Basking Light and uh...Popcorn poop

[DragonGuru]

Hello all,

I was wondering if any of you could help with a couple of simple questions?

First:
We have completely balanced out the temps and humidty in our aquarium for our redtail. We had to change over to a CHE along with our UTH to keep the warm side at 86-88 but now our baby is not basking in the light like he did when we had the heat emitting bulb that produced light. We want to add a basking light of some sort but we want to do it without affecting our temps. Would a 24" flourescent light fixture over the cage provide a good sunlight effect for basking? We also heard that type of light would help with his coloring, is this true?

Second:
When we clean his cage, what we believe to be his feces seems like little pieces of uh... popcorn [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]. Is this normal or are we experiencing something else and thinking he is digesting properly?

Thanks in advance for all your help.

DG
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[LdyDrgn]

The white, solid, chalky waste you are finding is urates....the urine is solid. Just pick it all up like you would any other waste [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_wink.gif[/img]
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[DragonGuru]

Ok Great, but does that mean that he isn't pooping! [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]
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[kirkje]

ok now i am confused lol when i bought my snake they sid the white is calcium. you say it is urine....what is the deal is the urine not runny or what ...... [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img] [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img] never seem i will know it all lol
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[Bry]

Dragon, that doesn't mean he isn't pooping, that's just him taking a whiz. He should poop for you eventually. Don't worry too much.

Kirk, reptiles' urine is actually the solid white stuff you see, not liquid like ours.

Bry
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[DragonGuru]

Bry, should we be able to easily tell when he does? I know there isn't a definate but how often should he poop if he is eating every 7 days?

Thanks again,

DG
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[kirkje]

my rtb goes poop about 4-5 dys after he eats
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[Dr.Oviparous]

pooping time is different for every snake. each snake needs, and uses vitamins and nutrients differently. kinda depends on how active, how large...... if your snake eats once a week, I really wouldn't count on a poo every week. people don't poop inbetween every meal (unless you eat taco bell for every meal) neither do herps generally.

as for the lights I personally feel like they DO inhance color. this has never really been proven though, and everybody has a different opinion on it. what has been proven is that they are not a must with BCI/BCC like they are for iguanas, or Tegus. the full hoods with long full spectrum bulbs can be pretty expensive, and arent a must for BCI but they do light up the enclosure, and IMO do enhance color. -Juggalo
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	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

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[DragonGuru]

Thanks Jug,

We are going to monitor him a little closer to see what orther waste he produces, all we have noticed is the urates but when we clean his cage, we just dump the substrate out and put fresh in and so we may have missed some. Hopefully everything is fine.

As for the light, I will trust your opinion and give it a try. Is there a special type of flourescent bulb we should use or just one from the local home improvement store?

Thanks again to everyone for all the help.

DG
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[Dr.Oviparous]

for my BCIs I use regular srew in type reptile full spectrum bulbs. as far as fixtures go there are ceramic fixtures you can buy in pet shops that can handle really intense heat, I would use those for anything over 75 watts. these bulbs are for heat also, so if you already have your heating figured out, these bulbs will change it. if you don't want to change the heat, and can spend $60-$130 (depending on the size of your enclosure, what size is it?) you can buy a hood with a long full spectrum bulb. the "reptisun " bulbs are awsome. I only have one hood like this, it's for my Tegu. she's in a 75 gal. the hood I found for it is a flukers, the 48" goes all the way accross, they go for about $50, and the reptisun bulbs are $20-$40 dollars for the 48 in. for BCI I would go for the $20 option. I can't remember the exact specs on both of them, if anyone knows, please post it [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img] . -Juggalo
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	Boa Constrictor Imperator Boa Constrictor (Boa constrictor imperator). Most common is the Colombian Boa.

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[DragonGuru]

Thanks again Jug,

The tank is a 30gal and as you noticed the temps are perfect so we want to try and do it without disturbing the balance. That is why we were thinking a plain old florescent fixture (no heat but bright light) from a home depot or something. Time to check out the reptisun hoods and do a little comparison.

We will continue looking til we find the perfect light, if anyone has any other ideas or suggestions, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

DG
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[morti]

Hi there!

Ummm, My better question would be, why was the snake basking in the light in the first place? Boas are primarly nocturnal.

-Morti.
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[CelticWench]

Hi Morti,

He seems to like it, he would crawl on his stick that we had right under the light & hang out there all day. He does like to cruise the cage at night & get really active but during the day his favorite spot was directly under the light.

Maybe he's trying to get a tan for summer [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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[Ravnos]

Anyone who thinks snakes have no liquid urine has obviously never kept a 15' burm. =)

Rav

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