Does Anyone have experience with bloody stools?

I have a ball python female that after several months of normal stools has begun pooping blood.

I have taken her to the vet and had fecal tests done which found no internal parasites.

This is a juvenile female ball python that was somewhat mistreated for a while earlier this year before we got her. She was underweight and we made the mistake of feeding her large meals and often thinking it would be best to quickly get her up to weight. She is currently living in a 72 Q tub in a rack system with a hot spot of ninety and a cool side of 80. Humidity stays fairly consistent at 60%. She ate for us for several months with nothing to report in eating and poop until a few weeks ago when she had a very abnormal poop. The vet couldn't find a reason for the problem.

The only theory we have been given is that since she was underfed and we fed her right away she might have had some troubles and that we should dial back her food both in size and frequency for a while.

Anyone else have experience with this? Any ideas?

Haven't had that happen. 72 qt sounds big for a juvenile BP. My biggest females are in 41qt tubs. I'd reduce the size of meals to about half size. Make sure there is plenty of fresh water and keep an eye out. Every once in a while, I get a weird stool from a snake, then they go back to normal.

Is your vet experienced with reptiles?

Maybe some kind of ulcers?

Has the snake been bred recently?

I know the large racks are a little big for her, we don't have smaller racks at the moment, so we give her extra hides. She eats like a champ and doesn't appear to be stressed.

Our vet is experienced with reptiles. She specializes in birds, reptiles, and other exotics.

I'm more worried now that it has happened again. It seems to be a fairly uncommon problem.

The snake has not been bred recently. She is only about 700 grams.

I forgot to mention that the vet did find a larger than normal amount of gram negative bacteria in the poop and she was able to confirm that the blood is snake blood, not rat blood.

How much blood are you referring to? Specks, or quite a bit? Has or is she shedding at the times blood is evident? currently eating and defecating with out further issues? I know its dangerous to do but im going to assume anyways that your vet did a full work up on fecal and internal parasites?

A decent amount of blood, not a terrible amount, but more than specs. I would guess 4-7mL of red liquid per poop. She is currently eating small meals and this week she ate quickly and continued to actively prowl near the front of her tub in feeding mode.

This blood has happened twice in a row and neither time did she shed. The vet mentioned that there was a fair amount of undigested tissue in the poop.

The vet did do a full work up on the fecal sample I brought in. She also swabbed around inside the cloaca. I can't find the paperwork that tells what the medicine was, but she tube fed something into her stomach.

All in all she seems like a healthy snake, active, eating well, flickiing the tongue. the vet felt along her for lumps, bumps, and possible blockages and found nothing.

Is it possible that the size of the meals that I was giving her caused her to get a tear somewhere near the vent?

BlackboxStar wrote:

The vet did do a full work up on the fecal sample I brought in. She also swabbed around inside the cloaca. I can't find the paperwork that tells what the medicine was, but she tube fed something into her stomach.

All in all she seems like a healthy snake, active, eating well, flickiing the tongue. the vet felt along her for lumps, bumps, and possible blockages and found nothing.

For what you are describing, it could be internal parasites, first thing I'm thinking about, and in spite of the work done on the fecal sample, for not all parasites are found in the feces. I don't think your snake is in danger, acts pretty well, should just get that checked and treated