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Do snakes urinate / pee like other animals ?
How do snakes urinate ?

Snakes don't "pee" as mammals do, they release what is called "urates", basically a solid form of the same thing to release the same waste products without wasting water. It is white, slightly moist if the snake is healthy, and dries to a chalky white substance fairly quickly.

So most snakes do not urinate, or at least not the typical liquid urine we have in mind.
Is this "urates" the same thing as poop or do they also release a different solid as poop?

Fishbone is correct. Snakes and other reptiles don't produce urea as a waste product the way most mammals (us) do, they produce uric acid (the same substance that causes gout in humans). The benefit to this is that uric acid requires less water loss to the animal, but requires more energy to produce.
Well-hydrated snakes will secrete this as a solid form, and may excrete some liquid as well. This will all dry up rather quickly.

And yes, this is separate from their feces, although they are both evacuated from the same opening. Their feces looks like what you would expect; brown. Their 'urine' is pale yellow or white.

Good to know. It is exactly the information I was looking for.

Thanks!

I know this topic is old. While on Youtube, I just came cross this video of a king cobra shooting out some kind of liquid through its rear opening.

The video. Be aware, it might be disgusting to some people.




Is the snake urinating? Or was the feces simple too wet?

Let me first say, that I don't have much experience with elapids, in regards to digestion, and none with king cobras specifically. But, that doesn't look healthy. Could be something eaten, parasites, who knows. But if that were a captive pet snake, I'd suggest getting a full fecal exam done to look for parasites, occysts, whatever they could find. Cryptosporidium is a likely candidate for causing that, but I'm not sure how common it its in wild asian reptiles, originally it was thought to be mostly a mammalian parasite, but in recent years certain strains (C. serpentes, etc...) have become common in captive reptile populations.

Concerning the video, I'm agreeing with Fishbone. That looks way too fluid to be healthy waste. My own snake did something similar, except what it expelled was kind of like a whitish paste almost. It was solid enough to retain it's general shape and it did dry very fast. That video makes it look like the cobra has diarrhea or something.

(08-24-2012, 08:12 AM)writer811 Wrote: [ -> ]Concerning the video, I'm agreeing with Fishbone. That looks way too fluid to be healthy waste. My own snake did something similar, except what it expelled was kind of like a whitish paste almost. It was solid enough to retain it's general shape and it did dry very fast. That video makes it look like the cobra has diarrhea or something.

That sounds like a completely healthy excretion of urates. As much liquid as in this video is normally a bad sign.