Pooping in food?

[Eric]

why why why... i dont know, but he always does it... ive tried moving the bowl around the cage but he always poops on his food... im thinking this could be potentially harmfull if he ate it. do you think he could get sick if he ate his poo? i would hope he wouldnt do something like that, but im at school for a big portion of the day. someone help lol

[Jade]

maybe its the bowl? did you try leaving the bowl empty an putting his food on a paper plate? to see if it the food or the bowl that he wants to use?

[prism_wolf]

Igs often poop in their food. This is why I feed Zair on his top shelf now instead of the floor of his cage. It sounds like a good time to start potty training... ;D. He's already going in his food dish.

What you need to do is take him to the tub with warm water...every day...the same time...and very soon you will have a trained ig who will be much less likely to poop in his food.

BUT...this is no garauntee! They live to torture us...

[Nanshe]

prism_wolf said:

They live to torture us...

OMG that is SOOOOOOO true! Elvis is a HOLY TERROR right now ~ugh~

[Diane]

Narcy actually went through a time period of deliberately eating his poop. . .it was so gross. i tried to make sure it was cleaned out of his cage immediately to avoid him eating it. I did ask my vet about this and she said it would not hurt him, just a disgusting habit.

[Merlin]

I did ask my vet about this and she said it would not hurt him

I would have to disagree! If there are any parasites present they shed eggs thru the poop and in the process of eating it the ig is re ingesting eggs which would cause an explosion in parasite popultion.

[Nanshe]

Elvis had never, ever done anything "poop" wise (painting, eating etc...) until Margarita got here. Now he not only paints, but I also caught him eating Margaratia's poop one day - I hadn't realized she had gone.

Besides being extremely gross - I didn't think it could possibly be healthy! ~Yuck~

~Nan

[sillywoman1969]

I didn't think more mature igs did that! I had read that baby igs needed to eat adult ig poop for the enzymes.

I'd go bath water!! Puppy waits for his bath/potty time everyday now, at first I was totally grossed out that he was doing it in there but it is SO much easier to clean as well as being more sanitary.

[Eric]

thanks for the responses guys, i have recently been trying to potty train lenard. i have a real busy schedule, so it is hard to do it at the same time every day. ill try moving the food dish up, maybee putting it in a different container... i havnt seen him eat the poop, i just noticed he pooed in his dish 4 times this week. its really gross....

[Eric]

btw, i think he is geting the hang of pooping in the tub even though its not at the same time of day. he usually poops within ten minutes of being in the tub

[Nanshe]

Until breeding season hit here about a week ago, Elvis NEVER went poop anywhere but in the bathtub! It was awesome! And if I was late getting him there, he would hold it, never had an accident - I'm just hoping he gets back to that when breeding season is over!

~Nan

[Eric]

so has he been pooping in his food latelynanshe? my ig is to small to be effected by breeding season right? hes still little

[Nanshe]

No, Elvis has never pooped in his food that I recall - in fact even with his poop painting, he does it only on MY side of the room, never near HIS stuff LOL.

Ig's don't usually come into season until they're about 18 to 24 months old, but for some it happens sooner - however I do think Leonard is too young - if I'm wrong, someone please correct me

~Nan

[Eric]

haha, by painting you must mean he smears it all over everything... eewww. i hope i never have that problem, but im sure i will lol