I'm sure people will ask for pics of your setup, could you be able to get some?

:) I still stand by what we talked about over on CS.com, but I'm sure there are people here with other ideas. Like I said, IHerp has so many people with so much herpetological background, it's amazing. Hopefully someone will have some good ideas on what's going on here too.

yeah, i just thought id get some more input on here since you said theyre are so many knowledgeable people on here. i dont have any pics of his setup. but i did purchase a new much larger 40 breeder tank for him since i posted that, and im hoping maybe a larger tank will give him more room to "do his duty".

That's good. :) Remind me what substrate you have him on again?

and they say you can't train a snake...sounds like he's trained to poo on people. Could it be a heat issue? Or could it be that he needs the motion to stimulate a bowel movement. Have you tried the old put him in the tub to poo method? 

My thinking is IF the snake was neglected it doesn't like to be handled too much. Be patient, take notes and have fun with your new snake!

the substrate im using is newspaper right now because i had him on pine for a brief time, because i was told by a petstore worker, and by some things i read that pine is ok. now i know not to take anything a petstore owner says too seriously. also he seems fine with be handled because he did have a good owner who took good care of him for the most part and held him, etc. but perhaps hes now readjusting after being in that neglectful home for the few months he was. he seems to be readjusting just fine though luckily =]

also i havent tried the poo in the tub method, how exactly does that work? water, no water, etc?

ps- i plan on getting my snake aspen as a substrate asap. the newspaper is just temporary.

You're doing a good job. Just keep in mind that if you use aspen as a substrate, it's best to feed your snake in a seperate enclosure on a paper towel, such as a rubbermaid tub with paper towels on the bottom, so that the snake doesn't ingest shavings, as it can cause impaction. Just a safety thought.

And what I think Shellboa means is when you take the kiddo out to handle, put him in a rubbermaid tub or something for a few minutes before you're ready to handle him so he can have a chance to go in there if he needs to. Correct me if I'm wrong, Shell.

oh, i always take hime out of his tank to feed, because i did have him in pine shavings, and also because i dont want him to ever associate his tank with eating and get aggression signs when i stick my hand in there because he might think its feeding time. but thanks for the advice =]

Very good choice to do that. :) Just wanted to make sure you knew that. I know you did your research before you got him, which is AWESOME.

Could you explain what you mean by "roaming".

Typically the handling and manipulation of an animal gets things moving.

Hopefully it's not an internal digestion problem but I would tend to agree with most of the replies on here that its the movement that induces the defecation and that its a coincidence that its time to go when you pull it out. Ever have 10 gallons of urates from a big retic gushed all over you LOL. I found that some snakes and lizards prefer to defecate in water or a smooth surface mainly because they do invert and it becomes uncomfortable if substrates sticks to them or they drag along a rough surface. Swimming in warm water also stimulates them to go. As for Michelle's (shellboa) comment about training, a water pan is often used to potty train so to speak. This method is used by some owners to train snakes, monitors and lizards, especially iguanas to use a pan as a toilet. This is based on the reasoning I mentioned above. As for removing the snake to feed it's a controversial topic. I think it's been discussed a few times here and there are pros and cons to both. I've always fed in the enclosure without any issues. All the snake I've owned know its not feeding time because I will give them a little tap before pulling them out if they have strong feeding responses or I will use a snake hook and they also associate that to not being feeding time too. Because I've owned large constrictors I didn't want to associate being moved or taken out as a sign that it's feeding time. We're only talking about a cornsnake here so the situation is not as critical. Depending on the size of the substrate shavings or chips most adult snakes will pass any ingested pieces easily.  A different story with babies. Think about the large breeders. I know there is one epsiode of SnakebytesTV where Brian Barczyk mentions they feed all their animals in their bins and he's had no problems with impaction and the snakes passing substrate. Can you imagine them trying to pull out 30,000 snakes for feeding. Oh and I don't see anything wrong with using newspaper or paper towel as a substrate too. Depends on whether esthetics is important with certain species that don't require special substrate to maintain higher humidity levels.

Miss Andrea, by roaming i mean letting my snake crawl around on the bed, or sometimes ill put a large blanket on the floor with some paper towel rolls, etc. and let him crawl around on that for awhile for excersize & mental stimulation. This is always done with close supervision. Perhaps though with this paper substrate, and when i do get him aspen, he'll go back to going to the bathroom in his enclosure. Since he was in a neglectful home for a few months i know he must've went in his tank because they did'nt take him out of it. However i may try this potty training tub method. Do i just put him in a tub of 1-2 in. of warmish water until he goes everytime i take him out of his tank for handling? Or how exactly do i go about this method?

I know this thread is old but I trained my Corn not to do it's business in its cage. I take it outside every couple days or so and she has only had one accident and it was my fault for not letting her out for a slither.