It isn’t all glamorous.....

[Dianne]

As snake keepers, we often concentrate on the beauty of our animals. The incredible coloration, either natural or morphs, their natural grace, their efficiency as hunters in the wild...and the trials and tribulations of feeding in captivity. We share husbandry skills with new keepers from setup and substrate options to problem solving. We mention clean up, particularly as it applies to safe cleaners to use. But we don’t often share the reality of cleanup. Not that this would put most of us off, especially those of us with multiple animals. If you’re already a keeper, you can guess where this is heading.

I have probably the worst sense of smell of anyone I know thanks to year round allergies. This evening I was watching Dead by Dawn, nature documentary. Suddenly my sinuses were assaulted from the next room, through a closed door. I immediately knew the culprit, Duncan, my 7’ Bci. And yes, you will often be able to accurately guess which cage needs cleaning by smell alone. There was no waiting for the end of the show. Upon opening the door, I can only assume she was proud of herself. It appeared that a large dog had visited the cage. She evidently did a victory lap, or three, smearing it across all three doors of the eight foot cage, all three hides, the water bowl, and along the front wall below the doors where the deed was done.

When you get your first snake, you may assume they will go in one spot, neatly away from where they roam, much like a dog or cat. If you are lucky, this is the snake you will acquire. In reality, they often lay in it, crawl through it, and spread it everywhere. You can’t just assume you will only ever clean one spot, if using a substrate that allows spot cleaning rather than a full change. You really do have to check the walls, hides, and any other enrichment items in the cage, if not every time then at least occasionally for the long term health of the animal and your own health when handling. You sometimes have to bathe the snake or at least use damp towels to wipe them down. And as Selene proved last week, sometimes you have to check the top of a 12” deep quarantine tub because it was on the “ceiling”.

[MR Snakes]

As snake keepers, we often concentrate on the beauty of our animals. The incredible coloration, either natural or morphs, their natural grace, their efficiency as hunters in the wild...and the trials and tribulations of feeding in captivity. We share husbandry skills with new keepers from setup and substrate options to problem solving. We mention clean up, particularly as it applies to safe cleaners to use. But we don’t often share the reality of cleanup. Not that this would put most of us off, especially those of us with multiple animals. If you’re already a keeper, you can guess where this is heading.

I have probably the worst sense of smell of anyone I know thanks to year round allergies. This evening I was watching Dead by Dawn, nature documentary. Suddenly my sinuses were assaulted from the next room, through a closed door. I immediately knew the culprit, Duncan, my 7’ Bci. And yes, you will often be able to accurately guess which cage needs cleaning by smell alone. There was no waiting for the end of the show. Upon opening the door, I can only assume she was proud of herself. It appeared that a large dog had visited the cage. She evidently did a victory lap, or three, smearing it across all three doors of the eight foot cage, all three hides, the water bowl, and along the front wall below the doors where the deed was done.

When you get your first snake, you may assume they will go in one spot, neatly away from where they roam, much like a dog or cat. If you are lucky, this is the snake you will acquire. In reality, they often lay in it, crawl through it, and spread it everywhere. You can’t just assume you will only ever clean one spot, if using a substrate that allows spot cleaning rather than a full change. You really do have to check the walls, hides, and any other enrichment items in the cage, if not every time then at least occasionally for the long term health of the animal and your own health when handling. You sometimes have to bathe the snake or at least use damp towels to wipe them down. And as Selene proved last week, sometimes you have to check the top of a 12” deep quarantine tub because it was on the “ceiling”.

That snake needs counseling!

[cletus]

I hear you Dianne. They can and do make huge messes. Especially the boas. Creeper not so much but Harley takes these monster leaks and although the coco bedding does a good job masking odor I can usually tell right away. I have a very sharp sense of smell so I'm really on top of cleaning because I also work in the same room my snakes are in so I spend on average about 11 hours a day in there during the week. Sometimes they go inside their hides and it smears everywhere. lol

[Dianne]

And here she is, acting like nothing happened.

Sent from my moto z3 using Tapatalk

[Bogertophis]

I firmly believe that's why snakes are always sticking their tongues out [at us]...they're saying "that's what you get for keeping me captive!"

[Reinz]

Just to add, there seems to be something about about the 7 foot mark and even more so with the 8 foot mark; at least for Mature Carpets and Boas. Yeah, we all know Reics get the first place award for being messy.

