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i own a blood python for 3 weeks now.eaten twice allready.but i have not find his sh*t anywhere in his cage.just very little "stuff" in his water bowl.i use paper towel.is he having constipation?or is this normal?what should i do?thanks

Hi there,

I posted a similar question some time ago. Below is the response that I got from a regular contributor to this forum (Angel I hope you don't mind me quoting you here). As a note, my female just defecated last week for the 2nd time in 10 months. Believe me when I tell you it was a dramatic event! My wife wanted me to photograph it because it was so impressive but I thought that was crossing the line into being "weird snake guy" lol. While 5 months may not be typical, three weeks appears to be nothing to worry about. Bathing in warm (not hot) water may help move things along. Here's Angel's [googo151] response, hope this helps:

Posted by: googo151 at Thu Oct 9 21:11:25 2003 [ Report Abuse ] [ Email Message ]

Hey,
Here are some of the defecation data and dates for my male and female alike Red bloods. From the records you can see that there is not much BM, activity, but the animals do pass urine, not urates, quite often after prolonged drinking.
Sample card Evacuation dates:
Male:
9/18/2002
12/13/2002
Urates:3/5/03
4/16/2003
6/4/2003
9/11/2003
Female:
12/14/2002
Urates-12/30/2002
9/18/2002
5/10/2003
7/12/2003
8/26/2003

As you can see the female did not have a bm=bowel movement, once, for quite some time, but did eventually. If it does not go for longer than that (5months), I would definately want to have it checked out by a qualified reptile vet, if you can find one in your area. All the best! - Angel
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One man's fear is another man's fantasy!!

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"Umm Marge, did you find my snake farm? I'm going to farm and sell snakes"- homer simpson

Hey,
Not a problem at all! As you can see from the response and the results of the data, there are long spells or periods inbetween BM's, and there is really nothing that we can do other than provide the animals with regular and appropriate cage conditions: Water bowls filled with clean water and changed regularly every 2-3 days. Fed normal size meals at normal intervals, and keeping the heat and humidity at appropriate levels too.

As was suggested by Robyn, of Pro-Exotic, weekly baths for one hour a week (in a warm water filled container) while servicing either a single cage or several cages - if you keep more than one Blood or STP, is a good way to keep the animal (s) hydrated and exercised - while at the same time providing them with a change of environment for a short period; which can make them want to have a bm. Try the weekly water bath in an appropriately sized container relative to the size of the Blood or STP. Small plastic shoe box or sweater box for a small animal, or a larger one for a large animal and even a larger plastic garbage can for super sized adults filled only half way up the size of the animal. Caveat: NEVER! fill any container more than half way up the side of the snake as drowning can occur.

Try this and see if you get any results from it. I find that bathing them in the shower too, with warm water (H2O temp' 82-88*F) hitting the sides while they swim around also, elicits a bm on occasion. Good luck!

- Angel
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In the theater of my life, this pickle has no goal!!

I would reccomend the rubbermaid tub over the shower definately. Occasionally i will rinse mine off in the shower if he urinated in his cage and needs a little cleaning. However if they deficate in there its a messy clean up. Mine also likes to get up in the shower nobs so I cant get him out easily. It is definately effective tho. Mine had not def in awhile and I was giving him a mite bath (just in case) and he let a little bit out. I cleaned it up and was rinsing him off before I took him out and he let it go. Definately not a fun clean up job tho! I would say probably about once every 2 months or so would be "average" for a blood but it depends on the snake and many other things as well.
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"It's my snake, I trained it, so I'm going to eat it!" - Mad Max, The Road Warrior

>>i own a blood python for 3 weeks now.eaten twice allready.but i have not find his sh*t anywhere in his cage.just very little "stuff" in his water bowl.i use paper towel.is he having constipation?or is this normal?what should i do?thanks

I only have one SST but what I have learned with him is that he is much more 'regular' since I gave him a bigger than what I would normally expect cage and a big and deep water bowl. When I fill/ change the water it is with warm water and he has a large damp hide of moss over the heat tape. He is more active and eating like a monster and growing since he settled in here.
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Sonya

my blood has defficate yesterday.it came as a suprise to me that his poo is almost the same size as cat poo.very big i think for a 1 1/2' animal.thanks for the help anyway guys.
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