Reptile & Amphibian Forums

The snake in general is a bp at the shop, but you guys have never steered me wrong. The snake was VERY swollen the last 1/3 of its body and felt squishy/inflated. I gave him a warm soak and about 5 minutes later he "farted" He was blowing bubbles in the water for about 10 seconds and also he deflated. The only fecal matter to speak of looked almost like a corns (which is not characteristic of a bp) and was so small it was hardly worth mentioning. He seems to have re-inflated a little throughout the day but soaking had no further effect on him. Has anyone ever seen/heard of this? What should I do?
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 MO Locale Black Ratsnake "Molly" (Flogging Molly)

"I'll be whatever I wanna do!"

this is caused when a snake eats food when the temps are too cool for it to digest the meal. The meal decomposses faster than it is digested causing gaseous bloating that can result in death. Raise temps. For balls the upper range is 95. Keep him there for a while to allow his body work optimumly, have a cooler area of around 88 available as well. Good luck

>>this is caused when a snake eats food when the temps are too cool for it to digest the meal. The meal decomposses faster than it is digested causing gaseous bloating that can result in death. Raise temps. For balls the upper range is 95. Keep him there for a while to allow his body work optimumly, have a cooler area of around 88 available as well. Good luck

I agree with Wisema - I had the same thing happen to a boa. It amounts to a bad case of gas, but can be very serious. BPs do like it hot - keep it warm and it sould be OK. Soaking is good also, but watch temps - too cool is not good, but too hot can kill.

Good Luck!

John
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I am so not lesdysxic!

0.1 Creamsicle Cornsake "Yolanda"
1.0 Bairds Ratsnake "Steely Dan"
0.1 Desert Kingsnake "FATTY"
0.1 Black Rat (WV Rescue) "Roberta"

Thanks for the reply. The only thing that stumps me is that the temps weren't THAT cold... Probably between 78-81. The temps went down at night as our heat pads are hit and miss (work sometimes don't others...) but still that is room temp... My bp was accidentally kept much cooler for who knows how long (maybe up to a month) last winter when his heat pad went out and he never showed any ill signs. Kept eating and didn't have this problem.... Thanks for the good advice though.
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0.1 Snow Corn "Hope"
1. Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Chunk" (Goonies)
.1 Orange Albino Black Ratsnake "Peaches"
0.0.1 MO Locale Black Ratsnake "Molly" (Flogging Molly)

"I'll be whatever I wanna do!"

78-81 is still too cool. This is an ok low end temp for corns and rats but not Balls. Balls should be no lower than 88. But I guess we should be discussing this on the ball forum. I hope he does well and pulls threw!! I also wouldn't feed him for about a month to make sure everything passes out of his system so he can start out empty on a clean stomach and digestive track. The month wont hurt him any and probably wont even lose more than a gram or two of weight. Good luck.