Cleaning for my 5 foot BP and 6 foot Boa is a breeze, and even my 5.5-6 foot juvie Olive. But when my Carpets hit 7 feet, the messes doubled. When they hit 8 feet the messes grew exponentially. The Urates are the worse. They make them teaspoon-tablespoon sized gooey paste, but 3-4 droppings a day for 4-5 days straight. And at least one of those days smeared and whitewashed everywhere. At least the 8 foot Boa just drops one or two loads of Urates, but they are huge and gooey.

My worse nightmare was yesterday. Six of the big snakes destroyed their cages making waste. I had to do total clean outs of bowls, hides, shelves and floors covered in waste. All within a 10-12 hour period. Low maintenance? Sure, until they get big and all go at once

[SquirmyPug]

With all this you've convinced me.. if I ever decide to get a larger snake then I'm building a cage with a drain built in. That way I can just wash the whole thing with a hose. Maybe even warm water and wash the snake off at the same time

[Dianne]

When I had my 12’ burm, you would swear I kept a pony in the cage. How I wished for a cage setup with a drain plug to be able to hose down. The worst thing was when she was in “a mood” and did not want to be handled. Nothing like trying to persuade large angry snake to get out of her cage and into a cleaning tub. And Reinz is spot on with urates with the large snakes, soft goey...and highly spreadable.

[Skyrivers]

As snake keepers, we often concentrate on the beauty of our animals. The incredible coloration, either natural or morphs, their natural grace, their efficiency as hunters in the wild...and the trials and tribulations of feeding in captivity. We share husbandry skills with new keepers from setup and substrate options to problem solving. We mention clean up, particularly as it applies to safe cleaners to use. But we don’t often share the reality of cleanup. Not that this would put most of us off, especially those of us with multiple animals. If you’re already a keeper, you can guess where this is heading.

I have probably the worst sense of smell of anyone I know thanks to year round allergies. This evening I was watching Dead by Dawn, nature documentary. Suddenly my sinuses were assaulted from the next room, through a closed door. I immediately knew the culprit, Duncan, my 7’ Bci. And yes, you will often be able to accurately guess which cage needs cleaning by smell alone. There was no waiting for the end of the show. Upon opening the door, I can only assume she was proud of herself. It appeared that a large dog had visited the cage. She evidently did a victory lap, or three, smearing it across all three doors of the eight foot cage, all three hides, the water bowl, and along the front wall below the doors where the deed was done.

When you get your first snake, you may assume they will go in one spot, neatly away from where they roam, much like a dog or cat. If you are lucky, this is the snake you will acquire. In reality, they often lay in it, crawl through it, and spread it everywhere. You can’t just assume you will only ever clean one spot, if using a substrate that allows spot cleaning rather than a full change. You really do have to check the walls, hides, and any other enrichment items in the cage, if not every time then at least occasionally for the long term health of the animal and your own health when handling. You sometimes have to bathe the snake or at least use damp towels to wipe them down. And as Selene proved last week, sometimes you have to check the top of a 12” deep quarantine tub because it was on the “ceiling”.

One thing that has worked for me to cut down on the mess is giving the snakes a large enough water dish to swim in. Most of mine prefer to poop and pee in the water and this makes clean up easy. Side note, my Columbian Boa is the only exception. LOL.

Just love your animal and the messes they make. Is part of caring for them as much as cuddling with them when they are out. Cant prevent it, cant train them, and scolding them they will sass you or just simply ignore you. Essentially they are moody teenagers.

[Skyrivers]

Just to add, there seems to be something about about the 7 foot mark and even more so with the 8 foot mark; at least for Mature Carpets and Boas. Yeah, we all know Reics get the first place award for being messy.

Cleaning for my 5 foot BP and 6 foot Boa is a breeze, and even my 5.5-6 foot juvie Olive. But when my Carpets hit 7 feet, the messes doubled. When they hit 8 feet the messes grew exponentially. The Urates are the worse. They make them teaspoon-tablespoon sized gooey paste, but 3-4 droppings a day for 4-5 days straight. And at least one of those days smeared and whitewashed everywhere. At least the 8 foot Boa just drops one or two loads of Urates, but they are huge and gooey.

My worse nightmare was yesterday. Six of the big snakes destroyed their cages making waste. I had to do total clean outs of bowls, hides, shelves and floors covered in waste. All within a 10-12 hour period. Low maintenance? Sure, until they get big and all go at once

They were complaining to the cook to bring them some more food is all.