curious about the snake pooping

kyrani99 · 08-28-15, 10:05 AM

Hi, this is a photo I took while Estia, my house guest was pooping. I notice she opens her mouth when she poops. Does this cause a peristaltic movement through the intestines and help her poop?
Kyrani

P2360790.jpg

sirtalis · 08-28-15, 11:56 AM

When my gecko poops he usually moves his head and yawns. My other gecko just lifts up her tail, and sometimes lifts her legs.

Albert Clark · 08-28-15, 12:02 PM

I think you disturbed her. Was she hissing or otherwise making noise during this encounter? The other possibility is she finished a meal and was just realigning her jaws and teeth.

prairiepanda · 08-28-15, 03:37 PM

How nice of her to poop on your stuff :P I've never seen a snake open their mouth while pooping; usually just lifting the tail is enough even if it's a difficult poop. Have you observed this multiple times?

kyrani99 · 08-29-15, 07:36 AM

I have heard and or seen her pooping at least half a dozen times and she always has a kind of yawning motion opening her mouth and makes a lot of noise, which I guess is her poop coming out or at least that what it sounds like. She pooped again today in another room and made the same noise but I didn't see where she was.

She does lift her tail when pooping and sometimes moves it back and forth a bit or wreaths it around. I have mostly seen her pooping propped from somewhere.

I don't think she had just finished a meal as she had just emerged out of one of her favorite hiding spots at the top of my walk-in wardrobe.

Also I doubt that I disturbed her because she is quite use to me now.

The solid poop was almost all fur. I guess the fur is not digested. She does poop all over my stuff and there is nothing I can do about it but clean up afterwards. And the poop often stinks pretty bad. But I am grateful that she is in my house because she ate up all the mice.

Jim Smith · 08-29-15, 08:36 AM

I can't answer why she opens her mouth when she poops, but have you ever considered just leaving her in her cage and let her do her business there and not out in different rooms of the house? I know that my snakes make a big enough mess in their cages, there's no way I want them pooping out in the house where I have to clean it up. Just a thought...

serpentgirl123 · 08-29-15, 09:01 AM

I think the carpet python here is wild and not a pet.

SnoopySnake · 08-29-15, 09:11 AM

How cool to find scrubs in your house lol. You'd rather have a snake crapping all over your house than a couple mice wandering? You can always set traps...

prairiepanda · 08-29-15, 09:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jim Smith

I can't answer why she opens her mouth when she poops, but have you ever considered just leaving her in her cage and let her do her business there and not out in different rooms of the house? I know that my snakes make a big enough mess in their cages, there's no way I want them pooping out in the house where I have to clean it up. Just a thought...

Kyrani posted about this snake a few months ago, I believe. It is a wild snake that snuck into the house and they decided to let her stay so that she could eliminate the rodent problem. She is more of a house guest than a pet :P

Jim Smith · 08-29-15, 02:07 PM

Okay, my mistake. I couldn't imagine why someone would let a snake hang in their closet and poop. It's nice that they are being so accommodating, but I'm afraid that I'd have to relocate the snake rather than clean up poop everywhere.

kyrani99 · 08-30-15, 04:38 AM

All the snakes that come into my house live in the forest. I live at the edge of a rainforest. I am quite happy to clean up after it because it's done a fabulous job of cleaning up the mice. I had made a mistake at first because to stop the mice from getting into my pantry and eating through packaging to get to flour and biscuits etc., I started to feed them. I can't keep them out because they just climb up the wooden poles and wall of my house and get in. There are places where they have eaten through the Cyprus pine boards to make for a bigger entry hole. They must have told all their "friends and relatives"s about the tucker because from two or three mice I suddenly had about 20 of them.

I used to escort the snakes out of the house but then I realized they would eat the mice so I let them stay. Estia ate at least two or three mice every night for the first few weeks because I could hear the high pitched shrilling decrease over about a minute to silence. I have to leave them have a free run of the house if they are going to continue to do their job keep the mice number down.

Estia is quite healthy. She climbs up the long stretch of wood that I have erected for her to make climbing into my house more easy. It is about 5 or 6 meter climb from the ground level. I am just curious about the pooping ritual. And she is lightening fast in catching mice. She is about four meters long and usually hangs from somewhere to poop. She makes a huge amount of noise "like a freight train going past". I'll try and record the noise next time.

**Minkness** · 08-30-15, 06:18 AM

That is very interesting! Still, I'd put down traps for the mice and keep the snake in a cage or something. If you didblive traps you could just throw them in with the snake. =)

Also, not that you seem to have the issue any more. But I noticed in the barn that when we got alot of mice/rats, one of the best ways to catch them was to put some grain in a bucket. Just a little bit thought, and in a big bucket (i think it was a 10 gallon paint bucket or something ). By morning, there might have been like 10 mice!!! They jump in for the food then can't jump back out.

Also, think of getting a cat! They kill mice and poop in one place instead of all over lol.

Still, kinda cool to live in such a wild place where your house guest is a python lol.

kyrani99 · 08-30-15, 07:39 AM

The 10 gallon bucket is a good idea but at present I haven't seen or heard of a mouse for months. There might be a few though as Estia sits in waiting in one of her favorite spots, about once a week these days.

I don't want to use traps as there are other animals like frogs that come in and I don't want anything dangerous for them around.

SnoopySnake · 08-30-15, 08:21 AM

How does she handle your presence? I thought she was looking more angry in this picture vs. yawning.

prairiepanda · 08-31-15, 11:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SnoopySnake

How does she handle your presence? I thought she was looking more angry in this picture vs. yawning.

What makes you say that? She's turned away from the person taking the photo and isn't in a strike pose or anything...I've never owned a scrub python though so I don't know if open-mouth gaping is a threat display for them. Most angry snakes I've dealt with just hiss with their mouths half open or even closed and only open their mouths fully when they strike.