Reptile & Amphibian Forums

We all know the old adage: “the surest way to get a snake to poop is to clean it’s cage.” Is there any truth to this? I recently changed out one cage to plain newspaper so I know everything that is going on in the cage.

Dang it if my snake doesn’t poop EVERY time I clean up in there! I swapped out the paper three times in three days. Once he did it an hour after I had just changed it!

Do they instinctively mark there territory?

I have noticed this everytime I clean cages. It seems to be a territorial behavior or maybe a comfort issue i.e., smelling something familiar.
-----
1.0 Green Iguana
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.1 Midnight Blizard Leopard Gecko
2.4 Corn Snakes (2 Blood Red,1 Granite,1 Butter, 1 Creamsicle,1 Anery)
2.1 Ball Python (2 Normal, 1 Lemon Pastel)

THAT is why i stopped using newspaper. i couldnt stand it! it was so annoying!!! i would change the newspaper every day! sometime 3 times a day b/c they would turn their water over. so now i used aspen and paper towels for babies.
~kin
-----
~Sober Serpents~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SNAKIES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Corns:
.1 Normal (Gertrude) [just a pet...she started it all]
1. Orange normal (Romeo)
1.2 Miami Phase (Hector, Emily, Charlotte) thanks jeff!
2. Miami Phase part zigzag (Starkey, Mcvitty)[Emilys F2]
1. Amel het Blizzard (Dunesbury) .1 Blizzard (Detta)
1. Classic het Hypo, poss het Amel, Anery (Cobra)
1.1 Classics (Henry VIII, Cassy) [Emilys F1 babies]
.1 Deep Red Amel (Pepperoni) *1. Deep red amel coming soon!
1.1 Hypo zig zags poss HET Caramel (Bernard, Abegail)
.1 Hypo HET Stripe (Gracie Lou) 1. Hypo Stripe (Gideon)
1.1 Anery HET Motley (Lleroy, Persia)
.1 Candy Cane (Peaches HoneyBlossom) [Just a pet]
1. Abbotts Okeetee (Albert) [Charlottes son]
1.1 Snow (Crickle, Isis) .1 Green Snow (Maya)
1. Caramel poss HET Butter (Topher)
.1 Anery stripe (V) [husbands snake...he named it]
.1 Orange Reverse Okeetee (Lonna)
1.2 Bloodred HET Amel 1. Amel HET Bloodred

Others:
1.1 Black rats (Willard, Cecily)
1.1 Striped Cal Kings (Dweezil, Skunky)
1. High-white Reverse Spotted Cal King (Wishbone) *.1 soon!
.1 Albino Stripe Cal King (Eve)
.1 Bananna spotted/stripe cal king (Speckle) Thanks Jeff!!!
1.1 Thayeri (Giuseppe[MSP], Cheyenne)
1.1 Creamsicle HET Motley(Orangejello, Genevieve)
1. Creamsicle motley (no name) Thanks Jimmy!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~LEOPARD GECKOS~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.1 Blizzard (Blitz)
.1? High yellow (no name)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~TURTLES~~~~~~~~~~~~
.1 white cheeked mud (Opel)
.1 snapping turtle (no name, ideas welcome)

That sort of goes along with an earlier thread. I like the speed of cleanup with plain newspaper, but I have to do it every day. At least with a substrate of some kind I can spot clean as necessary...

See, with using newspaper, it allows you to see EVERYTHING so when you change the newspaper, all waste is removed 100%. Spot cleaning, IMO, does not remove everything, as when I used to use aspen and spot cleaned all the time, I then would look under the cage and see all the dried up uric acid that I missed, etc..
I go through the exact same thing as well, as I clean a cage and BAM! More poop!
I have some snakes that poop a lot, and some that poop every 2 weeks or longer. It can vary from individual to individual, and also, the feeding regimen that the snake is on.
-----
Genesis 1:1

