Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, my BP is about to go through another shed. His eyes have just gone back to dark after being cloudy for 5 or 6 days so it should be very shortly. Anyway, I decided to give him a luke warm shallow bath to soak in for a little bit to help give him some more moisture. Well, in the middle of the bath he decides to take a big crap right in the water. Now here's the funny part and he does this all the time. Right after he crapped, he frantically tried to get out of the water. Before that, he just sat in it not doing too much, but right after he pooped he did whatever he could to get out of there. He does this same thing when he happens to take a crap in the tank. He tries frantically to get out of the tank right after defecating but once I clean up the mess in there and put him back in, he calms down and is fine. As soon as I took him out of the bath he calmed down and was fine. Do any of your snakes do this? Is it simply because they can't stand the smell of it or are there other reasons for this? It's definitely the poop that makes him act this way because it's the only time he goes crazy like that like he's trying to get as far away from it as possible. The rest of the time he's as calm as can be. Any thoughts? Thanks

I tell you what. I just spent a weekend at a campout with about 100 people. There were about 4 Porta-Pottys there. When I went in there, I did my damndest to get out of there as fast as I could! Frantically, even!

Yeah, most critters know that it's a pretty unhealthy thing to be in, so they do what they can to avoid it. My dog goes in the corner of the yard, out of the way. A mamma cat will even eat it to keep her kittens out of it. A snake (or any other animal in a cage) has little choice in the matter. Few animals will stay and wallow in it, if given a choice.

And, yes, the warm bath often stimulates a bowel movement in snakes. I've used it to treat some constipated snakes before.

I bet if he hda fingers he'd have been plugging his nose!

GratefulFred
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GratefulFred

I figured that was the case but wasn't sure. In fact, it saved me from having to clean up a mess in the tank this time! He usually goes every 2 weeks so it should be around another 2 weeks before I have to deal with the nastiness again. What's cool is that all the misting I did the past two days and the bath I gave him last night worked to perfection because I woke up this morning and checked on him and noticed that he shed in the middle of the night and the shed was in one piece. Best shed he's had so far! I had some problems with the last one and wanted to make sure this one didn't come out in pieces like that last one. Now he's a bright beautiful snake again and I'll reward him later with his weekly meal!