So I went to check on the bullsnakes after putting my kids down for bed and caught one of them eating his own poop. I’ve never seen or heard of this with snakes. He appears healthy, active, and is eating regularly. He had two small mice on Sunday and has never refused a meal even in shed. I did notice several weeks ago that his poop was extra smelly but no other signs that he may be ailing so I didn’t think much of it.
A quick google search returned a result that stated coprophagia witnessed in snakes usually subsided several weeks after it was first observed but didn’t provide insight as to why the behavior was exhibited. Like it was a phase. A few other sources made it sound like it could be a result of a nutrient deficiency. My bulls are all eating feeders from the same source, a few of them are large enough to take rat pups so I rotate between those and mice. This guy hasn’t had a rat pup yet but he’s probably big enough for one now. I haven’t witnessed this with any of the other snakes.
I think at this point I’ll just keep an eye on him to see if there are any other abnormalities that pop up. If it doesn’t subside in a few weeks, I’ll probably arrange to drop off a stool sample at our vet for them to take a look at. I don’t think its parasite related though.
Anyone else ever experience this with one of their snakes?
I’ve never seen it with one of my reptiles. I have had the experience I think many dog and cat owners have had with the uh… ‘kitty crunchies’.
In many animals it does tend to be either a deficiency of some sort or in rabbits and chinchillas it helps maintain gut flora.
I’d probably lean towards either your little guy just being on that point where he needs to size up a meal. More unlikely to be the case, but maybe he’s doing the gut flora thing since he’s a baby and it’s just not something really well documented.
Yeah, we had a dog that did it but never a reptile. I’m gonna give him a rat pup this week and keep a close eye on him to see if I catch him again. I have a picture of him in the act but I won’t share it. Pretty sure his expression is one of guilt and shame.
In order to keep a dog from eating its own feces just sprinkle some Adolph’s Meat Tenderizer on its food and the meat tenderizer will make the feces taste really bad.
For some reason the feces tastes good to the dog so that’s why the dog wants to eat it. The meat tenderizer itself has no flavor. I know this is running away from the original post so I apologize but I just wanted to throw in that little tidbit……
yeah that or forbid stuff from the pet store works pretty well too. It’s just difficult with cats sometimes because of how especially picky they can be on food. lol.
Huh. That’s a new one on me as far as snakes go. I had one female years ago whose waste tended to be smellier than everybody else’s. She never had any issues when it was checked and we just figured there was something unusual about her gut flora and dubbed her the Queen of Stench. I wonder…
Yeah his stools are pretty stinky, more so than my other bulls, but they appeared normal otherwise. Not loose or discolored. Like I said, no signs that anything was off so I just figured maybe he just has some benign gut funkiness. Now I know they were extra stinky because it is double digested.
I didn’t think it could have been meal size/still being hungry. He took two small mice three days prior. That being said, he does tend to look “thinner” rather quickly compared to my others. I’m gonna try upping his feeder size and giving him a rat instead of a mouse and see what happens. I would imagine the rat will take a little longer to digest compared to a mouse which may help. If that doesn’t help I can try upping his frequency. He’s been getting fed weekly but maybe he needs smaller more frequent meals to keep him satiated.
I’ve never seen or heard of coprophagia in reptiles until now. The only pet I have that eats her own poop is my chinchilla…and that’s normal for them, it’s an adaptation for extracting as much nutrition as possible from a nutrient-poor diet.
Maybe he was just really hungry? Might be time to bump up the size of his meals.
Might be time to bump up the size of his meals.