I like the ones that crap in the water bowl.You may have to change the water more often but,the rest of the cage stays clean longer! Jeff

but i hate it when the snake is like... what are you doing to my water? and try to get into the water bowl when your taking it away and then you have to clean the poopy water covered snake off. not cool.
~kin
-----
~Sober Serpents~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SNAKIES~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Corns:
.1 Normal (Gertrude) [just a pet...she started it all]
1. Orange normal (Romeo)
1.2 Miami Phase (Hector, Emily, Charlotte) thanks jeff!
2. Miami Phase part zigzag (Starkey, Mcvitty)[Emilys F2]
1. Amel het Blizzard (Dunesbury) .1 Blizzard (Detta)
1. Classic het Hypo, poss het Amel, Anery (Cobra)
1.1 Classics (Henry VIII, Cassy) [Emilys F1 babies]
.1 Deep Red Amel (Pepperoni) *1. Deep red amel coming soon!
1.1 Hypo zig zags poss HET Caramel (Bernard, Abegail)
.1 Hypo HET Stripe (Gracie Lou) 1. Hypo Stripe (Gideon)
1.1 Anery HET Motley (Lleroy, Persia)
.1 Candy Cane (Peaches HoneyBlossom) [Just a pet]
1. Abbotts Okeetee (Albert) [Charlottes son]
1.1 Snow (Crickle, Isis) .1 Green Snow (Maya)
1. Caramel poss HET Butter (Topher)
.1 Anery stripe (V) [husbands snake...he named it]
.1 Orange Reverse Okeetee (Lonna)
1.2 Bloodred HET Amel 1. Amel HET Bloodred

Others:
1.1 Black rats (Willard, Cecily)
1.1 Striped Cal Kings (Dweezil, Skunky)
1. High-white Reverse Spotted Cal King (Wishbone) *.1 soon!
.1 Albino Stripe Cal King (Eve)
.1 Bananna spotted/stripe cal king (Speckle) Thanks Jeff!!!
1.1 Thayeri (Giuseppe[MSP], Cheyenne)
1.1 Creamsicle HET Motley(Orangejello, Genevieve)
1. Creamsicle motley (no name) Thanks Jimmy!!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~LEOPARD GECKOS~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.1 Blizzard (Blitz)
.1? High yellow (no name)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~TURTLES~~~~~~~~~~~~
.1 white cheeked mud (Opel)
.1 snapping turtle (no name, ideas welcome)

Never had one poop in their water bowel. Under it yes...
-----
1.0 Green Iguana
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.1 Midnight Blizard Leopard Gecko
2.4 Corn Snakes (2 Blood Red,1 Granite,1 Butter, 1 Creamsicle,1 Anery)
2.1 Ball Python (2 Normal, 1 Lemon Pastel)

>>Do they instinctively mark there territory?

I think that if you keep track of when you change the paper and when you notice a poop, do this for 5 or 6 cleanings.

Then after that, the next time you do cleanings, tear up some of the paper that you took out. Pick out some of the "cleaner" paper that you took out. Place a couple of pieces of it back into the tank so that there is some of the snakes scent still in the cage. Then keep track of when you do cleanings and when you notice the poops. Along with this, you should keep track of when and what the snake was feed and when it poops after that.

Doing it like this might help you out trying to figure out if the mark their territory. It would be interesting to see the results.
Rob
-----
"I reject your reality and substitute my own" Adam Savage
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Creamscicle motley corn
0.1 Creamscicle corn
0.0.1 Normal corn
0.1 Black Pine
1.1 Bearded Dragon

There isn't any evidence to support that corn snakes are territorial. In fact there are keepers who keep successfully more than one in a cage (although that's not recommended for a variety of reasons).

The more likley reason for snakes to poop after a cage cleaning is that snakes spend most of their time doing nothing. When they are removed from their cage for a cleaning and crawl around a bit, this "loosens them up" and cases them to defecate. The same thing would happen if you handled a snake for 30-40 minutes - there's a good chance that you'd get pooped on.

Tim

>>The more likley reason for snakes to poop after a cage cleaning is that snakes spend most of their time doing nothing. When they are removed from their cage for a cleaning and crawl around a bit, this "loosens them up" and cases them to defecate. The same thing would happen if you handled a snake for 30-40 minutes - there's a good chance that you'd get pooped on.
>>
>>Tim

Yeah, I guess that makes sense.
Rob
-----
"I reject your reality and substitute my own" Adam Savage
0.1 Brazilian Rainbow Boa
1.0 Creamscicle motley corn
0.1 Creamscicle corn
0.0.1 Normal corn
0.1 Black Pine
1.1 Bearded Dragon

When I meant territorial I didn't mean to say..."This is mine and if you near me I'll bite ya even though you are the hand that feeds"...I meant more along the lines of "This is where I live. This is my comfort place. Oh hey..any ladies around?"
-----
1.0 Green Iguana
1.0 Bearded Dragon
0.1 Midnight Blizard Leopard Gecko
2.4 Corn Snakes (2 Blood Red,1 Granite,1 Butter, 1 Creamsicle,1 Anery)
2.1 Ball Python (2 Normal, 1 Lemon Pastel)