Triple whammy

Got my royal (my first snake) a week ago. Six years old, tolerates handling well (or at least seems to--doesn't ball up, eager to slither around and explore, especially face and hair). He was in shed when I got him. Any rate, cleared up a couple days ago and hissed at me when I approached, so I let him be. Sure enough, he shed within 12 hours, complete, all one piece, and back to his non-hissing self. The old skin wasn't the only treat in his cage. Also a big poop and white urate clump. Question: Is this just coincidence, or do they commonly relieve themselves when they rid themselves of their skins?

Yep that's very common. Wait till he shows you the really neat BP trick of doing his poop inside his shed then rolling the whole thing into a nice sort of poop filled shed ball. It's like a very stinky present all for you LOL

It was stinky enough as it was. The poo and urate was together in one corner of the tank. I think I missed the shed by not very much--skin seemed almost moist when I found it. He'd compounded the mess by spillng a bunch of water from his dish--I'm guessing he had a soak before shed. I immediately cleaned the cage. Gotta say, I was REAL proud of him--after reading a zillion posts about shedding problems, it was so nice to see it go so textbook.

Tomorrow, we'll see if he eats. I watched him take a mouse two weeks ago before making the adoption official. After hearing they're reluctant eaters during shed, I haven't tried yet, plus I've handled him a lot, so I'm giving him a couple days off before trying. Hopefully, Sunday evenings will become our regular dinner time...

Yep best to pick an evening and stick to that routine. BP's love routine. Remember no handling for 48 hours after a meal.


You're lucky. Usually you clean their enclosure and then they poop LOL.

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Originally Posted by frankykeno

You're lucky. Usually you clean their enclosure and then they poop LOL.

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That should be the advice we give people worried about why their snake hasn't pooped yet. Clean the cage and THEN they'll poop right away!

Congrats on the sucessful shed, poop and urate - we love all three of those around here...

(i lub me some snake poop)

Wait until the day when you open the tub and your snake has smeared the bm all over their hide and enclosure - now that's nice!!!! Just had my biggest girl do that Friday night. Now that was fun!

I love when they shed/defecate/urate in one. Usually I find a neat, pretty odorless ball of shed with all the yuckies inside; it is like they bagged it up for me! I guess I have just been lucky thus far :)