Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I was wondering if anyone has issues where hatchlings that are being assist fed or are only eating sporadically get badly constipated? What do you do to prevent it and what do you do once it happens?

I have some hatchling anthill pythons that have all just stated feeding on their own after a few weeks of assist feeding. Now several are very constipated. I have been soaking them twice a week, even the ones that don't look constipated since I saw the first signs of trouble in one of them. I have also been spraying down their tubs every few days. They dont use a humid hide if given one. None of this seems to be making much of a difference.

I only have this trouble with the ones that don't start feeding right away.

I lost one of these last year to fatal constipation and I really don't want to loose any of these, so any advice is appreciated.

cheers

9 times out of 10 it's directly related to dehydration. However, you might have some defective hatchlings who may not have the capabilities that the normal feeders do. Which might explain the fact that they never do well. Solomon Island Ground Boas are one specie that comes to mind where usually a percentage of hatchlings are non-functional. Something to look into anyway.

When mine were that size they would eat and eat and not poop as often as I fed them. The food lumps would disappear over night. If yours look like they are retaining waste I would say to just stick with general husbandry practices i.e. hot (100f) and cool(80f) side, hides on each side, water dish, paper towel substrate. Feed them a pink mouse about once a week or less. If they have a lump don't feed. Keep them separate. They will try to eat each other. If you are force feeding it's very easy to slide a large mouse tail down them. Good luck with those!

Yeah, those are basically the temps I have them at. I am still amazed how hot these little things like it.

They were really looking grossly constipated. I could see the waste building up through their white undersides and they were very visibly swollen. I lost one of my first babies a few years ago to this, and I wasn't going to let that happen again.

After soaking them for a few hours over a heat pad I started gently palpating them. first I squeezed and rolled my fingers over the vent to break up the dried chunk of urates I could see and feel in the cloaca. Then I started massaging the body from nearly half way up getting harder and harder each time. I have found with palpating anything out of a snake that it takes a few minutes for them to go along with what you are doing instead of fighting you, so I always go really easy at first. With each one after a few palpations, a hard chunk of urates was expelled followed by copious amounts of urine and feces.

I think that this has to do with an isolated incidence of dehydration. Lets say I forgot to fill their water bowl for just a few days, they are very tiny and at those temps they easily dehydrate. To conserve water they stop urinating, which quickly leads to a chunk of urates hardening and clogging the cloaca. after that it doesn't matter if you correct the hydration status, they cant go without some help.

Anyway... just some ideas... I did this two nights ago and they all look much better and appear to be doing fine now.

cheers