Reptile & Amphibian Forums

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.

First off, you're not dealing with a "normal" situation being she's WC and was in poor health when you got her. That said, sounds like she is getting towards the long side of holding feces. Could be that she needs all the nutrients she can get and is not passing them yet. At the risk of being struck again (probably several times ) look closely at her body structure for any bulging past mid body that could indicate a blockage. I'm no vet and I've never dealt with a WC BRB before so I really can't say. I do know that with my CBB BRB adults within 2 or 3 weeks of ceasing to eat for breeding season, there was a noticeable reduction in feces found in the cages. But, not all had stopped eating so they probably accounted for most if not all the feces found later.
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Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Congratulations on all of the sucess you've had with her so far. It sounds like you have put a lot of care into that animal.

4 weeks without defecating is no real cause for concern. Especially in her case. Dave is right, she is turning most of what she's eating into more snake.

I realize she's hard to handle but if you could put some gloves on until she settles down a bit and then let her run through your bare hands, you will be able to feel any impactions or feces inside the lower 1/3 of her body.

Veterinarians can give laxatives to snakes. They can also do cloacal flushes to force feces out. It sounds like you have access to a good snake vet so this may be an option for the future.

If it were me, I'd make sure she has constant access to fresh water and keep giving her the luke warm baths. I'd feed her once a week on rats that are just a little small for her (give her digestive tract a chance to warm up again). It sounds like she's only shed once since she began to recover. Let her go until the next shed. I'd be surprised if there were no feces at this point.

It sounds like you are doing everything correctly. Keep us all posted on her continued recovery O.K. (and post some pics)
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

I've put more blood, sweat, and tears into this animal than I could even believe possible. I never knew I had it in me to shove a tube down the throat of an animal.

I'm glad to hear that I shouldn't be concerned yet. What you both said makes sense, and she really doesnt look fat and impacted on the bottom 1/3. She needs all the nutrients she can get!

She's only hard to handle if she's spooked. I can handle her bare-handed, but if something scares her she's a striking machine. I still can't believe she hasn't tagged me. What I usually do is cover her up with a towel or pillowcase before I grab her, that way she doesn't freak out and can't see my hand coming towards her. I'll get her out and see how she feels in a few days, but I want to leave her alone for a bit after yesterday's bathtub fiasco.

The herp vet here is fantastic, so if I run into any major problems I'll have no problem taking the snake to him.

She has access to fresh water, and I will continue the baths. Any hints on how I can make these less stressful for her? All I did was run water in the tub, adjust the temp, and put her in. She swam around for a minute or two, then sat perfectly still, coiled and ready. I left her in for 15 minutes. How often should I bahe her? Weekly, biweekly?

I've been making it a point to feed her prey items that are a tad smaller than she'd take if she were a healthy animal. Her first feeding after the tubings were done was a single adult mouse. The second and third feedings consisted of 2 adult mice, and the last feeding was a small rat. I believe she could easily take 2 small rats or a medium one at this point, but I'd rather feed her smaller meals until I'm sure she's in the clear. She has the most incredible feeding response and is finished eating in a matter of minutes.

You're right, she's only shed once since I've had her in my possession. Prior to that she was shedding like clockwork eery 2 weeks, nasty sheds in tiny pieces that she couldnt' even get off herself, she was that weak. I'd have to manually pull the sheds off of her before she'd go right into another shed cycle again.

This brings up another question of mine. Below I've posted pics of the boa, and I'm not sure if you can see or not but she has a lot of white areas around her scales. Is this because she was shedding so frequently that her scales didn't have enough time to grow in before the next shed? (I don't know if that makes any sense, I just kind of made it up). Since I've had her, the scales are seeming to grow back in to their full length and the white areas around each scale are disappearing. It can't be because she was so thin, because you'd think that as she gained weight her body would be stretching. What do you think?

Thanks again for the input, and here are some pics of the BRB in question... I have affectionately named her "Ruby". It's gonna break my heart when she leaves.

The first pic was taken the day she came to me, Jan 5. The second pic was taken 6 weeks later, after her final tube feeding, Feb 9, which was a momentus day (and photo!) as she was finally able to hold up her own body weight again (before it was like holding a skipping rope). I'll take a more recent pic and post it soon.

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OK, that didn't work so well... that is the "after" pic. Here is the "before" pic... sorry, I don't know how to edit my posts.
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Sorry, one more time...

she looks soooooooo bad in that pic, the spinal ridge is so pronounced. She is soooo lucky to be getting the care your giving her.

I APPLAUD YOUR EFFORTS!!!!!!!!!

For the baths, if her enclosure is large enough, put a tub of water in there. All my BRB cages have a large 2 gallon flat fish bowl with an inch or two of water. They love to soak. Even a sweaterbox size would be great. if you need to "force" her to soak, a sweaterbosx with a lid (only an inch of water) would work and could be put wiyth her in it inside her enclosure to maintain warmth????

old pic, has some babies in one section and ball pythons in another. You can see in the top right section a sweaterbox hide with the large water dish on top. Now all sections are set up the same way. In the hides is one inch of damp peat moss and a layer of damp green moss. The peat moss is like thick mud. My BRB's love the damp hides.

-----
Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

That is a very interesting setup you have, you must have happy snakes!

Ruby's water dish is the same size as her humid hide, about a foot in length and 6" wide. It contains water about 1.5"-2" deep, and the water is at about 78F. Her dry, warm hide partially covers the dish, so if she wanted to soak, she'd have the privacy to do so. I've never seen her soak, but that doesn't mean she hasn't.

Thanks again for the input!

Squeeker,
....YOU DONE GOOD!!! It looks like you are doing everything right with the snake. I got imported BRBs when I was starting out with them. A few of them looked as bad as yours did in that photo from when you first got it. Most that I got had parasite problems which responded well to Flagyl and Panacur tubings. After they started eating and putting on weight the colors improved and the scars and rough spots cleared up. Some of them that are imported looking rough have those small looking scales with the more pronounced white between the scales. It is probably due to the scales being wrinkled up for so long they they are just deformed like that but they will improve some each time the snake sheds.
Good luck,
Jeff

>>Sorry, one more time...
>>

The poo has landed, the sh!t has hit the water bowl!

Stupid snake, I'm sure she waited for me to post all kinds of threads about her before releasing her load. I checked on her just a few minutes ago, and what do I find? She's turned her water bowl into a septic tank. Didn't know all of that could come out of her, it's like a dog went!

At least she's feeling better now!

Thanks for all the input, looks like everything came out alright! (OK, enough poopy puns!)

Happy fecal fest.
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Mike Lockwood
www.tooscaley.com

ya didn't have a fan in there!!

Good to hear it all is working out ok, even if all at once.

Hey, I actually prefer them to drop the bomb in the water bowl.....much easier to clean!!!!
-----
Thanks,

Dave "Rainbows-R-Us"

0.1 Wife (WC)
0.2 kids (CBB)
4.12 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
2.1 Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 Het for Hypomelanistic BRB
0.1 BCI "Elvira" normal from 1989
1.0 BCI albino / het-anery
0.1 BCI Hypo / het-albino
0.1 BCI Anery / het-albino
0.1 BCI Hypo (possible super)
1.0 BCI albino het stripe
1.0 BCI salmon hypo
0.1 BCI ghost

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats