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Well tonite my perfect non biting,non musking bairds all got a cheap shot in on me.My large male latched onto my sleeve and both my females shot a load of musk worthy of Annie Sprinkles.
Surprisingly enough my Satanic hypo corns were calm and didnt mind being held.
A silly question for bairds owners.It seems like my adult bairds dont poop half as much as my adult corns.Anyone else notice this?They are all fed the same diet on the same day.Just curious.
thanks Paul

I have seen this difference in pooping frequency as well, and I think there is a simple explanation for this. The Baird's Ratsnake originates from an arid environment, therefore it needs special adaptations to retain water inside it's body, whereas the Cornsnake lives in a rather humid environment and does not need to cope with this problem. One way to retain water is by draining the faecal matter from fluids. This is exactly how the Baird's Ratsnake saves water, but it also reduces the volume of the faeces, therefore lowering the frequency by which it releases it. Not only does a Baird's Ratsnake poop less often than a Cornsnake, it also doesn't smell quite a much because of the reduction in fluids. One of many reasons by the way, why I prefer the Baird's Ratsnake above any Cornsnake.

Greetings,

Herman Bronsgeest.

Not only do I think you are right, Herman, but also there's the possibility that the corn has a higher metabolism too. I don't have the Baird's to compare to, but my corns seem to process their meals fairly quickly.

As far as musking and biting goes, I think the keeper is as much the cause as the kept. I picked up one of my Sichuan Mandarins yesterday rather ubruptly and she coiled back and tried to strike at me. Normally the Mandarins are calm and just try to hide. We kind of train them to be docile, I think. Hardly any of my ratsnakes ever musk me. One exception is the Chinese twin-spots, E. bimaculata. They almost always musk when held, but if held very gently, for short periods of time, they sometimes don't mind as much. As much as I try to train them though, they are big muskers.

I think corns and Baird's rats are normally pretty calm, and we try to train them that way to be good pets, but we must remember they are animals that can be unpredictable too.

TC

Oh, I don't know that my Bairdi's defecations smell any less. In fact, they usually smell quite a bit worse than my corns....of course that probably has to do with their preference for decefating in their water dish EVERY SINGLE TIME. Yes, my Bairdi consider their water dish a latrine. They get two water bowls to a cage, one to defecate in and one to have drinking water when they foul the other. *sigh*

Otherwise, I agree. They do defecate less often and more concentrated than my corns...of course you'd never know it was more concentrated, floating in the water like that.
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~~~Hurley

I never even thought of taking the arid region into account.
thanks Paul.

>>I haven't really noticed that much of a difference.
Every once in a while they might be a day or so behind the corns but usually they all seem to be on a pretty regular schedule.

I feed all of my snakes ( 29 corns and 7 rats, I think) on Saturday and will usually have poop to clean on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The hatchlings are usually the first ones to poop. Every once in a while a snake will wait until Friday.
Sometimes one might "go" on Wednesday one week and Thursday or friday the next. But it is usually withing those four days for all of them.
And there are the ones that might hold it a little longer while getting ready to shed. Then they shed and sh-- at the same time...LOL

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Corn snakes and rat snakes..No one can have just one.
"resistance is futile"
Jimmy (draybar)

Draybars Snakes

I haven't ever had my bairdis bite me, but they wont hold back a musk! Just handle them, calmly...dont freak them out or you'll get musked even more!
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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