snakes do this, and i don’t know enough about this boys background since i only recently got him. I recently got a pastel as, essentially, a rescue- he was fed friday of last week- and since then, he’s pooped three times. once two days after, the tiniest bit the day after, and now a whole dang log (think dog poo, lol. just sized down by a lot). That was last night- and then yesterday i came home after being gone all day to find a urate and no poo. From what i’ve heard, usually multiple poo’s mean’s they’re sick…but he’s been acting fine, ate fine, wanders around at night (he doesn’t like to be watched, but if i take him out he does just fine and is in fact as i’m writing this trying to escape off of my couch…) and has normal, healthy tongue flicks… For reference, you can look at my other post about identifying him, where i explain the situation…he is underweight if it means anything about his poo…he was fed a medium rat. The first time he pooped it almost looked like regurge…but it didn’t smell at ALL, so i’m sure it wasn’t. The second time it was literally smaller than a marble, and between then and now was when i found the urates, and then again today the poop…ive heard that some just are like that, but i have no clue because all of my past snakes and my current other two do not do that- they just poop just brown and soft like he just did and OCCASIONALLY i’ll find urates without poop, but thats an occasion…i dont know much about him at all because i literally have fed him once and was given no information on him. so, again…for reference, he’s underweight, he’s we’re guessing about 3 and a half or four, he’s three and a half feet, and i believe he was dehyrdated when we got him. I’m not totally sure if he is now, i’ve been giving him the occasional soak in some water and i use a reptile water treatment with it just in case (the water is not distilled, it’s just tap water that i use a water treatment for just in case of the chlorine). I’m also going to provide pictures of the MASSIVE amount of shed that was stuck in his pits, and the inside of his mouth because he did just make a whistle sort of sound, which is when i just had to wrangle him around and get that shed out… no residue on his mouth or nose, and the bubbles around the back of his mouth are probably because he was NOT having it…and i dont blame him.
i do not have the money to take him to the vet. So, that’s why im getting opinions…i don’t think he has a respiratory infection. Also if the poop part is normal…if anyone needs a reference on his recent one its in a publix baggie right now lol, just in case. Praying he isn’t sick… i do not want to interact with the man i got him from ever again. I can’t promise i wouldn’t start a fist fight with him, haha.
Also, I was planning on feeding him tonight. Should i still try?? And is all of this just me overreacting with the typical ‘bp parent’ anxiety??? I love this boy already lol and i would absolutely hate for him to be sick
I personally don’t think he looks that underweight. What does he weigh? And I’m going to say a medium rat is way too big of a meal for him, especially “if” he is underweight.
For reference, NONE of my snakes get mediums, not even my 2500g+ females.
The poop being so large/dog poop size but smaller isn’t abnormal. I’ve had some drop some poop that looked like a small child could’ve been in their enclosure and taken a dump. It’s definitely a site to see. Regarding it happening so frequently, it seems odd but posting pictures of them could help. I’m concerned about the one that looked like a regurg, but a urate by itself isn’t uncommon.
He’s 100% underweight- he’s hollow and you can feel his spine(And i don’t mean lightly, i mean it’s pretty sharp against his skin sort of feel it… Its horrible i feel so bad for the boy). We didn’t have him weighed but right off the bat when we had him checked by someone we trust both of us could agree he was underweight. The one we got from the guy before him who DID have a respiratory infection was also underweight. We were told by three different shops that he should be eating a medium…the ‘mediums’ we got are also a lot smaller than most of the mediums i’ve ever bought, if that makes you feel any better about it haha. They’re probably closer to smalls… and me too with the regurge looking one. But again it didn’t smell(and i’ve smelled snake regurge…its horrible. Enough that it made ME gag) and i did see some small urate with it, so i’m not so worried with it. And let me grab a picture
one with flash and one without…wasn’t sure which was a better reference. It smells like…poop though I’m not sure about the yellow parts… but the rest just sorta looks like…well, poo.
He also doesn’t look that underweight to me, and I certainly wouldn’t be feeding him a medium. A small rat is more than sufficient for a male. A medium rat weekly is an excessive amount of food, I don’t even feed my breeding females that heavily. If he is underweight and having digestive issues, overfeeding could exacerbate them, refeeding should occur slowly so he can gain weight and adjust in a slow and healthy way
Thanks!! I was also thinking a medium was a little too much for the guy when i was being told that, but again, I’ve seen different people mark mediums as larger or smaller…i can get a picture of them if it helps???
What do they weigh? Weight is more telling than a picture or basing it on size.
I think part of the problem is that overfeeding is pretty rampant in captive ball pythons, which is why people are telling you mediums. I’ve encountered people feeding large and XL rats to ball pythons and then questioning why they go off food after 2 months
I have no way to weigh him myself unfortunately and he was never weighed, just had people going off his width… But i am picking up somethings later today or tomorrow and i can have him weighed then and i can let you know. And i agree, i’ve also been on the side of accidentally over feeding them without any knowledge because i trusted what others have told me. I’m hoping that that is not what im doing at the moment because i always feel horrible if i notice i’ve gotten the wrong opinion… And i really don’t want him to recieve improper care after already recieving improper care.
I wonder if he was constipated and the soaks loosened him up. When our girl was constipated, shortly after we got her, our vet suggested soaks to try and get her hydrated and get things moving, so if he was a bit plugged up and you got everything moving again with the soaks it could be that it just took him more than one day to get it all out. Constipation can be due to dehydration or stress or both.
I am a little concerned that you took on a rescue without the resources to take it to a vet if needed – rescues are a lot more likely to need vet attention, from what I understand.
Hm, makes sense. As for the rescue part he was not intended for that…I was only looking into getting another snake and found a breeder who, long story short, was not someone i should have given money. If i had known i’d be getting a snake with a possible illness i never would have as i knew i did not have the money to be taking one to the vet- which is actually why we had him swapped because the one before had a respiratory infection. I wasn’t able to get my money back, he only would swap. Its a sticky situation and not one i’m happy with in the slightest.
I’d make 100% sure your quarantine protocol is airtight given the situation to protect your other snakes given that this breeder seems to be less than reputable. Who knows what illnesses are circulating in their collection.
Next time you go out (or order on amazon) I’d just grab a cheap kitchen scale. It’s good for tracking the weights of your snakes and double checking feeder size if you have doubts
Feeding recommendation would be a rodent that is 10-15% of the body weight of a snake.
So a 1500 gram snake would eat a rodent between 150 - 225 grams (that’s how I do mine)
I’ve always thought the 10-15% thing falls away from ball pythons as they mature. It can still definitely lead to overfeeding. No way my 2500g girl should get a prey that’s 250-375g
It’s a good guideline to go by for beginners. But yes, as a snake gets older and if they start to become obese, you would either size down meals if they’re voracious eaters or just space the meals further apart.
I’m with you on this, 10-15% is good for the first year when they’re growing like weeds, but once they reach maturity scale down and space out feedings. Otherwise you end up with some hefty, hefty ball pythons with a lot of fat on them, which takes a toll on lifespan, healthspan and reproductive capacity
He 10000% shouldn’t be on a medium rat. I don’t even think I would consider that under weight. I went and looked at the pics of him in your other post and he doesn’t look glaringly underweight. As @chesterhf mentioned, when trying to refeed and get them back to what would be healthy. You would be better off doing it slowly, not jumping right to that size of a rat.
right, also, how much would you say a typical ‘medium’ would weigh in at? because from a few shops ive been to a ‘medium’ is a lot larger than what i bought. Just as a reference for when i go and weigh the rats
I’m not sure about the yellow parts… but the rest just sorta looks like…well, poo.