Please, some advice

[MrSquigglesPencil]

I have a snake who I am very certain, is very constipated. Mostly after every feed she will poop or if not, she will always poop after the following feed she gets. So she had a feed, no poop, she had a following feed about 3 weeks later, still no poop. I was of course aware she hadn’t had a poop but didn’t put too much thought into it, she was acting like she usually does when she is hungry, so I gave her another feed & she still hasn’t pooped. It’s worked out to be maybe 2 months, maybe a little more, since she has had a poop. She has done maybe 4 or 5 lots of urates in this time, but each time they have got smaller & I have noticed she has been struggling to get them out. I have noticed since she has come out of her brumation period (about October last year), she has been struggling a little bit more than usual to have a poop & the last poop she did do was really unusually smelly, way smellier than usual & it was a really big poop. After this afternoon I have decided to call a vet, (I’m not sure what else to do & everyday she doesn’t do a poop, I get more concerned) as I can clearly see that she is really trying & wanting to do one but nothing is happening. So my question is, in the meantime while I’m waiting to see a vet is there anything I can do to help her poop? And does anyone know why this might be happening for? Or
anyone who has had a similar problem. Any advice would be greatly appreciated
[doublepost=1581166728,1581165998][/doublepost]Here are some specifics that may or may not be relevant. My snake is a Tablelands jungle python, about 7 years old, around 9ft long, feeds on large or extra large frozen rats about every 2-3 weeks (depending on the size of the rat, & what is in stock where we buy them) the large rats we buy weigh around 400g, extra large over 600g. As I said, not sure if this info is of relevance or not & I am happy to provide more info if needed

 

[_Alex_]

Sorry to hear about your snake.

Try giving her a soak in warm water for about 30 mins. Sometimes that helps to get things moving. I have problems with my jungles getting blocked up when they're inactive.

Good luck.

 

[Bluetongue1]

@ _Alex_, definitely agree the bath is the best thing in the meantime. Bear in mind that the snake’s preferred body temperature is around 29C and temperatures approaching 40C are deadly, so “warm” means in the low 30’s. Lift the tail underwater so that the vent opens, which will allow water to enter the cloaca and hopefully the lower bowel as well.

The really off-smelling poop is not a good thing and can be the sign of a specific problem. The urate formation says that the snake is digesting and using proteins from its feeds. However not passing out the roughage is clearly not normal. Veterinary intercession certainly sounds very much warranted at this stage.

Please do let us know the outcome from the vet visit. If you are interested I can provide some info on helping to avoid constipation that is not caused by something pathogenic. Wishing you good luck.