Defecation questions.

My ball python defecared today in his warm hide. Quite the mess. He did it twice. I am wondering what the best way to clean it is? I took the whole cage apart, replaced the substrate, cleaned all of the tank items in iodine solution, gave him an iodine bath, and scrubbed the tank. I wore gloves and used the qerm killer I have, I am not sure if I am going way overboard but this would be a huge pain in the ass to do every time he poops. Can I just scoop the area out? I deep clean his cage once a month. It has only been set up for two weeks and this is his first poop. Any help is appreciated.

What are you using for substrate? Mulch bedding like aspen and cypress should be able to be spot cleaned quite easily between full changes, newspaper or paper towels will need to be replaced.

Bit overboard yeah. If the poop comes out in one nice piece (usually just a dried up ball of fur by the time you see it, with some solid urates stuck to it) you can just scoop it out, no need to deep clean every time they defecate. Sometimes though some snakes have a bit of a sensitive stomach? and they diarrhea all over the place, and yeah in that case a deep clean would be recommended. But most of the time its all just spot cleaning and deep clean every month to prevent bacteria from growing or mold.

Edit: Yeah like lizard says the substrate matters too. For eco earth, aspen, cypress, its easy to spot clean, for paper towel bedding , it would have to be replaced.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Lizardlicks

What are you using for substrate? Mulch bedding like aspen and cypress should be able to be spot cleaned quite easily between full changes, newspaper or paper towels will need to be replaced.

---

I use mulch, thank you for the input. I feel better now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Borgpython

Bit overboard yeah. If the poop comes out in one nice piece (usually just a dried up ball of fur by the time you see it, with some solid urates stuck to it) you can just scoop it out, no need to deep clean every time they defecate. Sometimes though some snakes have a bit of a sensitive stomach? and they diarrhea all over the place, and yeah in that case a deep clean would be recommended. But most of the time its all just spot cleaning and deep clean every month to prevent bacteria from growing or mold.

Edit: Yeah like lizard says the substrate matters too. For eco earth, aspen, cypress, its easy to spot clean, for paper towel bedding , it would have to be replaced.

---

Thank you. It was all solid but inside his hide. I am gald I can spot clean because it was a pain in the ass trying ro reassemble his tank this late at night while my girlfriend was sleeping.