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How long does it take for a snake to excrete its meal?

crazy_train Jun 16, 2003 10:45 AM

I'm new to snakes and picked up a couple of corns last Monday. I let them settle in over night and then weighed and fed them on Tuesday. They hadn't eaten at the store since a week Tuesday before I picked them up so they had been a week since they had eaten. They did excrete there food at the store and one of the corns did excrete some more of its food Tuesday morning before I fed it Tuesday night. I have zoo med heat pads on one end of the enclosures and the air temp stays at 80 on those ends and about 90 on the heat pad area the snakes usually rest just on the outer edge of the heat pad. The heat on the cool side fluctuates between 74 and 80. They have water in the cage that is changed daily. The humidity fluctuates between 50-70%. I have them on paper towel so I know that they didn't regurgitate the meal and its hiding in the cage. At the store they fed them a mouse each and when I fed them a week later I only fed them one fuzzy each. This seems like an odd thing but could they be waiting for more food before they excrete their last meal or is there something I need to do to get them to excrete their last meal?

Thanks

Replies (1)

Dana K Jun 17, 2003 02:29 PM

Most will defecate anywhere 3-7 days after eating, but it could
be even longer without worry. Sometimes they'll hold it in til
they get another meal or go through an upcoming shed process
(around 10 days) then dump with their shed skin.

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