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Posted by snakemanmatt30 on April 06, 2003 at 07:15:54:
In Reply to: Re: bull feces posted by oldherper on April 05, 2003 at 07:39:16:
: Hello, I purchased a pair of bulls from the cleveland reptile show(supposed to be all captive bred) so I am hoping they are captive bred, but they did not sex them. I have kept them together in a large aquarium with 2 hide boxes. They are doing great except the male (i presume) won't eat and has not gone to the bathroom in a week or so. I have soaked him in the tub and put a larger water dish to let them soak in it. If anything else happens I will keep you posted. Thanks for the addvice Matt
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:OK...a couple of questions for you. Is this a recently obtained wild-caught animal? Are you sure he really is a he? If this is a recently wild-caught animal and it wasn't probed, then it's possible that what you have is really a gravid female. The "lumpy down by the vent" part is what makes me suspicious.
:If it really is a male, and is bound up for some reason, then try soaking him for an hour or so in a tub full of lukewarm water while GENTLY manipulating the "lumpy" part. Sometimes just putting them in the tub of lukewarm water is enough to do the trick.
:The yellow liquid stuff, in and of itself, is really no cause for immediate concern. Bull snakes (like all members of the Pituophis group)are messy snakes, as are Indigos, big Kingsnakes and other large active colubrids. Elapids, such as cobras and mambas and such are the same way. As mentioned earlier, a large water bowl that the snake can curl up in and soak helps a lot. Most of these animals take a large amount of pleasure from pooping the their water bowls while soaking. They also have a great deal of fun overturning the water bowl and crawling through the mix of feces, water and saturated newspaper bits and spreading it all over the glass of the cage, or taking a rat and beating it against the side of the cage until blood and stuff is smeared everywhere (especially Indigos). It's just what they do and is a big part of the fun of keeping them.
:If this is, in fact, a recent wild-caught specimen, it would be worth it to take a fresh fecal sample to your vet and let him look for bugs and worms and such. Just get a spoon or something (something that you can hide from your spouse/girlfriend/mother and deny ever having taken)and scoop the whole mess into a zip-lock baggie and take it to the vet while it's as fresh as possible. A lot of people just "shotgun" all wild-caughts and fresh imports with Flagyl (for protozoans, amoebae, flagellates, etc.) and Panacure (a vermifuge). I don't like doing that, because I don't like unecessarily medicating animals. I prefer to see what I'm shooting at.
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:: Hello my bull just shed a couple of day's ago and he has been very touchy since then. I tried to feed him yeserday but he would not eat and while he was in his feeding container he pooped some liquid yellow stuff. He is a little lumpy down by his vent. Just curious if anyone else has heard of this? Thank You Matt
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