Mysterious Missing Feces...

cute_snakeyface · 02-25-12, 12:05 PM

Hayter. o.o Just what in the heck is going on?! You ate two mice in December and one mouse in January. WHERE is your poop!?

Where is your poop, little girl? You pooped just the tiniest bit of the white stuff in your old tank before we switched, but where is the rest? You had a fat tail the other day, indicating to me that you seemed to be getting ready to poop...but where is your poop? WHERE IS YOUR POOP?

I'm confused...she's either in the tank, or with one of us. We can't let her roam anywhere because of kitty so, it's incredibly unlikely that there is snake poop hiding somewhere in my house or anything like that.

I even combed through all of the substrate where she had been burrowing and everything. Forgive me for saying but, THIS IS CONFUSING AS ****!

I know sometimes animals consume their own waste products...but snakes? Never heard of that...

Skumbo · 02-25-12, 12:15 PM

is her tail still "big"? i hope she isnt compacted in any way, do you feed on substrate?

you may have just missed it if she pooped and you have dark substrate or something.
The white stuff is urine, actually. They do not have a bladder, so do not pass liquid waste in the form of urine the way mammals do, instead, uric acid is excreted as a semi-solid white mass, which quickly hardens and becomes that chalky white stuff.

Lankyrob · 02-25-12, 12:45 PM

My BP regularly goes a couple of months without pooping but the urates is more regular - if you have had no urates for a couple of months i would be fairly concerned

cute_snakeyface · 02-25-12, 01:17 PM

She doesn't look like she has anything in her, its weird. I may try the warm bath thing soon. She seems to be fine though, she's been doing loops around my neck most of the morning. She has a whistley nose right now, but she only gets that when she's been burrowing [dusty nose?], which she has. She isn't showing any other symptoms of respiratory distress or illness.

We only fed on substrate a couple times, in the beginning, with store-bought recycled newspaper stuff. We learned about aspen very quickly and have been using it ever since.

I cleaned up after the last 'urate' in Jan. Through most of Jan, she was a complete slow-mo. I thought maybe she was in some kind of semi-hibernation state. She ate a nice mouse 01/21, went to bed, and stayed there. Closer to/or the beginning of Feb is when we switched tanks. She only explored a little bit before going back to bed.

During this month, she was keeping herself colder than usual, it seemed. I made sure the tank got slightly warmer than usual once and she went to the cool side and made herself pretty cold against the glass and water dish. She was also burrowing herself a little bit more than usual.

I'm not too worried right now. She's really not acting very unusual, but I don't even think she's a year old yet. She was soooo tiny and adorable when we got her, alwu4htlkawmng,amsngafgman.fmhn. ...but the poop is evasive.

cute_snakeyface · 02-25-12, 01:20 PM

She's really one of those lazy snakes that doesn't spend a lot of time roaming around the tank unless she wants something to eat. She's incredibly docile to the point where she seems to actually like Jessi and I. She likes to go face-to-face with us and flick or rub on us...little snakey kisses and lovin.' <3

mattchibi · 02-25-12, 01:33 PM

Is she a hatchling?

If she's only eaten three times, I wouldnt be too concerned about the poop. I would however be concerned with why she isnt eating, and maybe try to figure out if there is a problem with the husbandry. If she was eating every week since December and still hasnt pooped, then I might be worried. Sometimes those little guys just like to hold it in to make us pull our hair out!

cute_snakeyface · 02-25-12, 01:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mattchibi

Is she a hatchling?

If she's only eaten three times, I wouldnt be too concerned about the poop. I would however be concerned with why she isnt eating, and maybe try to figure out if there is a problem with the husbandry. If she was eating every week since December and still hasnt pooped, then I might be worried. Sometimes those little guys just like to hold it in to make us pull our hair out!

Nonono, she's eaten three times since Dec. I've had her since Summer, she's eaten several times. Three times, as in: two mice in Dec [in one feed], one [the healthy mouse] in Jan.

cute_snakeyface · 02-25-12, 01:56 PM

Aww, heheh, she fell asleep on me now. Time to put this snakey to bed.

cute_snakeyface · 02-25-12, 02:20 PM

Watching her slither into the hide, she does still kinda look like she has food in her. Perhaps she simply still hasn't gone yet? I dunno, but the last couple nights, she's been wandering around her tank, like she does when she's hungry...

Skumbo · 02-25-12, 03:03 PM

why are you only feeding once a month? or am i reading that wrong

Lankyrob · 02-25-12, 04:25 PM

IF its a hatchling i am guessing that you are feeding pinks or pups with little to no hair?? If so then the snake wont poop often at all - its when they get onto rats with fur that the poos get bigger and more often.

cute_snakeyface · 02-25-12, 04:26 PM

Heh heh, she did eat another time in Dec. but I found the poop for those.

cute_snakeyface · 02-25-12, 04:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

IF its a hatchling i am guessing that you are feeding pinks or pups with little to no hair?? If so then the snake wont poop often at all - its when they get onto rats with fur that the poos get bigger and more often.

Sorry, I didn't address the entirety of your message. She's not a hatchling, she's about barely < or = one year old.

cute_snakeyface · 02-25-12, 04:37 PM

"about barely" O.o what horrendous English, huh?

She usually eats about twice a month. It's variable, I guess. She poops, gets hungry, I feed her. As she's grown, I've observed her habits closely, but I wish I had been documenting. These days, four or five mice a month keeps her happy and not fat.

Kiljosh · 02-25-12, 06:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lankyrob

IF its a hatchling i am guessing that you are feeding pinks or pups with little to no hair?? If so then the snake wont poop often at all - its when they get onto rats with fur that the poos get bigger and more often.

I never thought about this, good point/theory.

Lol hair.