Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I know this is a dumb & cross question, but my ball python went poop, and some of it was brown, which I know is noraml, but the other was white, is that normal ????

That's completely normal. The white stuff is urates, they are hard white droppings of concentrated urine. No worries.
-Bryce

The white pieces are urates. A solidified form of urine. Snake P.P. if you will. So nothing to worry about.

Debbie

The white or yellow chalky and/or pastey substance you see is called uric acid. Reptiles and birds excrete toxic nitrogenous wastes as a substance called uric acid. Mammals, like you and I, excrete our toxic nitrogenous wastes as urea in our urine. The reptile and bird kidney is far superior to our own because they can get rid of their uric acid with very minimal water loss. Urea produced by mammals must be dissolved in a significant amount of water to be excreted.
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Brad Ratliff
Ratliff Reptiles
Email

Thanks everyone, that was very helpful, I'm still new to all of this, thanks again

So what is in liquid ball python urine? Just water?
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

Jen, I believe it's still urine. There IS an odor to it. I wouldn't taste it to find out . They will sometimes release this in preperation for a shed if the enclosure is too dry.

Quig
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Don't interupt me when I'm talkin' to myself

Mine pee all the time -- before shed, after shed, after eating -- pretty much whenever. I always thought that they have regular urine, and that urates are the excess urea/calcium leftover from digesting a rodent that needs to be expelled?
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors

My wife thought this was an easy one. I think Brad summed it up pretty well. Our BP's in captivety have constant access to clean water and well hydrated prey, thus they can afford to expell excess fluid. In the wild on the other hand they would have very limited access to water. To stay hydrated they hold that fluid and continuously concentrate the urea in to a solid form to be passed with stool. Hope that helps clear it up a little.

Jeff

P.S. Jen I hope your getting your collection straightened out.
Regardless of who,what or why it's never fun to loose animals.

The adult female het g-stripe died this past Friday -- she was the last of the 6 sick females, and no one else has shown any symptoms for many weeks now. I'm not holding my breath though -- just watching and waiting, hoping for the best. Still no word from the lab yet...
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~* Jen *~

Pink Lady Constrictors