Digestion Problem?

My baby blood python was fed about three weeks ago a medium, perhaps large sized mouse. About ten days after, it was time to feed him, but I noticed that he hasn't actually pooped at all. So, we decided to feed him again to see if that would help. It's been three weeks(he's eaten two meals during this time) and he hasn't gone yet. Seems like a funny topic, but I'm worrying that he could have a digestion problem. He is finally relieved of mites, if that could of been a problem. He hasn't shed in a while, but he is due.(I think the mites caused a problem there). Should I down-size the food intake? He's probably about 20 inches long.
I'd be grateful for some tips!

Try soaking in warm bath sometimes it gets things moving.

Blood pythons do not defecate all the time I'm not sure exactly how long but I believe it's a couple months inbetween

I've noticed that my ball pythons tend to poop immediately before or after shedding (I suspect after because the skin and poo is usually one big mess) So there's a possibility that one could be coming up.

From what I gather blood pythons are known for their infrequent constitutionals so I wouldn't worry just yet.

I appreciate the help everyone! Thankyou!

actually bloods and short tails are notorious for only "pooping" twice a year. sometimes more sometimes less. makes it easy on upkeep right. while mites are a PITA, they shouldn't contribute to it's digestion. some of the heavier bodied snakes are kn own to retain feces within their bodies to aid in striking power. read about the gaboon viper some say a third of their body weight is actually reserved feces. there was a very good article about bloods and short tails in reptiles magazine a few months back. u should be able to get it on reptilechannel.com hope this helps.

pksnipr wrote:

actually bloods and short tails are notorious for only "pooping" twice a year. sometimes more sometimes less. makes it easy on upkeep right. while mites are a PITA, they shouldn't contribute to it's digestion. some of the heavier bodied snakes are kn own to retain feces within their bodies to aid in striking power. read about the gaboon viper some say a third of their body weight is actually reserved feces. there was a very good article about bloods and short tails in reptiles magazine a few months back. u should be able to get it on reptilechannel.com hope this helps.

That's very interesting. I'll definately look into that article. Thanks alot!

pksnipr wrote:

some of the heavier bodied snakes are kn own to retain feces within their bodies to aid in striking power. read about the gaboon viper some say a third of their body weight is actually reserved feces.

I've not read this before and it sounds interesting. Do you have a reference?

i don't remember the issue of reptiles but, it was a bright red cover with a picture of a gaboon or rhino on the cover. the cover story i believe was "10 tips for hot keepers" it was one of their semi-annual hot issues. there was an article about the rhinos and gaboons that stated this was a "theory" of some of the researchers. it kinda makes sense if u think about it though. for such a large bodied snake they hit hard!! they can also strike back over themselves and their main tactic is ambush. if i can i'll try n dig out the issue and post the exact year and month.

Thanks for the information. If you happen to find the issue, I would be interested in any research the article may reference.
If the retention of fecal matter for added mass is just a theory it should be presented as such and not stated as fact. The last thing we want to do is contribute to the plethora of existing misinformation on snakes.

the article was in the october 2006 issue of reptiles magazine. i don't believe the statment was intended to be presented as factual. the author of the article was a long time keeper of the species and presented an educated hypothesis on the subject. unfortunately i could not find a link on the magazine's website to link to the article. their archive did not go back that far. i do agree about the misinformation however.

I've heard about this before too. I think this hypothesis came from the fact that most ambush predators such as gaboon, rhino vipers and others like the death adders, do not defecate often at all as opposed to some other snakes. My death adder defecates once every couple of months or so. The idea is that they use it to anchor themselves so as to give them leverage during a strike. However, I do not think this has been studied in order to make this hypothesis a fact. However this paper discusses fecal retention as more of an adaptive behavior in order to increase efficiency in digestion, however they do hypothesize that there is an evolutionary adaptive value for slower, larger ambush predators to retain feces to help them strike, but they also hypothesize on many other reasons why this may be. One thing is for sure, according to this paper, larger ground dwelling ambush viperids retain feces for much longer than their arboreal cousins.
Fecal Retention Paper

"Recent analyses by Cundall (this volume) indicate that both viperids and boids not only possess a comparatively stout trunk, but also the mass is relatively more concentrated in the posterior trunk region compared with the anterior body behind the head. Retained fecal mass also has a posterior position. Therefore, these additive features might well serve to
maximize the static friction force and inertia of the posterior body, thereby reducing the reaction distances moved by the posterior trunk while the anterior trunk is accelerated rapidly during predatory strikes. Similarly, a large posterior mass might assist to “anchor” a snake that might be holding onto a large prey item while on open ground, as during constriction in boids or following fang penetration in some viperids."

Thanks, Larry that was an interesting read.