do i have a problem here ?

[Brandon.O]

ok i have two questions today about my new corn,

1.ok so today i was cleaning the cage AGAIN (i will explain later) and she came out of her hide and did the 's' thing again and rattled her tail so fast it made a rattle noise,scared the crap outta me,does anyone know of a way to tame down a baby expt for lots of handling ??

2.for almost everyday i have been finding what looks like urates but its like black and white and its chalcky just like urates but its really wet underneath the crusty stuff and i have been finding them everyday now,is that bad ? it doesnt seem normal at all

[schmeelcke]

I've got a baby Calif Kingsnake and he does the same thing,,when he's scared. I find the best thing to do is just pick it up, not pinching it, but hold it loosely and it calms right down. However if someone startles it then the rattling starts up again. So just handle it and it will calm I bet. How is your hide situated? Sometimes the small ones like something to kind of burrow in and it makes them feel safer.

[Tigergenesis]

That can be normal behaviour for these little ones. It should go away with handling. My corn only did it once, my Mex Black king a couple of times and my Cal King used to do it everytime you even looked her direction (okay, slight exaggeration). They generally stop when you pick them up. With my Cal King, I stopped actually picking her up when she did it (because she also musked) and began letting her come out into my hand. After awhile she'll let me pick her up w/o rattling. Occasionally she may rattle when I clean her tub and I'm making noise. Watch sudden movements as well.

The white is urates, the black is feces. Sometimes you get just urates, sometimes both. When they first expel waste there is some liquid so you may be finding it when it's somewhat fresh and hasn't dried?

What's your feeding and handling schedule been like since you got him/her?

[Brandon.O]

i feed her every 5 days, and handle her 3 days after i feed her (so basicly once a week) maybe i will try feeding once every seven days so it will leave more time for me to handle her.

but is it normal for her to "go" everyday ??

i would just pick her up but i know she will bite me so i let her crawl into somthing and then slide her out onto my hand and she is fine,she just hates it when my hand is looming over her or in the cage ,i will just let my hand be in there and move VERY slow so she will get used to my scent after time,hopefully she will stop this

[Tigergenesis]

I would imagine if feeding every 5 days it's normal for her to go that often. That's how my Mex Blk King was when he was being feed every 4-5 days.

Yeah, it can be pretty scary for such a little thing to see a giant hand hovering over her. I've often heard of people putting a piece of used clothing (like a tshirt) with their smell on it in the snakes cage so they can crawl through it and get used to your smell. Just an idea.

[Brandon.O]

ok,but the poo isnt really formed like my balls poop is, like when roxy goes it looks like dog poo but when ruby goes it looks like bird poop

ok i will try the shirt thing tongiht.thanks tiger

[Tigergenesis]

You're welcome. So far all my colubrids have the 'bird poop' look to it - but I figured it was because they're so young/small.

[normballpython2]

i put my shirt in reeses cool hide and he loves to sleep their during they day.

[Tigergenesis]

Awww...how sweet.