Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hey, i know bitis are famous for not defecating on a regular basis but i was wondering what is the usual time period between eating and defecating? ive had my rhino for about a month now and it has never defecated in my care (except for its arival it [bleep] all over itself during shipment)..it has eaten 3 meals with me but still no feces? not worried just curious..oh and i soak her every other week..should it be more often? im not a fan of soaking her because of the stress factor..thanks in advance

Hi:

Good question...sort of goes along with your hydration/humidity questions. You are asking the right questions, I commend you.

My Gabby defecates about every 11 Weeks, it's like clock work according to my 2004 records for her.

My Puff Adder is a bit more sporatic..20 weeks, 1 week, 3 weeks, 8 weeks, then 12 weeks.

My Horned Puff Adder (caudalis)goes sporatically like the Puff Adder. 3 weeks, 8 weeks, 3 weeks, 8 weeks....

Well..I'm shocked to find my Rhino has not gone since summer. So, I get the fun job of tubing her tommorrow and checking her out. She is still eating though as you can see from the picture. See I told you had a good question!

I keep very good records, which in my opinnon is a must for every keeper. Iwas able to give you an answer to your question and in the process identified a potiental problem. Keep in mind my Puff Adder did not go for 5 months that one time, so I'm to worried. But I post here and let you know what I find out.

Cheers,

Al

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The more people I meet...the better I like my venomous snakes.

hey thanks for the reply it deffinitly eased my mind...20 weeks huh, that must have been one big pile of sh!t..lol

Only marginally relevant but perhaps of interest, I had an sumatran blood python that would routinlely go 6-9 MONTHS without a BM despite weekly baths.

A site to behold when it did go though! It looked like a horse crapped in her cage.
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"Nothing happens in contradiction to nature, only to what we know of it."