Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my boa has a very dak color water dish so i can't see down to the bottom and the other dya i changed the water and found that she had... gone in it so my question is that will she be ok? I mean i might have been in there for as much as a week so do you think she will be ok?

You mean she pooped in her water dish? That's perfectly normal and kind of nice when it comes to cleaning up. I've noticed that my snakes want nothing to do with the water after they do that. I wouldn't worry about it at all about your boa's health - but you're right, it should be changed as soon as possible after that.
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Matt from Minnesota
Cornsnake, Eastern Kingsnake, IL Bullsnake - all girls.
One Pair of cute Crested Geckos.

I would highly reccomend to change your snakes water out more than once a week...Every saturday and wednesday I take my bowls out and scrub them with scotch brite pad. You may want to consider getting a lighter colored bowl also...i use plastic flower pot saucers that are white - work great! Plus, you can see instantly if there is anything bad in there.

I would just keep a close eye on her.
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon

I stopped washing waterbowls years ago, and I won't ever start again.

For all my snakes I use short sections of 4 inch PVC pipe which hold a plastic deli cup exactly (see right example in pic). Then I simply pull out and replace all the deli cups every week (or if they get soiled in between). My snakes always have clean water and I don't ever have to wash bowls again.

I got this idea from John Hollister's website and it is the greatest husbandry tip since.....slide bread?

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Chris Harrison

>>I stopped washing waterbowls years ago, and I won't ever start again.
>>
>>For all my snakes I use short sections of 4 inch PVC pipe which hold a plastic deli cup exactly (see right example in pic). Then I simply pull out and replace all the deli cups every week (or if they get soiled in between). My snakes always have clean water and I don't ever have to wash bowls again.
>>
>>I got this idea from John Hollister's website and it is the greatest husbandry tip since.....slide bread?
>>
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>>Chris Harrison

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Chris Harrison

I think i'll do that! Those danged plastic flower pot saucers are getting really annoying to clean.

oh....and how does sliced bread help with husbandry? Does it hold humidity well or what? Am i totally out on the loop on that one as well? (lol)
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-Chris

The reason mainstream thought is thought of as a stream is because it's so shallow. -George Carlin

A fool doesn't learn. A smart man learns from his mistakes. A wise man learns from the mistakes of others. Which one are you?

My Website
Rat/Corn snake care sheet I wrote

Current snakes:
0.1 Licorice Stick Black Rat (Lola)
1.0 Black Rat (Frankie)
1.1 Texas Bairds (Jose and Rosa)
0.1 Blue Beauty (Brunhilde)
1.0 Green Tree Python (Claudius)... coming soon

While the idea of a disposable water bowl is a great time saver, I think it's environmentally irresponsible. Given that plastic is manufactured using oil to simply throw out a plastic liner without recycling it is rather wasteful in many regards. Also, those SOLO brand deli cups are often a 5 or 6 plastic [in term of plastic types for recycling], and many centers will not take anything other than 1 or 2. If you have lots of snakes, it gets even more wasteful. Simply buy yourself a bottle of Quat Plus or Nolvasan and just spray, rinse, and wipe - takes more time but it's more environmentally responsible in the long run.
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Matt Campbell
Animal Keeper, Small Mammal/Reptile House
Lincoln Park Zoo Chicago, Illinois

Assistant Curator
Wildlife Discovery Center at Elawa Farm
Lake Forest, Illinois

consider the cost of disposal vs the cost of water wasted in washing waterbowls. Furthermore consider the effect of washing soaps or disinfectants down into the sewage treatment system. This interferes with bioregeneration of waste water.

Both strategies are suboptimal.
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Chris Harrison

Its not even close.

The disposable cups are a great idea but extremely wasteful, environmentally that is.

There is no comparism between tossing plastics bi or even weekly, to washing / disinfecting permanent bowls.

>>Its not even close.

I agree I am generating more trash (I actually don't change them more than once every two weeks unless they are soiled). But the other way I was doing it involved using dozens of gallons of water every week to wash them. I guess I could have used more conservative measures for washing them to get it down to 5-10 gallons of water every two weeks, but still a lot of water going down the drain.

I guess I would like to hear how you can realistically compare the environmental impact of pouring water down the drain to putting a stack of deli cups in a landfill (I always stack them when I dispose of them). They are both bad. If one is worse, I would love to hear how you could quantify the comparison.
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Chris Harrison

You guys have to be kidding. Like a few deli cups from a few snake keepers is going to make an impact. lol.
Chuck

A cure for the common cup. You see the solution is quite simple. But first the problem.

A) Disposable cup preserves enviroment from harmful soaps which end in sewers which is why all of our wonderful marine mammals are finding that rolling up dead on the beach is a great past time.

B) Disposable cups pollute the air which causes acid rain and mass global warming which will flood the world and kill us all. Of course a warmer earth would make for a few good years of field herping, until everything cooks.

So what is the solution. Well its really simple. The problem in and of itself is not the cup. It is the way people deal with the cup so we have one of two options. A mass world wide human species extinction suicide which would immediatly hault the use of evil soap and demonic plastic, or STFU and do what ever works best for you. Personally I choose B. Oh and for cups I use styrofoam, you know why, just to piss you off. HA HA HA. What a stupid debate. I like the deli-cup idea, personally I use soap, and honestly who cares.
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2.4 Malaysian Blood Python
1.2 Borneo Black Blood Pythons
1.2 Sumatran Blood Pythons
2.4 Pastel Red Tail Boas
2.4 Ball Python
1.0 Albino Retic
0.1 Tiger Retic
0.1 Albino Burmese Python
1.2 Calibar Python
1.0 Macklotts Python
1.1 Jungle Carpet Python
1.2 Kenyan Sand Boa
0.0.1 Brown Water Snake
0.0.1 Florida Banded X Northern Water Snake
0.0.1 Costa Rican Parrot Snake
0.0.1 Desert Night Snake
0.0.1 Oreintal Whip Snake
0.0.1 Mangrove Snake
0.0.1 Western Shovel Nose snake
0.1 Ornate Flying Snake
0.0.1 Mandoda King Snake
0.0.1 Mohave Side Winder
0.1 Neon Cape Gopher
1.0 Thia Beauty Snake
0.0.1 White Oak Grey Rat Snake

if someone cant afford to water them then maybe they shouldnt have them at all...to be a resposible pet owner one should be able to afford to properly care for them

i personaly do not mind cleaning or washing bowls,plus i like to give them a large enough bowl that they can soak in if they like,also large enclosers and not ones they cant even stretch out in....

i agree with snakemastermyke...what a stupid thing to argue about.....deli cups in the trash...geeze..like there isnt anything else a little more important than that