Ways to encourage pooing in water?

[rayann]

I have read that BPs most often poop in their water, but mine doesnt....
I will have to go away for a month soon and am hoping that it will be super easy for my roommates to the clean the tank - is there any way to encourage a ball to poop in its water?
Does the water have to be a certain temperature?

Thanks!

[Neal]

I don't believe it's possible to teach a snake that. Some do, some don't, it really all depends on a number of things.

[Beto510]

.... are you serious!....lol

[Oxylepy]

I can't think of any snake reinforcers... You're probably out of luck on that one. Each snake is going to do its own thing and most are probably just going to leave their droppings where their butt is. So you can't really condition them to poo in water as there is nothing to reward them with or no negative stimuli to remove... heck I can't even imagine how you would try shaping that behavior.

[marct]

I never tried to poddy trian my snakes.... lol

[JLC]

I've never heard that they typically poo in the water. They will often let loose if you soak them in a tub of water, but that's different than their own water dishes.

I personally, would NOT want to encourage such a behavior...because how long might it be before your roomie noticed how disgusting the water was and the snake would have only fouled water to drink?

Regardless though...they go where they want and I don't think there's a way to encourage them to do otherwise. Just make sure whoever is watching the animal knows how to care for it and is trustworthy.

[WingedWolfPsion]

I'm not sure where you read that, but out of a collection of 40+ snakes, I've only had actual defecation in water bowls maybe a handful of times total. Over the course of a year.

So I would throw away whatever it was you read, and get something more accurate to read. If that was wrong, what else might be wrong?

Water Dragons usually use their water as a potty, but ball pythons rarely even soak. Occasionally I find urates in there, but I usually find those in, around, and on water bowls, and all over the rest of the cage as well, it's just random chance.

I have noticed that ball pythons prefer to do their business in the bin corners, though.
Maybe they like having something to brace against.

[rayann]

thanks for the responses! I thought that having a water on the warm side of the tank as well as the cold (his enclosure is huge) may give him another option but its good to know that corners are more likely so i can prep the roomies for poo.

[waltah!]

I have one big female that almost always goes in her bowl. I can tell you that the smell seems to be 10x worse when that happens.
I can actually tell when it's her that fouled up the room before I even look at my racks.

[ssballow]

I just found some poop in my BP's hide. It was stuck to it pretty good. It did make for a pretty easy clean up. I don't think they care too much where they poop. When they gotta go, they go. Just hope it isn't when you're handling them!