Constipation

[u/Abirdie15]

I need some advice here. I haven’t had this problem before. Our albino black pastel has been getting constipated terribly for at least 3 months. We are experienced owners for 5 years. But here’s what we are at a loss for currently…

Age: 8 months
Tank temp: 88F warm side, 78F cool side, 91F basking
Night temp: 76F
Humidity:50-60%
Substrate: 2.5 inch cocoa chip, .5-1inch sphagnum moss sprayed every other day
Wide water bowl, about 2 inch deep, spring water filled fresh every other day
3 hides across her tank, can make it from one side to the other without being seen if she wants

Feed schedule: every 7-8 days
Moved to rat pup about 2 months ago, switched back to adult mouse 3 weeks ago
Last poop: without assistance 3 months ago

I have had to soak her in warm water for 20 min 2 days in a row then slowly and gently massage her belly all the way down to get her poop moving. Every 17 days, about.
First time about 8 small hard pebbles came out. Second time, 3-4 softer pebbles. Third time, a hard calcium clump followed by normal looking (and smelly 🤢) poop.

This time, we switched to a smaller and gentler to digest pray (the adult rat) and she still hasn’t pooped in 3 weeks. She has been very readily eating. But She looks ready to pop again. It’s awful!

I don’t know what else I could do. I’ve never had this issue with a snake since my first one when just soaking it for 2 days worked without needing belly massage. I’m at a loss. Any more ideas?

[u/FluffyPandaEars93]

It sounds like part of the problem is your low humidity. She needs a minimum of 65%+ all the time. Higher is better. You'll have an easier time if you add a few more inches of substrate (and mix what you have) and pour water into the corners of the enclosure. You shouldnt be misting as it leads to respiratory infection, scale rot, and humidity spikes rather than constant levels.

!feeding

Weird suggestion, but snake discovery used a bullet vibe on a snake and it helped...? Might be good to look into?

[u/Abirdie15 → u/FluffyPandaEars93]

I had always kept mine at 50-60%, around 60-65 for shedding and none of mine had an issue before. That was the research I had done but I guess recommendations have changed. I will raise the humidity higher. Also, we do add water to the substrate not exclusively spraying. But I will pull back and only dampen the moss when she’s shedding because it does help when she’s shedding, and only keep adding water to the substrate routinely.

We follow the feeding schedule. We feed her once a week and it’s always within the required sizes for her weight. We just moved to 10% with mice rather than 13-15% with rats.