Crohn's Disease

seriously, i think my mexican black kingsnake has Crohn's because all he does is poop. i'm sure it's nothing to worry about, and he's just growing. but good lord, how much poop can one 2 foot snake have?

LOL - how often does he go? My kings go 3-4 times a week.

Wow 3-4 times a week is normal?

I thought they only went once a few days after feeding. I've had Elysia for like 5 days now and I've only discovered one spot of urates and poop o_O I read that pet stores and breeders tend to only feed once every 7-10 days which is like the minimum to keep them healthy. So maybe feeding her every 5 days is going to fatten her up and make her wanna go more :P

Depends on the snake, how often feeding,meal size and age (i think), but colubrids go often.

Someone recently asked the same question about their Cal King on the Kingsnake forum. Anywhere from 2-4 times a week seemed to be what everyone's kings were doing.

Oh ok good ^_^ One other question, I read that the Eco-Earth naturally like "decomposes" urates and poop. Is that right? I mean it would be kinda hard to find poop and urates in that loose kinda substrate right? I mean if I saw it on the top Id take it out but what if you cant find it lol.

Hmmm. Not sure about the decomposing part. But so far it is sometimes a bit difficult to find Indigo's feces (urates are easier since they are white), but he's still young and his 'presents' are small so I'm thinking it will be easier when he's older. I can usually smell it and I know there's something I need to find - plus I know based on his routine. I just sift through the substrate with one of those kitty liter scoops.

So you take him out and just sift through thesubstrate until you find his present and thats all? All clean?

EDIT: I just checked Elysia earlier and I found a present and some urates under the newspaper and on top, as well as on the side of one of the hides. So I decided to do a clean sweep today and went to take her out. She promptly pretended to be a rattlesnake and vibrated her tail, which is the first time she has done so btw. I put her container inside the tank instead and she just went into it herself ^_^

I changed her newspaper, cleaned the tank with soapy water, dried it and disinfected it with my vinegar and peroxide bottles, then wiped it down again with water to get rid of the smell. I put her new nature's bark in this time between the cold and hot hide so she can use that to get between the 2. She dove right under and went into the cold hide ^_^

I think she likes it, but she seems stressed today, so I will wait until tomorrow to try and actually hold her.

Yep, that's my "daily" spot cleaning. The substrate causes his presents to clump together making it easy to scoop/sift. Sometimes I even leave him in there if I already know where it is and it's on the opposite side as him. I haven't determined how often I'll do a total change of the substrate since it's all still new for us both.

Only reason I haven't gone out to get some Eco-Earth *Can get the three pack for 5$ at local pet store* is because the humidity where I am *upstate NY* Can be hell this time of year, and since I already had a humidity problem and today is no picnic either, I'm hesitant about getting a substrate that holds humidity like it does.

BTW whats your humidity at usually with your MBK Tiger?-

40-50% is where mine stays at. Humidity is higher here too due to all the rain. If you dry the EcoEarth out completely it won't really increase it - at least it hasn't for me. But it has to be bone dry.

Mine goes between 45-60. Depends on how bad it is outside. It's 93% humidity with a dew point of 66 right now so the tank is at 60% and its horrible horrible weather >_<

I was thinking of soaking it then when its done expanding I'll put it in a baking sheet and cover it with a screen and let it airdry outside. I need to cover it outside cause its very windy here and dont want it to blow away.

Thant's kind of what I did. The thinner the layer the better.

How thick of a layer of this stuff are you supposed to have in the tank? And do you put something under it like a sheet of newspaper so you have something between the substrate and the bottom of the tank?

Tiger do you think you could post a picture of Indigo's enclosure so I can see? ^_^

As thick in the tank as you want. I started with just a thin layer to see how it worked. It's barely enough for him to burrow, but I'll be adding some more this week so he can burrow a bit more. I think I'll add enough to make 1/2 inch thick and see what I think. Right now I don't have any newspaper or anything under it, but I think someone else on these boards suggested that's what they do. Right now Indigo is in a rack setup, I'll try and get a pic for you soon.

i think you might be confusing doing the deed with musking. my baby cali king dirty's up his substrate (paper towels) almost daily.

yeah if you dry the eco earth (I'm actually going to switch to Bed a Beast after reading some reports of baby insects found in eco earth) before you put it in the humidity shouldn't be a problem.

Okay here's a pic I just took of Indigo in his 32qt tub. He decided to move his hide and lay beside it.

https://ball-pythons.net/modules/cop...l_DSC00091.JPG

What exactly is musking? Is there actually a discharge (if so what does it look like)? I've heard that the smell is horrible so there's no mistaking if you've been musked - is this true? My MBK has done what I thought was just urinating on other people, but now I'm wondering if he was musking? didn't notice any strong odor with it.

Ah nice enclosure ^_^ That thing looks bigger then 32qt too o_O


I have that same exact green hide you do, only mines a 10" ^_^ But its too big for Elysia at the moment.

Elysia just did her business that makes me think the previous times were indeed something other then poo and some urates at least cause I just looked inside to check the temps and such and there was a big inch long unmistakeable piece of poo and she peed *or something* right through all 4 layers of newspaper so I had to clean her cage a second time today lol At least I know she poops 2 days after eating now o_O

Thanks! You know after I took the picture and posted it I thought it looked like a bigger sized tub too. But it is 32 qt. If he were stretched out it'd probably look smaller. He ate yesterday so he's digesting. I don't know why I keep giving him paper towel rolls. My Cal King and corn snake love them, but he's never cared. Cheap hides! With all the paper towels I go through cleaning water dishes, tubs, cages.... I figured I'd make use of the rolls somehow.

Just a note, I'm using Bed-a-Beast not EcoEarth. I didn't think it mattered, but the above post by Jonah is the 2nd fact I've heard to make Bed-a-Beast sound better than EcoEarth. I can't remember what the other thing I heard was, but I'm thinking I heard it from another post by Jonah. I'll have to find it.

tiger... if you've been peed on, it was most likely musk. they usually do it when first approached.

My MBK does it anyone else that holds him other than me - he's never done it on me. When he did it I noticed something that seemed to bulge from his vent area - what is this? Perhaps it didn't smell bad because he's so young or just didn't musk too much? I figured it was just pee. Now my Cal King did it to me once, but again it had no smell.

I found the post I was thinking about from Jonah. here's the thread...

http://www.ball-pythons.net/PNphpBB2...ic-t-3584.html

i dont know why people say it stinks so bad. ive never really even smelled it. but it is pretty sickening. and yeah, the bulge in the vent area was from the musking. my cali does it everytime i go to handle him, shortly followed by lots of tail rattling and occasional striking. :)

Ok. Thanks. Any idea what exactly that is bulging out?