Does Your Reptile Hate a Dirty Cage?

[PsychoSnake]

My female retic appears to just detest a dirty cage and will do anything to get out if I don't promptly clean it. After I clean it she calms down. Anyone else see similar behavior?

[poison123]

0.o all my cages have dirt in them.

[poison123]

By dirty im guessing you mean feces. Yeah if i took i **** in my room i would wanna get out too. lol

[IW17]

Hard to say. Considering at least two enclosures will have crap in them hours after cleaning, I'd almost think my snakes prefer them dirty! That being said, I've never noticed a difference in behavior before or after cleaning.

[trailblazer295]

Can't say I've noticed, mine might explore a fresh cage but that's it. I think it bothers me more than them.

[jpsteele80]

lol i think this is animal personalty specific, my big male retic pee'd in his cages once and i tried to get him to move so i could clean it and he made it very clear that he was not moving, i had to wait like 4 days till he moved finally and he sit in it the whole time

[Zelg]

I'm convinced that my BP doesnt move at all when he poops. Just lays there....cant be bothered to go to the other hide even. He's a dirty bum.

[Sylphie]

Two of my snakes love to poo/pee every time I clean their cage. It's like never ending circle, I can clean their cage, after few hours/one day they will make a mess again, then I'll clean, and then they will make mess, and again and again and again. I'm sure that they hate me for cleaning every time as much as I hate them for making a mess, haha!

But the rest seems to be okay with being in a dirty cage. They just move to the other side and wait till the cleaning human will make it fresh and nice again.

[PsychoSnake]

Yeah most of my snakes don't care about cleanliness. Annies are the worst. They poop in their soaking bowl and if I don't pull them out they will stay in there for days, soaking in their own feces. Super gross and very bad smelling. My female annie has even shoved her face eyeball deep into her own poop.

My female retic for some reason is really fastidious. She avoids the mess and tries to escape. She will even hurt herself trying to get out. Then I clean it, she inspects, and calms down.

My rosy boas do like fresh clean water I've noticed though.

[serpentgirl123]

My female retic for some reason is really fastidious. She avoids the mess and tries to escape. She will even hurt herself trying to get out. Then I clean it, she inspects, and calms down.

Almost all my snakes are like your female retic Psycho. It is also how I know that they have made a mess. One of my boas even goes so far as tipping his water bowl every time, if I don't get in there fast enough, as if he is trying to flush the mess away. It is partly why I check on them at least 2x a day.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Nah, the most any of them will do is move to the opposite side of the cage, if they do even that. Even my retic doesn't seem to mind it, when she was in her tub she'd pee a lake and just sit in it asleep (not that she could escape it) until I found it and cleaned it. Her bedding soaks up the liquid now and she's got a basking shelf, so she can escape it, but doesn't show any signs of being antsy.

[chairman]

Someone posted on here recently that dirty cages may correlate to ball pythons refusing to feed. I do my best to keep those guys spotless.

My carpet pythons swerve to avoid any feces that I haven't spot cleaned yet.

My cornsnake and kingsnake have a corner that they generally go in that is rather far removed from their normal haunts.

So, with the exception of the ball pythons that I force cleanliness upon, the rest seem to avoid messes on their own. Perhaps it just has to do with water retention strategies, or defensive strategies? (I imagine that a retic that just ate a goat might want to smell like feces rather than food while he's vulnerable.)

[Tsubaki]

My Selayar retic tries very actively to get out of a dirty cage, settles down immediately after cleaning (he's still in quarantine so, paper towels that he forces me to clean nearly every day, spot cleaning is not an option). The rest of the retics are on substrate that absorbs any messes so they don't seem phased at all, will even lie on top of it at times. The boa's avoid their messes.. The bullsnake Will make a mess daily and smear it all over, and then doesn't want me cleaning it up.. Proud of his artwork i guess, i even have to clean the top of the cage, he gets it everywhere..

[macandchz]

mac hates a dirty enclosure. if he goes on one side of it, he will move to the furthest corner away from it.

[DollysMom]

My housie definitely poops in the corners as if he wants it as out of the way as possible. I still haven't figured out a pattern for my corn snake. She doesn't seem to care, though when she's out, exercise will get things moving so about half her poop is done outside of her enclosure.