my ball python

[thebrinkszookeeper]

hi i bought my husband a ball python in feb and we have never had a problem with him eating he's always ate 2 rats a week and well its been about 2-3 weeks now and he has not ate so we figured it was cause he was not pooping so we looked it up on the net it said to give him a warm bath and well thats not doing the trick either so what else is there we can do and is he going to be ok .....

[BitsyNaceyDog]

For a ball python to go without eating for 2-3 weeks isn't at all uncommon. Even not pooping isn't necessarily a big deal. He may be saving it up for a big poop later on. If you're worried though you should take him to a reptile vet.

Often they won't eat if they are about to shed. To help them shed we sometimes put warm damp newspaper in a rubbermaid tub and let him soak in that. He likes to get in the newspaper. Or we turn on the humidifier.

Where do you feed him? Do you feed him in his cage? If so, what kind of bedding do you use? If he ingested some of his bedding while eating it may be causing a blockage preventing him from pooping. We feed our snakes in rubbermaid tubs, just drill some air holes in the sides if you're going to use the lid.

Two rats per week is a lot for a ball python. How old/big is he? As they get older they will eat larger amounts, but less often. Our adult ball python won't eat rats at all so he gets 3 mice instead. Ball pythons are often very picky eaters. My friend had a ball python that would only eat white mice, mine luckily isn't that picky.

[thebrinkszookeeper]

hi we feed him in his cage on the living room floor it depends we got him in a 55 gallon tank with carpet and a heating pad under the carpet and he has a light on top hes about 3 feet long we give him baths in warm water to try to help him poop and well there are no reptile vets in my area i mean hes got a tight grip and he moves around alot and his tongue is always going i just dont want nothing to happen to him hes a part of the familly .....

[BitsyNaceyDog]

It sounds like he's fine. The big meals probably just caught up to him.

I would highly recommend not feeding him in his cage. You don't want him to associate his cage with food.

It's also not a good idea to have his cage sitting directly on the floor. I'd suggest putting him on a table or at least getting a couple 2x4s to put under his cage, just so he's off the floor.

Welcome to Pet Talk. We'd love to hear about your other pets and we'd love to see pictures too.

[thebrinkszookeeper]

hes not on the floor i have him high off my floor and well now hes in my room cause someone told me the stress could be getting to him with all the traffic and the dogs and cats my other pets are i have my momma dog her name is shelby and i have the daddy dog onyx and i have there pups spike and bailey and well she just had a litter of 5 i have 6 cats there names are gigalo, damira,zone,blunt,cali,and zoey...i have a cockatail his name is krammar and i have 2 betas they are bob and marley and we have a cage full of rats lol some are pets and some are snake food i will post pics soon and thanks for all your help i dont know what i would do if something happened to him ..