Really Worried! Please Help!

[Recluse]

On Sunday morning I fed a very content and seemingly healthy snake. On tuesday he had blue eyes and was almost ready to shed. Come Friday I checked up on him in the afternoon, changed his water, and he seemed to be just fine. When I got home in the evening, there was an odd black oval shaped thing in his cage. It looked WAY to big to be poop, it was close to 3/4 of an inch long, not very wide. I gathered it out of his cage, the smell was mild, it didn't have an incredibly strong odor or anything. I don't think it's his meal from Sunday, simply because it was friday that I found this, and it doesn't resemble a mouse at all. The thing that really concerns me, there appears to be sand in it? I don't think it IS sand, he has never been exposed to sand. But that's what it looks like. I'm really worried, any ideas on what it may be? Any information would be so helpful. Thanks!

 

[Nanci]

It's either a poop or a regurge. Picture?

 

[Fatman608]

Did you just move up to hair on the mice? What you think is sand might be hair.

 

[Nanci]

The "sand" might be urates, too.

 

[Fatman608]

I think you hit the nail on the head. Urates do look a lot more like sand then any type of poop.

 

[Hexadeci]

How big is the snake? How big was Sunday's meal? How big was the object? When was the previous meal and did you find a corresponding poop? If the object in question in fact has more mass than the previous meal, is it possible that it is retained from previous meals? How long have you cared for this snake and have you seen enough to establish a baseline of its normal digestion patterns (personally I only have 6 meals worth of experience with a hatchling, so my assessment would be lacking data)?

To distinguish a regurge from a defecation I have heard that a good test is to try to dissolve the questionable object in a glass of water: if it dissolves, it is likely defecation. If there are distinguishable bones/hair, it is likely a regurge. Dried urates may appear sandy; that may explain what you see, but a picture would help.

 

[Recluse]

http://www.cornsnakes.com/forums/picture.php?albumid=1342&pictureid=10644

There is a picture, sorry it's a bit blurry, my point and shoot is on its last leg. I've considered Urates, however I have heard that they are generally seperated from the snake's feces. Riolu is roughly 21 inches and is eating one pinkie every Sunday. He normally has digested his food and left behind his remnants, which I pick up, two or three days after his meal. This is the first problem I have ever had with this snake, no previous digestive issues.

 

[chris68]

That there is snake waste And at 21" long you can start him on fuzzy mice

 

[Nanci]

Poop. .

 

[Recluse]

So the little sand like things are nothing to be worried about?

 

[ceduke]

If it's a regurge it's almost always accompanied by a HORRENDOUS odor. That thar looks like poop.

 

[Nanci]

The snake's kidneys don't make liquid urine. The kidneys filter nitrogen waste out of the blood and transform it into uric acid, which is insoluble. The kidneys add just enough water to the uric acid so it can transport to the cloaca, where most of the water is reabsorbed.

Reptiles, as well as birds, evolved to be able to survive in an environment with a limited supply of fresh water. Here is an interesting article describing the differences in urinary systems of vertebrate animals.

So when you look at snake (or lizard, or bird) poo, you are seeing the uric acid which is commonly called "urates" by people in the hobby, and feces, which is the solid waste that arrives at the cloaca via the colon, where the two join together and are expelled at the same time, producing a poop that is typically black or brown and white or yellow.

 

[Recluse]

Oooooh ok lol ok so I'm just being a way too worried corn owner. Thanks so much for everyones help. It had me pretty worried, but now I understand ^^