Reptile & Amphibian Forums

that when you clean their cage they must poop immediately? I bought Frosty some corncob bedding, a friend uses it and has for years so I thought why not, it will give him something new to experience. Well he did the burrowing and exploring, then promptly pooped in the corner. I was like oh you're such a butthead! Then he happily burrowed around the rest of the tank some more. YAY, gotta clean it again lol.

My snakes are kind to my cleaning regime but the cats--forget it! Everytime I clean the litter boxes they have to "make their mark" before I can even get the bag to the garbage cans outside
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Ken Roshak
BlackSwampSerpents@toast.net

What's the easiest/quickest way to get a snake to poop?

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Clean it's enclosure!

ba-dump-dump-chinnnng!

Seriously, if I had to make a guess as to why so often they poop in a freshly cleaned cage, I'd guess it's because a handling session often comes before/during the enclosure cleaning. The handling heats them up and so they poop.

I'm quite sure it's NOT a deliberate effort to mark territory like a cat does.

Here's a photo of my fat, litterbox-loving boy .

BB

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"Have you hugged your drummer today?" --- Me

hehe cute cat

i know exactly what your talking about i have 15 cats... and yours actually looks like he's smiling for the picture- very cute!!!
~kin
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~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 Sunglow Amel (Pepperoni)*1. Sunglow 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)
.2 Candy Cane (Peaches HoneyBlossom[Just a pet], Tamale)
1.1 Abbotts Okeetee (Albert[Charlottes son], NO NAME)
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. Black rat (Willard)
1.1 Striped Cal Kings (Dweezil, Skunky)
1. High-white Reverse Spotted Cal King (Wishbone) *.1 soon!
.1 Albino Stripe Cal King (Eve)
.1 Banana spotted/stripe cal king (Speckle) Thanks Jeff!!!
1.1 Thayeri (Giuseppe[MSP], Cheyenne)
1.1 Creamsicle HET Motley(Orangejello, Genevieve)
1. Creamsicle motley (Montey) Thanks Jimmy!!
1. Albino Striped Jungle Corn (NO NAME)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~LIZARDS~~~~~~~~~~~~~
.1 Blizzard Leopard Gecko(Blitz)
.1? High yellow Leopard Gecko(no name)
1. Bearded Dragon (no name)
~~~~~~~~~~~~~TURTLES~~~~~~~~~~~~
.1 white cheeked mud (Opel)
.1 snapping turtle (Snappy Jaws)

"I'm quite sure it's NOT a deliberate effort to mark territory..."

I hate to disagree, but I do. I've explined why below.

Cool cat picture, though!

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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742

My snakes usually let a cage stay tidy for a few days, but if I have one of them out for handling, they poop almost IMMEDIATELY when they hit couch/carpet. Every single time...

The extra stimulation of handling, be it cleaning the cage or just taking the snake out for excercise, will very often get the snake "going"... If I know that mine are about due for a poop, I will take them out for just a few minutes and then put them back in their cages. Then, AFTER they go, I can take them out and mess around with them. Using this method, I have NEVER been pooped on (5 years now) and none of my 15 snakes have pooped the carpen, furniture etc. Of course, now that I have told you all this, the next time I take one of my BIG ones out, he'll probably crap all over me! Duffy

It's kinda funny though, because I *swear* my '96 rootbeer male will save up for a handling session. I've cleaned FRESH feces out of his tub, then taken him out for handling only to end up with poop down my back not 10 minutes later!

In the summer I take the corns outside for handling, and it's pretty funny to watch them moving around, then freeze, tail sticking STRAIGHT up, for a few minutes, before moving on. I'm counting myself lucky that I've never planted a foot right in their leavings...

It is another example of the territoriality of corns (which is another reason why cohabitation isn't wise...but that's another story!).

They are released back into an enclosure that doesn't smell like "home," so they make themselves comfortable by adding that special scent of familiarity.

You can eliminate a great deal of this behavior by leaving a relatively clean handful of old shavings scattered in with the new ones. It won't smell bad to you, and the familiarity for your snake will keep him from feeling the need to mark his "new" territory.

Good luck!
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Darin Chappell
Hillbilly Herps
PO Box 254
Rogersville, MO 65742