Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i was just wondering how many of us actually keep records of their snakes when they go poo poo? if so, why do you? what does that help you with?

I keep a calendar with feeding, pooping, and shedding records. It's easy to do, and I can pretty much tell when everything is going to happen now. Its easy to do if you have afew snakes. However if you're house is like herp hideaway, it might be more difficult.

Tracking things such as defecation and shed cycles allows the breeder to see patterns for each individual snake. This makes it easier to spot when their may be potential complications. Generally, it gives us a warning that a certain snake may need to be monitored a little more closely for a while.

Defecation records are good for spotting possible impaction. Shed records let us see the average rate of growth the snake is experiencing and (if they are shedding too often) if the snake is possibly experiencing some sort of skin irritation.

The same goes for feeding records. It allows us to track patterns and notice changes in not only the individuals within the collection, but also the collection as a whole.

For example: I've had my heat tape "burn out" in the past. Without my records I wouldn't have noticed quite as quickly that something was wrong with that particular rack since some of the animals in there are garbage disposals and will eat no matter what. When the element burned out I saw a sudden increase in the number of refusals. This prompted me to begin checking my temp, humidity, etc.

food
sheds
breeding to who (not when or how many)
lay , number eggs

don't do the poo poo thingy here.....they poo poo when they want......and defecate also......

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..J Yohe ....

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I Record almost everything that happens to all of my animals it just makes life alot easier if something comes up you never know what may come in useful
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0.1.0 Bearded Dragon
1.1.0 Ball Pythons
0.2.0 Dogs
1.1.0 Cats
1.2.0 Ferrets
1.0.0 Gerbils
1.1.0 Bunnies

I only have six Pythons, and I only record 1) Feedings, 2) Weight, 3) Sheds, on Excel.

Since I do not breed I mainly record the weight soon after a feeding, for the progress of growth (which is kind of neat to see what one of your feedings does to his weight).

I record what they eat and when, just to remind me which one has eaten and when, or how long one has gone off of feeding. How they are feeding is important to know anyways period.

The Shed is just to see how quickly they are growing in length.

As far as tracking the Crapola, I seem to be doing alright without that information.

thanks everybody for your feedback, it really helps!!!