Hatchling bowel movements

[Mbrokaw89]

Hey guys, I’m new here and new to reptiles. Unfortunately i didn’t do my thorough research until after i bought the snake. I have had her for a little over 2 weeks now. Needless to say I’ve been battling husbandry issues but I’ve finally got that all worked out. My problem is she has eaten 2 mice for me but i haven’t haven’t any sign of her urinating or defecating. She is in a glass tank. Her warm spot is a UTH under the glass, with the thermostat probe silicones to the top. Using cypress mulch as a substrate for humidity. I cleared the glass right next to the probe and my temp gun is showing her hot spot right around 90F. So I’m confident she is getting the temperatures required to digest. Also her food bump has gone away. She has also gone from 105 grams to 135 grams in 2.5 weeks I’ve owned her.

Is her lack of bowel movements at her age something to be worried about?

[Zincubus]

I wouldn’t worry yourself unduly- snakes are remarkably robust for the most part .

There’s no set time for bowel movements
.. you’ll smell it well before you see it

Guessing you know about snake urates ( urine)

Snakes do not usually produce a lot of liquid urine, like mammals. Instead, they excrete solid uric acid lumps, known as urates. These are a similar shape to their feces but are usually chalky white and crumbly. Both feces and urates exit a snake through one hole, the cloaca.



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[nikkubus]

What sized mice are you feeding her? How is her humidity? Dehydration can make it more difficult to have regular bowl movements. 2 weeks isn't what I would consider any kind of danger zone for not having gone poop, but it certainly isn't normal for that young of a hatchling either.

[Mbrokaw89]

What sized mice are you feeding her? How is her humidity? Dehydration can make it more difficult to have regular bowl movements. 2 weeks isn't what I would consider any kind of danger zone for not having gone poop, but it certainly isn't normal for that young of a hatchling either.

the humidity fluctuates from 40% - 70% throughout the day. It is generally in the 50-60% zone for most of the day though. I handled her this morning and when i returned her to her enclosure she drank a good bit of water.

[Mbrokaw89]

What sized mice are you feeding her? How is her humidity? Dehydration can make it more difficult to have regular bowl movements. 2 weeks isn't what I would consider any kind of danger zone for not having gone poop, but it certainly isn't normal for that young of a hatchling either.

The first meal i fed her was a hopper mouse. The second feeding was an average sized adult mouse. I don’t mess with her for 48 hours after her feeding. After 48 hours her food baby was gone.

[Mbrokaw89]

I wouldn’t worry yourself unduly- snakes are remarkably robust for the most part .

There’s no set time for bowel movements
.. you’ll smell it well before you see it

Guessing you know about snake urates ( urine)

Snakes do not usually produce a lot of liquid urine, like mammals. Instead, they excrete solid uric acid lumps, known as urates. These are a similar shape to their feces but are usually chalky white and crumbly. Both feces and urates exit a snake through one hole, the cloaca.



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i haven’t seen anything resembling the white urates. Is the second picture the feces? I was under the impression they’d be more solid. I’ll have to look around a bit harder in the cypress mulch.

[nikkubus]

A full grown mouse is a tad bit excessive for a snake her size, but a hopper is way too small. It may be she hadn't fully digested the adult yet and you will get something soon. I wouldn't go digging through her substrate to find waste. Any unnecessary stress in this time period where she is settling in is best avoided. Generally I use paper towel the first 90 days so it's very easy to see what's going on, but I wouldn't switch to that and further disrupt her at this point unless you have a pretty good reason to suspect something is wrong. If you can't see of smell it, it's probably not bothering her if it's there.

[Zincubus]

i haven’t seen anything resembling the white urates. Is the second picture the feces? I was under the impression they’d be more solid. I’ll have to look around a bit harder in the cypress mulch.

Both pictures of urates .. the second is just crumbled / powdered urates ( slightly yellowed )

Here’s a better photo showing both ... slightly dried out

The solids really stink !!!



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[Zincubus]

Last one


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[Bogertophis]

...Is her lack of bowel movements at her age something to be worried about?

Good question (& I'd recommend staying vigilant) but it's probably not an issue. Young snakes are growing fast & using up the nutrition from their meals, but thorough digestion takes time. Snakes are also "designed" to conserve water, so not only do they expel urates (which are soft & moist but not usually much or any liquid) but also, they refrain from "going" (both urates or feces) until they really need to. Snakes do not "go" on any sort of schedule, so it's harder to tell if there's a problem, but if a snake is (1) still eating, (2) not looking bloated just above the cloaca (what some people here refer to as "sausage butt" lol) & (3) you don't feel any hard lumps -almost like marbles- when you gently palpate just above her cloaca (aka vent), she's not likely to be constipated. I'm not saying it's impossible for a snake to become constipated (or blocked up due in part to swallowing undigestible substrate), only that it's unlikely.

Preventing constipation is straightforward: keep proper humidity in the enclosure, provide clean drinking water always, keep in a large enough home so they can move around normally, & whenever possible, prevent accidental ingestion of substrate- they cannot digest it, so feed on a "plate" of some kind when you can. And understand that two weeks for a snake not to go isn't extreme like it would be for a human.