Yeah... she ate that

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

It makes some sense from a survival standpoint too: snakes rely on not being discovered by their own predators, and what
better way to let your enemies know you are there than by essentially hanging your clothes out like a big flag for all to see & smell. BPs don't move around
much either, so keeping their location for ambush-hunting a secret makes some survival sense.

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Well, seriously, maybe this is a long-lost "instinct" that has been disappearing among all the captive-bred ball pythons, but happened to show up in yours?

Busy people can be remarkably UN-curious when you're talking about a shed that might be lost under substrate...they never consider it might have been ingested.
Yours is probably NOT the first BP to do this. ;)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

It makes some sense from a survival standpoint too: snakes rely on not being discovered by their own predators, and what better way to let your enemies
know you are there than by essentially hanging your clothes out like a big flag for all to see & smell. BPs don't move around much either, so keeping their
location for ambush-hunting a secret makes some survival sense.

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In addition to this, before I got a blood python and was doing research I read that they are known for going months without pooping. A theory of this is that they “hold it” because they are such large, heavy bodied snakes that are ambushers. Because of their size, they’re not very active and pooping often would cause both their living quarters to be dirtied and their scent to be smelled by prey. Could be similar to what Bogertophis has said here


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Oh ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Bad enough about eating the shed.

But shed wrapped around poo and urates?

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


Who said BPs were picky...

I have to admit it. I wouldn't have believed it hadn't I seen it.


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

Oh ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

Bad enough about eating the shed.

But shed wrapped around poo and urates?

Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww


Who said BPs were picky...

I have to admit it. I wouldn't have believed it hadn't I seen it.


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Maybe she sensed she needed some more gut bacteria...? Other creatures are known to do this, & while it's still being studied, they're finding that in humans, having
the wrong "gut bacteria" can promote poor health & obesity, & there is even such a thing as a "fecal transplant". -Sorry if this is TMI...;)

Maybe this explains the way some snakes insist on eating "backwards" (butt-first)? :confusd:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Bogertophis

Maybe she sensed she needed some more gut bacteria...? Other creatures are known to do this, & while it's still being studied, they're finding that in humans, having
the wrong "gut bacteria" can promote poor health & obesity, & there is even such a thing as a "fecal transplant". -Sorry if this is TMI...;)

Maybe this explains the way some snakes insist on eating "backwards" (butt-first)? :confusd:

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That definitely is a thing. But usually only works if you transfer healthy gut bacteria from someone else to replenish what is missing or damaged in someone's gut.

Foals eat their mother's poop because of that reason, and some bad cases of colitis can be cured by mixing manure from a healthy horse into their food/milk.

I believe rabbit babies HAVE TO eat poop from their mother, on top of that only "special poop" that is only produced at night or something weird like this? Which is why its so hard to save rabbit babies without their mothers.

And yes, its even done with humans. But its sanitized, cleaned and given through feeding tubes ;)

It really wouldn't serve any purpose to eat ones own poop though. I can't imagine urates being healthy either. Apparently there were no bad side effects, but it it rather gross ! LOL..

Huh, well I knew cresties ate their sheds but bps doin it? That's a new one for me. Weird.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by zina10

That definitely is a thing. But usually only works if you transfer healthy gut bacteria from someone else to replenish what is missing or damaged in someone's gut.

Foals eat their mother's poop because of that reason, and some bad cases of colitis can be cured by mixing manure from a healthy horse into their food/milk.

I believe rabbit babies HAVE TO eat poop from their mother, on top of that only "special poop" that is only produced at night or something weird like this? Which is why its so hard to save rabbit babies without their mothers.

And yes, its even done with humans. But its sanitized, cleaned and given through feeding tubes ;)

It really wouldn't serve any purpose to eat ones own poop though. I can't imagine urates being healthy either. Apparently there were no bad side effects, but it it rather gross ! LOL..

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I quite agree...it's gross. And I'm not saying it's going to be helpful to the snake, just brainstorming reasons why the snake might have done this. It's anyone's guess, lol.