Reptile & Amphibian Forums

First, my snake passed a urate this week, and boy did it stink. I immediately removed it with a paper towel, but the enclosure still stunk. Today I wiped down the tank and everything in it with wet paper towels. I took the carpet out and soaked it in warm water with some mild soap in it. I put a new carpet in. Are there any tricks to cutting down the smell? Are there any kinds of cleaning solutions that I can use on the enclosure and stuff in it that won't harm the snake? Also, how frequently do they pass urates?

Also, my snake is about 2 1/2 feet long. How much should it weigh, and how much should I feed it? Does anybody know of a good chart for those things? I know it is underweight because it's cross-section is more triangular than it should be. I fed it two adult mice this week.

The good news is that I held it today for the first time since I got it, and it seemed pretty comfortable. I haven't really gotten too many good looks at it since I got it, because it stays well-hidden. It really is a good looking snake.

Sam's Club has something called OdorBan, it eliminates odors and has no bad smells. It is also safe to your snakes. Give it a try and you won't try anything else, I've used it for about 5 yrs now.. Good luck

Hi there,

I don't like carpet as substrate because of the smell. I use cypress mulch. It's very easy to scoop out, plus it has a nice smell and holds humidty well.

I'd keep offering 2-3 mice a week. If the snake looks packed full of food, skip a meal or two so it does not get constipated. If I have a snake that is thin I usually offer it food every four days.

Good luck!

Christy

i didnt know urates had a smell at all? you sure it wasnt a turd?

Dunno. One was yellow, one was white (I think, I can't remember exactly).

not at all unpleasant to my nose. Not that I'd market it as a perfume! Am I the only one here who thinks it doesn't smell so bad? We're talking urates, now, not feces, okay?

-Joan

It depends on the snake, lol. My ball pythons, the urate smell isn't too bad...my Savu pythons, phew.

ive smelled wet fresh urates (no odor) and old hard ones (no smell)...now the turds, thats the smell of death. I heard boas have a "musty" smell to their urates, is this true?