Garter poos in water dish--always

[bulrush]

I have an eastern garter snake. Every other day I feed him 2 minnows from a bait shop (fatheads?) in a cat food dish full of water, which is big enough for him to lay in. The last 5-6 feedings I noticed he has eaten the minnows, then promptly pooed in the water dish in which I placed the minnows. The last feeding I noticed he pooed in the water dish without eating the minnow. So I removed his food and the dish.

What is going on here? Is he protesting something?

[Stefan-A]

It's easier to poop in water. Sometimes the snakes seem to notice this and make a habit of doing it. I have one garter that does that very often and another three that just have bad aim; They barely miss the water dish.

[infernalis]

Look at it this way, It's easier to change the water, and not have to buy fresh substrate all the time

[ssssnakeluvr]

REALLY common....disgusting, but common. mine do it all the time!!!

[dashnu]

Mine tend to poop all other the place including the water dish

[anji1971]

I wish the babies would use the water dish.
It's incredibly hard to find all those teeny, tiny poos to scoop out!

[bulrush]

Actually I use clumping cat litter (I know some people don't like the dust it may have) but cleaning the litter is easier than scrubbing and disinfecting the water dish.

So, my other problem was his apparent lack of appetite. I remember I have not had his light on over his cage for about 7-10 days. Do you think that is it? Temperature is about 74-76F for the past 7 days also. Perhaps temp is a bit low?

Icky, nasty, dish pooper.

[anji1971]

So, my other problem was his apparent lack of appetite. I remember I have not had his light on over his cage for about 7-10 days. Do you think that is it? Temperature is about 74-76F for the past 7 days also. Perhaps temp is a bit low?

You could try raising the temps a bit, but I know mine are nearly constantly at the 75/76F range. I just have a heat mat at one end of each tank, which they rarely use, and I've never had an eating issue yet, even with the new babies.
It's always worth a try, though!

[infernalis]

I maintain the whole reptile room at a steady 77-80 and use no heat, they all eat like piggies

A sneaky trick is to try and feed when it is either raining out or a storm is blowing in, Garters have a built in "barometric pressure sensor" since prey is plentiful after a rain.

[bulrush]

You could try raising the temps a bit, but I know mine are nearly constantly at the 75/76F range. I just have a heat mat at one end of each tank, which they rarely use, and I've never had an eating issue yet, even with the new babies.
It's always worth a try, though!

Thanks. When his light is on his tank gets to 80F each day. His light has been on since Monday and each day I offer him one minnow, but no takers yet. I am now leaving one small water dish for pooping, and one for the live minnow.