Reptile & Amphibian Forums

How often do your burms urine their cage? I have kept snakes for over twenty years but never dealt with anything like this before. I've kept boa's, retics, rattlers, copperheads, and probably just about everything in between, but this is only the second burm I've owned. The first one exhibited typical behavior, but with this one, I feel very lucky if I can make it to a second day without it soaking the paper with urine. Occasionally, I'm cleaning the cage a couple of times a day. I can't imagine that this is typical? I am treating it for a respiratory infection that it had when I took ownership of it, so I'm hoping that's what's causing this.

I can sympathise with you, my burm also seemed to urinate too frequently. I found that the more frequent he was fed, the more frequent he urinated.

Since I tried this theory, I only feed him once a fortnight, the urinating is maybe once a week average.

Dont know if this will help you in your circumstance.

Hope it does help though

Phil

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1.0 Albino Burmese ,

How old is your snake? There could be many reasons for frequent urination. It is possible it's just your snake's preference, but assuming not...

Kidney disease results in the inability to concentrate urine. You may also notice increased drinking. Blood tests can usually rule this out.

Masses (abscesses, injuries, tumors) can physically press against the bladder (brain fart here, do snakes have a bladder or is the urine stored in the rectum with the feces; can't remember), or the rectum thus not allowing the storage of larger amounts and forcing more frequent urination.

Hormonal and physical problems can lead to incontinence but are not well documented in reptiles.

A vet visit is not out of the question and a thorough exam along with a blood screening will allow for the detection of problems in an otherwise healthy looking snake. Early detection=early treatment and better prognosis.

Can't say for sure on the snakes age. I've only had him for a week and was unable to track down the original owner. Not that it helps any, but I know that it has gone through at least three owners prior to myself. I'm going to guess between 2 and three years old due to its size (9' plus) and the fact that the individual I got it from tells me that it was severely underfed when he received it six months ago. He says that he brought it a long way, but it still appears to be a little underweight to me. It is setting right now about 22lbs and I'm assuming that it should be up around 30 at this length? I had it to the vet to get some anti's for its respiratory infection and did mention the frequent urination. Didn't get much of a reply from him though so I figured I'd poll the posters on the site for a general consensus.

How old is your snake? There could be many reasons for frequent urination. It is possible it's just your snake's preference, but assuming not...

Kidney disease results in the inability to concentrate urine. You may also notice increased drinking. Blood tests can usually rule this out.

Masses (abscesses, injuries, tumors) can physically press against the bladder (brain fart here, do snakes have a bladder or is the urine stored in the rectum with the feces; can't remember), or the rectum thus not allowing the storage of larger amounts and forcing more frequent urination.

Hormonal and physical problems can lead to incontinence but are not well documented in reptiles.

A vet visit is not out of the question and a thorough exam along with a blood screening will allow for the detection of problems in an otherwise healthy looking snake. Early detection=early treatment and better prognosis.

You know what, I've got the same problem also. After feeding I usually give him 3 or 4 days without being handled to digest and relax. I also do not let him out of the cage because he will urinate all over. For instance I feed him on Saturday and he has urinated twice since then. When he isn't digesting a big meal he is pretty good.

As a side note, I'm pretty sure he has worms and this may (I hope) be the reason for his frequent urination as he is only 20 months old. I'm definitly bringing this up to the vet.
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1.0 Ball Python
1.0 Burmese Python

Exactly, It urinates....I take it out of the cage to clean, and it either urinates on the floor, or not long after I put him back in the cage. My wife is about ready to kill me. As a temporary solution, I am going to buy a large plastic container to place him in while cleaning the cage. I hate to have to resort to this, as I like to get my animals out while cleaning for some exercise and handling. I'm hoping this resolves itself once I get the infection cleared up.....I'm beginning to wonder though, as that's two posts already that mentioned a correlation with feeding and urinating heavily.

You know what, I've got the same problem also. After feeding I usually give him 3 or 4 days without being handled to digest and relax. I also do not let him out of the cage because he will urinate all over. For instance I feed him on Saturday and he has urinated twice since then. When he isn't digesting a big meal he is pretty good.

As a side note, I'm pretty sure he has worms and this may (I hope) be the reason for his frequent urination as he is only 20 months old. I'm definitly bringing this up to the vet.

My burm is two years old and goes pee at least three times a week. Somtimes I clean the cage and then I come back later and it goes. Lately it has been more often. I wonder if it is because I raised the heat up in there. I only feed her once every other week. I was feeding her once a week and she would go to the bathroom 4 days pee three and one big poop, now its just pee 3 times a week. I always have water in there for her so its everytime I see her drink she pees. Its fun let me tell you to clean snake pee. I tell people at work all about what I do. Hahahahha
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0.1 Rott
1.0 Super Tiger
0.1 Green Burm
0.1 Ball Python
0.1 Red Tail
0.1 Blood Python

Are you considering building a room-sized display enclosure for when it's larger? Consider having a drainage pipe into the floor so all you have to do is spray the cage down with a hose to clean urine. It's quick, easy, and rinses the snake off at the same time

That's a good idea! It would make it very easy to clean indeed. My intentions are to build a large walk in enclosure for him when the time comes. As a water source, I planned on using one of those children's plastic swimming pools, or creating a fiberglass pond with a drainage system anyway. It won't be hard to link the two systems together. Never even occurred to me to put one in the cage floor itself....Thanks for the idea!

Are you considering building a room-sized display enclosure for when it's larger? Consider having a drainage pipe into the floor so all you have to do is spray the cage down with a hose to clean urine. It's quick, easy, and rinses the snake off at the same time