Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So, I've had my Leucy hatchling about 3 weeks now, and have fed him twice. Both times he took the food instantly. I've yet to find any droppings in his tank though, and when held to the light (the beauty of these guys being almost translucent when young) I can see a dark mass in the lower half of his body that I'm almost certain wasn't there prior (I'm assuming that it's the digested mouse that he has yet to...well...poop out.) My corn takes 3 days like clockwork to digest her dinner. I feed her and then three days later there is something to clean up. I realize with the hatchling though, his droppings will be much much smaller and hard to find. I fed him 4 days ago though, and don't see anything in the tank, and again, the dark mass is visible in his body. Should I give him more time? I've read that soaking them helps with the process sometimes? What temp should the water be if I were to do that?
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- JENN ROSE -
www.jennrose.com

0.1.0 classic corn~ "Pumpkin"
1.0.0 leucistic texas ratsnake~ "Worm"

If you've only fed the snake twice so far I would not resort to a soaking quite yet. Keep offering food and looking closely for droppings. Are you handling the snake much yet? I have found that handling a snake right around the time it should be "going" and then putting it back in the tank before you get crapped on often is a fine laxative. Good luck with your new leucy. Mine's eating rats by now (although he's about gone off feed for the season...almost time to turn off the heat I guess). Duffy

I am handling him a few days a week...starting on day three after I've fed him, and then the two-3 days following that before I feed him. So, we'll see. I'm planning on cleaning out the tank today, so hopefully I'll find something.

You mentioned your's is going off feed...and you're cooling the temps. Is this something you are doing because you plan on breeding, or something that everyone should be doing?
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- JENN ROSE -
www.jennrose.com

0.1.0 classic corn~ "Pumpkin"
1.0.0 leucistic texas ratsnake~ "Worm"

My larger ratsnakes are fasting due to the shorter days. They "know" it's time. I will cool the ones that are fasting and perhaps some of the others. I think that it "cycles them back up" and gets them going again whether I plan to breed them or not. I try to avoid cooling the younger, smaller or any underweight animals if possible.

If your baby leucy is new and eating, I would not consider cooling. Keep heating & eating all winter long to get some good growth. My leucistic texas rat is about 4 feet long now. I offered him food again today & he would not take it. I have a much smaller texas rat that did eat today, however.

Don't worry about the pooping...Just make sure that there's a warm spot or at least high enough temps to properly digest. I'm sure you've got that covered. Duffy

I've heard that there are all kinds of positives and no negatives to soaking. I don't soak mine until they've had at least two days to digest, but I try to soak mine fairly regularly. My California kingsnake passed his first three bowel movements for me during soakings. The first was two weeks after I owned him. The second was two weeks later. When I started to think he needed soaking to go, I soaked him again a week later, and he passed again. At this point, I was starting to think that someone had sold me a potty-trained snake. Last week, he went on his own. To be honest, it's pretty convenient when they learn to go in the Kritter Keeper while soaking. I'll do a major cleaning of his cage very soon, but nothing smells bad in there.

Bill
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It's not how many snakes you have. It's how happy and healthy you can keep them.