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Weird diarhea?

tesiacoil

tesiacoil

New member
Okay. So. I thought my snakes may hae had mites, because my ghost corn snake has some weird black dots on his head, I'm getting this weird white stuff on m substrate that looks kind of like bird poo, and I'm getting some black stuff in my water which I think might just be from the substrate, but, I don't want to take any chances.

So, I took my snakes out one at a time first to soak in a warm bath and got my mom to hold the other one while I cleaned out the tank completely, and put paper towels down instead of substrate so that I could keep a better eye on this mites issue. When I took the ghost cornsnake out of the bath [ his name is casper ], I got my mom to hold him so I could put my other snake in to soak as I wasn't done cleaning out the tank. A few minutes after, casper defecated all over her hand. I'm talking a large amount of very soupy feces, light brown, and parts of it were bright yellow. Should I be concerned? It's possible, I realize, that the bath just loosened up some constipation, but I'm more worried about the amount of feces and the colour.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! Also, any insight onto the cause of this white stuff in my tank as well? It can't be mold, I just cleaned out my tank not 5 days before it started to show up again.
 
It's called urates, basically snake urine, comes out together with the poo. When you say it looks like bird stuff that's cause they do the same thing! No worries!
 
Do you have the snakes housed in the same tank? I'm not trying to stir up trouble just trying to help...
 
Yep, they've been in the same tank for about a year. I've just never seen the feces like that before, I've always seen it when it hardens I guess. Thanks for the help. I guess I'm just being paranoid.
 
I don't mind being the one... You should really do a search on this site. Cohab is the term you want to use. Keeping snakes together in the same cage is pretty universally discouraged. Read what you find and make your own decision...
 
If your snake looks like it has mites, I would move it to a seperate cage. I would also suggest to get all your snakes different vivs, not because your mean, but for safety reason, if one gets sick all the other snakes can get sick too. It might take too much time to find out which one is sick though.
I'm not trying to start trouble, its just a suggestion.

Good Luck!
 
I realize that but I also realize that it can be done. They are now in different vivs, I have done that, I Wasn't able to when I first suspected the mites because I didn't have a seperate one at the time but I do know a little bit about when they get sick what I should be doing.
But my snakes get along fine. In fact, before I got the second one, my first one was really unhappy and jumpy and since being with the second one has calmed down a lot. I've talked to many snake owners in town and many of them have snakes in the same tanks, and at the reptile store they also said that it was fine as long as they get along. I know it's trouble if they get sick, but, I've dealt with that as soon as I could.

No trouble is being started here, I don't know if you guys have a lot of problems with people getting offended, but, I'm not, don't worry.
 
tesiacoil said:
I've just never seen the feces like that before, I've always seen it when it hardens I guess.
Click to expand...

No problem, yeah I was surprised to the first time I saw one go to the bathroom. It's a very different thing than how it looks in the cage at the end of the day. Especially if you use something that absorbs moisture for substrate, dries them out quickly..

tesiacoil said:
No trouble is being started here, I don't know if you guys have a lot of problems with people getting offended, but, I'm not, don't worry.
Click to expand...

Yep! Most people that cohabitate are VERY attached to the idea for some reason. They often think the snakes will be lonely if separated and don't like to hear about it.. Sickness isn't the main worry though IMO. Early and unplanned (by the owner that is, snakes never plan, lol) mating is what I worry about. Young females sometimes won't survive that, and people often have missexxed snakes and don't know they have female..
:cheers:
 
Well, I'm not worried about them missing eachother. I know it's not natural for them to cohabit. If I feel like I have to separate them, I will, no questions asked. But, I'm not keeping snakes for breeding purposes, I'm just keeping them because I love them. And as far as I've seen, it has benefited my snakes behavior so far, as much as many people may disagree with that. My first snake was really not comfortable with being touched, would always seem to stare out like he was not comfortable with his surroundings, and just wasn't responding like he was happy at all. I then got another snake, and jasper has since calmed down incredibly. He is a pleasure to hold, and I often find them hiding together. I know that them hiding together is not a sign that they are "fond" of eachother, but I know that it is at least a sign that they get along. I have had no regurgitation problems with them, they are fantastic eaters, and they handle very nicely.

I think my pranoia of the mites is just that as well, parnoia. Just because casper is a ghost snake and he has some black dots on his head that I've never noticed before, I just want to be completely sure that it's not mites. I've never auctually seen anything crawling. I was just concerned that I've waited too long and they burrowed under the scales or something [ again, paranoia ].

How long should I keep them in with the paper towels until I should be seeing any tell tale signs of Mites? I don't want to keep them uncomfortable for too long.
 
The poo seems pretty normal. Every time i had to soak pumpkin spice in a warm iodine bath, she ends up pooping all over the place just like that.

Mites might be possible though, see a vet!
 
If the black spots were mites, you'd definitely see them as such if you look close. Check for scales lifted at the spot.. mites sort of feed under the scale, so you'd see a spot and then a scale sort of raised where the spot ends. Easiest places to see them, if you have them will be around the eye, and in the folds under the snakes chin. Reassurance though- my ghost blood is COVERED in spots, it's very natural for the morph from what I've seen.
 
Ah, thanks so much tom, that's a huge help. I'm just kicking myself for never having looked that closely at Caspers head before and never noticing the black specks on his head. I'll give it one more day with the paper towels and then I'll give them their comfortable substrate back, they are not too pleased with me for taking it away.

I'm not at home right now so I can't check up on his scales, but, as far as I know I didn't notice any of them raised so I think I'm doing well. Should have known I was freaking out over nothing; often happens.

Thanks again!
 
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