rock hard poop

[dexterhill]

hey all.

our coastal hadnt deficated in 4 feeds (about 6 weeks). i wasnt too worried but i soaked him a few times to help things along. i felt for any hard lumps around his cloaca and i did feel something small and hard about 2 inches up but sort of assumed he was just clamping his muscles. anyway he finally deficated when i soaked him again, but when i went to get rid of his poo it was hard as a rock. it all looked normal with the white urates and dark crap, but it was unbreakably solid. it hasnt been this hard before and im a bit concerned. is there anything i can do to prevent this happening again?

thanks

 

[mysnakesau]

Couple of suggestions I can make is make sure his temperatures are right - including his cool end. Constipation can occur when an animal is eating but can't get warm enough. They spend all their time over the heat and never move about to thermoregulate. It is very important that feeding snakes have adequate warmth to digest their food but if the air temperature off the heat is too cold, they won't move, and thus won't drink, either. If the warm end is the only place he can hide, this may cause him to spend all his time there, so ensure he can hide in couple different places around his tub.

Do you feed his thawed food? How do you thaw it? I thaw straight in hot water from the tap. I don't dry the rodent before offering to my snake so least I know he is receiving some hydration as well.

 

[dexterhill]

Thanks mysnakesau, makes a lot of sense.

The air temps are cooling right down now and I've noticed hes been quite lazy and not moving as much at night. I also noticed when I was soaking him he would drink for ages which is unusual for him unless he is coming close to shed (and hes not at the moment.).
I feed rodents exactly the same way you do, same reasons.
It's out first winter with him so we still have a bit to learn, especially when it comes to maintaining correct temps.
Thanks for your help

 

[mysnakesau]

If he is drinking heaps when you soak him, that can be a sure sign he isn't drinking, while in his enclosure. You need to bring him cool end temperatures up to at least a minimum of 20c (thereabouts). Anywhere up to 23-25 still wouldn't be too warm or too cold. You can either do this buy offering warmth from above and below at his warm end, or you can use a heatmat at his cool end, but either a very low wattage from the Herp Shop, or set it on a thermostat so the temps stay lower than his warm end but it stops it getting too cold. I have doubled up heating on a few of my snakes at the moment because the temps are just too cool.

I am guessing you probably don't have a spare heat source on hand, another suggestion I can offer there, move his water closer to his warm end so at least its within reach for him to not have to venture too far.

Can I ask what you're using for heating?

 

[dexterhill]

He has a hide directly over his heat mat which he spends most of his time, the thermostat is set at 29, I was told by the seller that that should be ok. Also have a light on for him which i swap between basking and infrared or moonlight for him. The air temp now is sitting at 22 degrees is that too cold? Dont know if theres much relevance, but i do lightly mist his enclosure every few days.