Posted by:
squeeker
at Thu Mar 16 09:51:04 2006 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by squeeker ]
I am currently rehabilitating a W/C female BRB. She's had a rough time of it for the past # of months.
She came to me VERY thin, full of parasites, shedding constantly (and very poorly), and limp as a wet noodle. I took her to the vet and she was diagnosed as being severely underweight (only 690 gr at 4'9" , anaemic, full of blood parasites, and severely dehydrated. She was tube-fed carnivore care, antibiotic, and de-parasitizing meds for 6 weeks.
She is currently living in a very dark, quiet room in a 33 gallon tank. Aspen substrate, with a VERY humid hide that contains coconut fibre, and a large water dish. The humid hide is on the cooler side of the tank, and the water bowl and another dry hide are on the warmer side of the tank. Temps are ~72F on the cool side, ~85F on the warm side.
She responded well to the meds and tubing, and for the past 4 weeks has taken 2 adult mice or 1 small rat per week with gusto. Her body has filled out, she has only shed once since I have had her, and she is very strong now! I've only recently started to handle her, only once a week for 15 minutes. She is a very aggressive snake.
The problem is that I have not seen her defacate since I began feeding her the rodents. She has passed urates, but I have been unable to find any feces. She doesn't look constipated, but I've never kept a rainbow boa before... how often should she be defacating? Should I be worried? I tried giving her a bath yesterday in ~80F water to see if that would help move things along, but all that resulted was me being struck at a half a dozen times. I don't mind taking her to the vet, but don't want to take her for nothing! I'd think that after eating 6 rodents she'd need to have passed something by now!
Feedback would be greatly appreciated.
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 Defacation - potential problem - squeeker, Thu Mar 16 09:51:04 2006
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