Couple of Care Questions

LOL I have one that will defecate in her hide then immediately book for the other hide and absolutely refuse to re-enter the "dirty" hide till I clean up after her. It's hilarious to see what I'm sure if a half-asleep snake go scooting across her tub in the middle of the day cuz she just stunk herself out! LOL Another one of ours always poops in the exact same corner of her tub, I've no idea why but it is never anywhere else but her self-designated "toilet" corner.


~~Jo~~

This isn't poop related but typical nonetheless. Mondays are designated clean the cage and feed days. So last night we did our thing and after cleaning the cage he took two rat pups no sweat. This morning I wake up and check on him and not only did he pee (clean cage!) but he shed as well (btw it's his first shed with me!!!!:D :D ). So I had to clean his cage at 6:00 in the morning disturbing him as little as possible. At least he left me a treat for my efforts (the shed!).

In response to Frankykeno --- my girl is doing that. I found another calcium pooh (just a really small one) this morning. Both times it is in her hot house where she does not hang out too much. But I am learning that she goes in there and if she stays for more than 30 mins -- CHECK IT!!!


She likes her cool hut most of the time and only goes in her hot hut when I first put her back in the cage -- I think she likes to warm up in there and then move to her favorite place. Her temps in both huts are good -- I have meters sitting right inside to check -- so think she just likes it cooler. But the past two night after a little soak (that I am doing not so much her choice) -- she is sitting in there and I find calcium pooh the next morning. So I think she may be using it as a toilet. Funny. Good to know she is not the only one. At least I now know where she burries it....kind of like my cats and litter box.

I did notice a jelly like substance -- kind of looks like mucus -- in the small calcium pooh this morning -- I remember seeing a post on this so want to go see what people said because it is kind of concerning me.

Still no pooh with hair and such.....I am still waiting on the big one -- thinking the vet wants that to inspect rather than a little piece the size of broken chalk.

Okay so I found the one on the jelly but this is not the same. This was a little bit of what looks like mucus with the calcium pooh...anyone seen this? Should I be worried? I will be glad when she gives me a good one to take to the vet for a general examination.

those aren't calcium poos. those are urates(the snakes pee). poos will be brown and much larger (and smellier) then urates.

do you know what the jelly stuff is?

i think jelly like stuff might be a sign of parasites.(dont quote me on that one) i would get it looked at.

Okay -- I just called to see if just the jelly and urate was enough to study. It is not much....like may be 1/4 teaspoon of it.


What do they give her? Should I have her with me or will there be something I have to treat her with?

Also - do I need to change the bedding to something else? Can they hide in the bedding or when they come out do they die?

New to this so the questions may be stupid but as you can see -- my pets are my children and I freak out when they are not well.

I would wait until an actual fecal sample is produced. You can't study urine under a microscope for parasites(well, one parasite, but that is species-specific for dogs/cats/cattle? Capillaria sp.). When you get feces, take a small amount of it(teaspoon sized amount) and put it in a plastic ziploc baggy and put it in the fridge until you can take it to the vet.

Also, there is no need to take the snake with you when you deliver the feces to the vet. They will call you with the results of the fecal float and will discuss treatment options if there are any. That is when you would either go pick up the medication from the vet and administer it at home, or take the snake up to the vet and have them deworm the snake for you.

Switching to paper towels or newspaper will help you keep an eye out for anything abnormal such as mites, abnormal looking feces(consistency, actual worms in the stool, color) and anything else. At least for the first month or two and then you an switch to your bedding or choice(aspen, cypress, newspaper, etc). Just makes it easier on you :)

Okay -- I tried paper towels at first and had trouble with the heat pad until I did get a rheostat so I can go back to it now. The first week was murder and lots oh money spent learning .. haha. Oh well -- she is now comfy and that is what mattered to me.

I will wait for the real pooh to take to him. He is a great vet - actually I think he is on the animal planet. I am wondering what I will pay for the lab -- yikes -- but he was super cool when he saw her and since he just looked at her, he did not charge me that day. I do really wish she would hurry up! I see her drink and am soaking her for just 10 mins each day to see if it helps. The air here is soooo dry, I could not imagine that is too bad for her in general anyway.

The vet saw her and did not see mites but I guess they do not show up on her always -- or may be not until they are too bad. From the outside - he said she looked really healthy and responded nicely (inspecting him and gripping and such). He told me to drop off a fecal sample -- so I will keep checking for a present for him (not me ha ha).

I must say that your subtitle - poop scene inspector (PSI) made me laugh out loud here at work ...so I am sure that they wonder what I am up to now!!!

I would stop with the soaking. It will dry her skin out more than moisturize. You know how if we're in the tub too long and we get wrinkly and dried out? Same thing with them. They don't soak normally in the wild, so it's not necessary to soak them in captivity(other than the bad shed times).


You can always get a plastic gladware or disposable rubbermaid container used for storing food and make one into a humid hide. Get some paper towels or sphagnum moss and make it slightly damp, then cut a hole in the side and put the lid on. Place the whole container on the warm side of the enclosure and you're set. The snake will go there when it needs to.

If you haven't switched to a plastic tub enclosure, you may want to. I know you said you're getting an AP cage soon, but you may want to switch to a tub in the meantime. It will help your heat and humidity considerably and will also help with the stress level of your snake. The humid hide though, will help a bit with your ambient humidity, and will keep your substrate drier. You'll have to change out the paper towels fairly often, as they can get icky. Try to change them out every 2-3 days.

LoL, Poop Scene Investigator designates my love for parasitology. I'm a Vet Tech so we love poop! :)