Question about waste...

Hi! I'm getting my first corn soon and was wondering about it's waste. Is this something you clean out of the tank every day, is it easy to find? The lady at the pet store said they only have waste once a week? (seems odd)..also what about urine? Does this get smelly? How often do you change the substrate out? Thanks!

The waste produced by corns resembles bird droppings, especially from hatchling corns, and it dries just like bird poop. I spot clean when I see poop, and change the substrate about every two weeks, also if the snake's been swimming in its' water bowl and made the substrate wet. Fresh waste smells a bit like any poop, but when it's dried it smells a little of urine.

The lady at the pet store said they only have waste once a week? (seems odd)

Click to expand...

Generally, they only poop as often as they eat.

As hatchlings they eat every 4 or 5 days.

As adults, they eat once every 7-14 days.

Corns are pretty "low impact" when it comes to cleaning.

also what about urine?

Click to expand...

You get solid waste and urine in the same hit. As stated, it looks like bird droppings when fresh (black solids, white or translucent liquid). It can be smelly when it first appears, but if you can't get to it immediately (for instance if you're at work), it dries to a solid consistency which is less smelly.

Removing the waste and soiled substrate as soon as it appears (known as "spot cleaning"), keeps smells to a bare minimum. In addition, you'll need to completely empty and disinfect the tank every few weeks, replacing all substrate and disinfecting hides etc.

My snake seems to actually make two bowel movements a meal, it gets a lot easier to spot when they're older.
As long as it hasn't been deposited in the water I wait for it to dry first, then it clumps to the aspen and is a lot easier to clean up.

Thanks for the info!