Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I got a salmon boa (born 5-11-05) I've had him since 6-6-05 and hes eaten 2 pinkies and a fuzzy so far but still hasn't pooped. I change his H20 every two days the humidity in the cage is 50% temps were 89 and 77. It was suggested that I up the temps they are now at 92 and 79. Last night I had him in the tub with slightly warm water and he still hasn't pooped! ANY suggestions would be great. I don't hold him for 24 hours after he eats and I even left him alone for 2 days thinking maybe I was bothering him. If its normal just let me know, I'm just concerned. Thank you all so much!

don't know what kind of bedding you are using, but i would look under hides, waterbowls, in corners, etc. the poop on a baby like that could be pretty small and sometimes it is just hard to find it.

I have pine bedding and I just changed it to make sure. There are hides on either end on the cage and there was no poop there or under the waterbowl. Thanks though!

Pine is not a good choice for bedding, many people consider it to be actually toxic. Consider aspen or newspaper instead. As for pooping, my boa goes maybe once a month.

Actually, Pine should be just fine. I believe you might be thinking of Cedar Shavings? Cedar is toxic to reptiles and will cause respiratory infections.

Thanks,
Celia
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Celia Chien

www.BoaConstrictorMorphs.com

Celia Chien Photography

www.ExoticsByNature.com
www.BallPythonMorphs.com
www.CornsnakeMorphs.com

Well we all know that Cedar is harmful to reptiles. However there are many people that refuse to use pine and even most pine shaving manufacturers do not reccoment using it with reptiles. I use pine for many of my snakes, but mostly I use aspen. I guess I'm just saying avoid problems, use aspen. I use pine for some of the boas becuase it's $4 for a compressed 50 lb bag. If I could find that deal on aspen I would use it for sure.
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2.3 Salmon Boas
1.5 BCI
23.58 Various Corns
1.3 Albino Sinaloans

You may have your head on straight, but I have a better view!

I've always heard both were bad so have avoided either.

My oldest snake, an eastern king Iv'e had for 22yrs. has been on pine the majority of his life. Fat and healthy. If you read different care sheets from different, some recommend it some don't. I have used pine and aspen for years, never a problem. I think we all agree cedar is dangerous.

Yea, we can agree on that!

I've never heard of pine being dangerous to reptiles. When I worked at the East Bay Vivarium, we used either Pine or Aspen. If I remember correctly, we probably used more Pine than Aspen because we got big bales of Screened Pine Shavings that worked great. I remember when I used to work there, that I personally preferred the Screened Pine to the Aspen because it had a much finer texture. As far as I can remember, we never had a problem with the Pine and neither did any of our customers.

However, at EbN, we use way more Aspen than we do Pine. I think it's mainly because we do not have access to Screened Pine Shavings. We use the Harlan Teklad Aspen shavings. For our colubrids however, we use Sani-Chip Shavings which I believe are made of Pine. The colubrids do great on the Sani-Chips - from babies to adults.

I have always been told, do not use cedar or any sort of aromatic woods. Are there perhaps aromatic pine shavings? Like maybe certain brands of pine shavings used for rodents that might be sprayed with something to help control the smell produced by rodents?

You learn something new every day!

Thanks,
Celia
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Celia Chien

www.BoaConstrictorMorphs.com

Celia Chien Photography

www.ExoticsByNature.com
www.BallPythonMorphs.com
www.CornsnakeMorphs.com

There's a bunch of stuff out there, both good and bad, but most is totally anecdotal. The only thing I can find from a reliable source is pretty much inconclusive:

http://www.anapsid.org/cedar2.html

If he hasn't shed yet, it should be nothing to worry about either. Mine sometimes within minutes after a shed go poop.

Stripe female swimming.

In my opinion, feeding was minimal before you got him, and the amount of roughage building up in in his gut hasn't really reached the "gotta go" point yet. In addition, I would not call two pinkies and a fuzzy in two weeks heavy feeding. Boas tend to go a relatively long time between stools, too. I would not get worried for another 4 weeks yet. And then I would evaluate the amount of food eaten and the amount of distention in his body forward of the vent. Good luck.

Paul Hollander

Clean his cage. YES! It sounds crazy but it works everytime (at least with ball pythons, should still work for a boa).
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-1-0 Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

Alright, I try to stay nice in most of the forum discussions, but how can you say that cleaning the cage works for ball pythons and should also work with boas if you have one snake?
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2.3 Salmon Boas
1.5 BCI
23.58 Various Corns
1.3 Albino Sinaloans

You may have your head on straight, but I have a better view!

I think he was trying to be funny. It seems like its the truth to me sometimes though=). It seems like no matter how often I clean a cage, whether it be every few days or even a week, theres always poop in it the next morning after a good cleaning.
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0.1.0 Brown Pacman
1.1.0 Albino Clawed frogs
0.0.1 Superlight Baby Sulcatta
1.0.0 Juv. leopard tort
0.0.2 Fly river turtles
0.0.2 Savannah Monitors
0.0.1 yellow flame Niger uromastyx
1.1.0 Mali Uromastyx
0.1.1 Ball pythons
1.2.0 pastel Columbian boas
0.1.0 monster columbian boa
1.0.0 monster pastel columbian boa
1.1.0 Hypo Hog boas
1.0.0 Hypo pastel boa
1.1.0 Hypo boa babies, Poss. DH sunglow
0.2.0 Hypo poss. DH sunglow
1.0.0 Coral albino boa (my baby)
and
0.2.0 Pomeranians (the wifes babies)

I think its covered under Murphy's law

Yes I have one snake a ball that went through this exact same thing. Several well versed long time owners told me that cleaning the cage always worked. I thought they were joking but found out that it does work. and works well.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Ball Python - Apep
1-1-0 Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-1-0 Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

n/p

I didn't read the other posts so it might have been covered already but it sounds to me like he's not pooping because he doesn't have to. I know alot of people that start them out on hoppers or rat pups. A pinkie just doesn't sound like much of a meal for a boa. I'd talk to somebody with more expierence than me though.

Don't worry he is fine. They don't go that often, my goes maybe once a month and that's with weekly feeding. Sure beats a kingsnake, --it runs through them like a goose.

Let the snake soak in warm water. Make sure the water is not to hot. Just luke warm will work. Also, make sure its just enough water to cover 2/3 of his body. Make sure it doesn't need to swim. Sitting in water for 30 minutes will do the trick.

Good luck!
Frank

np