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Random Questions

W

willythesnake

New member
I've got a couple random questions about basic care stuff now that I've had my snake for almost 2 weeks.
It's been a week since I last fed him (feeding another pinky today), but I just wanted to know if it's totally necessary to find and alleviate the poop ASAP? Because I've done an initial look and can't seem to find any. Should I do a full poop sweep?
Second, it'll be a bit too early for him to shed (shed just over 2 weeks ago), but my little guy hasn't been coming out as much at night if at all. I know he moves because he switches hides, but it's just kinda weird that he just stopped being active in front of me.
Finally, how do I know if my corn snake is drinking/using his water bowl? I bought a hide+bowl combo but I haven't seen him show any interest at all towards the water and many people are even reporting of their snakes swimming! I check the water daily and change it every 3 days.
 
i'm a fairly new snake owner so i can't give you much information but if you want to see your snake drink water, hold him over his water bowl when you put him back from handling him. my loves to drink while holding onto my hand and it's super neat to watch as you can see their neck area right after the mouth expanding with every drink. just something you can try, i'm sure he drinks when you're not around, they seem quite private about their business. mine doesn't like to eat unless i cover his deli cup with a dark face cloth or hand towel.
 
Most of the time you will not see your snake drink. I have 2 snakes and I have only seen one of them drink a handful of times.
Also with the colder temperatures my snakes have been less active. Usually you won't see them out much, they are nocturnal after all.
As for poop I wouldn't worry about it. I only clean up after my adult on a regular basis, otherwise it gets stinky. My younger snakes have much smaller poops so they get cleaned up once a week as I find them. Hatchling poop is tiny and easily missed.
 
Thanks for all the responses. I guess my next step if I'm really concerned is I'll setup my camera to take intermittent photos throughout the night (one every 10-30 seconds or so) or setup my webcam and record to see if he's drinking.
Additionally, I'll try to see if he drinks after eating today.
And thanks for the poop advice Hvani :)
 
I don't see mine drink except for right after feeding. The water dish is fairly small so I refill it daily, so it's either getting sloshed out or drank.

But following the feeding....Cheesy drank almost half of the water in the dish
 
The cold weather can be making him less active and/or he's just settled in. My snakes never move when I'm in the room until I stop moving and I've had mine for at least over a year. He may just feel safe in his surroundings and doesn't need to check everything out 24/7.
 
Catching a snake drinking really hit or miss. Being designed to use as much of what they ingest as they possibly can, they don't need to drink regularly. And when they do it's usually in the middle of the night. Or right after feeding/handling. I only ever personally caught little Plissken drink twice the first few months I had him, and I've only seen Isis do it a small handful of times too.

As for the snake swimming or soaking, that will really come down to individual snake personality and overall husbandry situations. A corn snake probably *shouldn't* spend much/any time soaking or swimming. Most of the time, when they do, it's because they aren't getting the moisture they need from the air, or it's right before a shed and the snake knows it needs to absorb more moisture. They'll also swim/soak to avoid hot temperatures, or alleviate mite itch/pain. There are some out there though, that just really like a swim. Again, largely personality based.

While your corn is young, the poop can be pretty tricky to find. It should closely resemble bird poop. It also doesn't smell as bad, making it even more difficult to know when it happened and when to look for it. Keeping a clean environment is important for the snake, but missing some baby poop for a few days/weeks isn't the end of the world. Assuming you're keeping your corn on aspen shavings you might want to consider a weekly thorough search and possibly a more frequent full change until it gets older and bigger. Or you could consider switching to newspaper or paper towels while it's young. Makes playing spot the poop a lot easier.
 
One way to increase your odds....is to care for More snakes. :)

Catching one drinking is old news here.....

Catching one Shedding....Now that's Cool! :)
 
Catching them shed is so awesome. Quite the process, and it looks so neat at times. I likened Isis to a Cenobite (from Hellraiser) when she was getting her head off.
 
We've never managed to catch Wadjet shedding, but we got to watch a spitting cobra shed at the Kentucky Reptile Zoo. Really cool.
 
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