Reptiles - Geckos, Lizards, Snakes, and Turtles!

[Marley.&.Me]

In my opinion, she's a super hypo.

Super Hypo tangerine carrot tail

This kinda looks like her?


*Image credited to original owner*

[Crum]

Ok I always see other people’s leopard geckos and they look huge... is mine just small or something? He’s 6 years old so I can’t imagine he’s stil growing lol

[Marley.&.Me]

a lot of people have giants/super giants. Yours is a normal sized leo!

[saffrons]

Is it possible to potty train a snake? I've started putting Saffron, my corn snake, into the bathtub with a little bit of water a few days after she eats so she can poop and I haven't noticed any poops in her tank. I know snakes like to live in a clean environment she must associate the bathtub with pooping now

[yellowlight]

I got a baby Blue tongue skink a few weeks ago and took him out to feed today because he eats best while out of the cage and I can monitor exactly what he eats.. anyways I saw him poop for the first time today and it was HORRIBLY smelly, extremely runny, and green.. I know it was pee and poop because there was some actual solid poop in with it but I was wondering how normal that is or if I need to take him to the vet or something.. he is a baby and this is likely new food for him, his last couple meals have been a chop of acorn squash, a little bit of red bell peppers, turnip greens, and canned dog food.. could he just be getting used to the food and it’s upsetting his stomach? I haven’t seen him poo before or seen any others in his cage so could that be a bad sign too?

[kivr & fireflii]

Is it possible to potty train a snake? I've started putting Saffron, my corn snake, into the bathtub with a little bit of water a few days after she eats so she can poop and I haven't noticed any poops in her tank. I know snakes like to live in a clean environment she must associate the bathtub with pooping now

I have never heard of anyone potty training a snake. Snakes metabolize very slowly so it can be difficult to judge exactly when they defecate (they're not like dogs where you can expect them to poop around certain times of the day). I would personally recommend against putting your snake in the bathtub with water to try to get her to poop. Some snakes can poop around water (sometimes in their water bowls), but the constant moving between environments some days after eating can easily stress her out. If she poops (or has urates) in her enclosure, just take it out, and replace substrate if needed (called spot cleaning, which should be done daily and whenever necessary). Honestly, whether she poops or not, you should be deep cleaning her enclosure every so often anyway. Daily spot cleaning plus deep cleaning will be enough to keep an environment clean. :)
-fireflii

[cardboardteeth]

how often do you guys recommend feeding a juvenile ball python? i've gotten mixed opinions regarding this so i just was curious.

[kivr & fireflii]

how often do you guys recommend feeding a juvenile ball python? i've gotten mixed opinions regarding this so i just was curious.

Hatchlings generally get fed about every 5 days, juveniles and sub-adults about every week, and adults about every 10-14 days. You will tend to get mixed opinions because keepers have different knowledge and experience about what has worked best (or what is said to work best). Some like to power feed (I do not recommend), some like to take it slow, etc. It can also depend how big the feeder is, but for an appropriately sized feeder, about a week is a safe bet for a juvenile. Don't worry if you decide to feed a day or so early or late; it won't hurt anything. I actually personally found from experience that feeding NOT on a strict schedule increased my snakes' feeding response, but if you're unsure... again, 7 days is a safe bet.
-fireflii

[saffrons]

I have never heard of anyone potty training a snake. Snakes metabolize very slowly so it can be difficult to judge exactly when they defecate (they're not like dogs where you can expect them to poop around certain times of the day). I would personally recommend against putting your snake in the bathtub with water to try to get her to poop. Some snakes can poop around water (sometimes in their water bowls), but the constant moving between environments some days after eating can easily stress her out. If she poops (or has urates) in her enclosure, just take it out, and replace substrate if needed (called spot cleaning, which should be done daily and whenever necessary). Honestly, whether she poops or not, you should be deep cleaning her enclosure every so often anyway. Daily spot cleaning plus deep cleaning will be enough to keep an environment clean. :)
-fireflii

generally I can tell when she needs to poop because she looks a bloated above her vent. And she's never fully submerged in water, it's only ever on one half of the bathtub so she can get away from the water if she wants. I only started doing that because she'd pooped on my bed twice so I started putting her in the tub to see if she needed to go before letting her roam around on my bed. I've noticed she tends to poop when I take her out because she's more active instead of sleeping all the time in her tank. I also spot clean and do deep cleans regularly so I'm not taking any shortcuts.

[rose;]

I got a baby Blue tongue skink a few weeks ago and took him out to feed today because he eats best while out of the cage and I can monitor exactly what he eats.. anyways I saw him poop for the first time today and it was HORRIBLY smelly, extremely runny, and green.. I know it was pee and poop because there was some actual solid poop in with it but I was wondering how normal that is or if I need to take him to the vet or something.. he is a baby and this is likely new food for him, his last couple meals have been a chop of acorn squash, a little bit of red bell peppers, turnip greens, and canned dog food.. could he just be getting used to the food and it’s upsetting his stomach? I haven’t seen him poo before or seen any others in his cage so could that be a bad sign too?

I would be concerned considering this is the first time he's pooed since you got him a couple weeks ago, and given the consistency. Do you know what locale of skink it is? (Merauke, irian jaya, indonesian, etc). This alone can give you a hint on how likely it is parasites as some locales, regardless of what you got told by whoever sold it, are almost surely imported or captive born babies from imported females since there are very small captive breeding populations. Also I would suggest switching the dog food for a high quality cat food until your skink is grown up a bit, based on the research I've done. It has a higher protein content which is good for them at a young age

Is it possible to potty train a snake? I've started putting Saffron, my corn snake, into the bathtub with a little bit of water a few days after she eats so she can poop and I haven't noticed any poops in her tank. I know snakes like to live in a clean environment she must associate the bathtub with pooping now

I'd agree with firefli on this one, the stress to the snake isn't worth the someone's less cleaning. Sone snakes may always defecate in the same place by choice, but I believe it's more by chance than anything (maybe that's their favorite place to lay so that's where it always ends up). Bathing/soaking itself can also be stressful to a snake. I know with some species of lizards bathing actually stimulates them to poo before theyre actually ready to, caused by the warm water, which leads to dehydration. I don't see why that would be different for snakes. All in all I don't think the benefits outweigh the risk of stressing the snake. It's a snake, let it poo where and when it wants to.