Weird Ball Poo....(Pictures of it, too)

[emroul]

I don't think this is normal, I was weirded-out when I check over my ball pythons' cages tonight and I found gross yellow poo...

http://fototime.com/{D261B0A7-4E6B-4193-8AC2-F65BE0ECA325}/picture.JPG

Here is a picture of her from just tonight:
http://fototime.com/{4397AEAC-2269-457F-AE22-0B4746FE86D4}/picture.JPG
"The Cobra Pose" :p

Anyway, what is it? If you can't tell, it's yellow... not white urate or brown healthy poo...

I've only had this female for about a month, so this is the first time she has "possibly" defecated. She is a 2003, and she has eaten three times since I've had her, she weighs 164 grams.

Any idea's? If it is normal, just let me know. All I know is, I haven't ever seen it, so I was contemplating internal parasites of some sort?


Thanks in advance,
Jennifer

[MontyPython]

My BP urinates like that sometimes too. I've had his feces and urate sampled at a vet for internal parasites and the tests came back negative...

[mykee]

These are just normal looking urates. Don't worry about it, most of my snakes' urates look exactly like that and they are fine. So is yours.

[sapphire_moon]

it's a nice fresh urate.......:) My bp's do this to.

[eyespy]

I disagree, that orangey-yellow discoloration is often a hallmark of early kidney disease from longterm dehydration. Make sure she has access to lots of fresh water and her humidity is nice and high.

It might not be a bad idea to ask the vet to draw a Chem 20 blood panel to check kidney functions and basic metabolism. If this kind of stuff is left untreated, a fair number of these snakes develop multiple organ failure secondary to visceral gout.

[annoying_alien]

Awesome snake, nasty pooey! That looks like something to investigate, sometimes there is a bit of yellow in the urate, but that looks like a pile of half melted butter! Get it checked out.

[TheRedDragon]

Awesome looking snake, that looks like a urate to me, but most healthy urates are usually all white in colouration. To be on the safe side, take her to a a vet (be sure to save the sample) and get her checked out.

[sapphire_moon]

Well I meant fresh if she don't do it all the time! Once in a while there will be the little yellow on my bp's urate.....not usually though...If your worried about it take her to a vet asap...

[mykee]

I would NOT take the snake to the Vet. Take a sample of the urate to the Vet, no need to put your snake through any unneccesary examinations, and unneeded bills for you. Again, I have 19 balls, and I'm pretty damn sure that not ALL of them have early kidney disease, and I'm 100% sure that they are not dehydrated. Just my opinion. I think you have nothing to worry about. All of my balls have urated at least a couple times like that. It's perfectly natural.

[eyespy]

Mykee, how many of them have lived for at least 15 years like that? We necropsy about 30 of these cases every week, it's the #1 cause of death in farmed ball pythons that have undergone dehydration from being shipped so far, so young and kept in large groups until bought by petshops. On average it takes 3-5 years for kidney disease to kill a BP and it's a horrible lingering death.

[mykee]

Eyespy, so what you're telling me is that all of my balls are dehydrated? What about all the hatchlings that I have that were from breeders? Guess they were never given water??? I think not, EVERY single one of my balls are housed under optimal conditions and *suprise surprise* that includes having a large water dish in their enclosure, which again, a shocker to me, they actually DRINK from! None of my snakes are dehydrated, nor have they ever been. Dehydration is out, any other suggestions?
None of my balls are farmed, and they all still have urates that look like that? Are you telling me they are all failing from kidney disease?

[tHeGiNo]

Maybe they all have some sort of parasite? :D Anyhow, I agree with Eyespy in that there is potential for dehydration. Potential. I will mention, however, none of my ball pythons' urinates have much yellow ting to them. Actually, most of the time it is a solid white.

[eyespy]

I'm not saying that yours are, mykee, just that it's the #1 cause of deaths in BPs and any time you see yellow urates you shouldn't take it lightly. It is NEVER normal, no matter how common it may be.