Things You'll Need:
- Gloves, if planning to handle Tool to manipulate scat, if planning to handle
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Step 1
Look for dark, brownish matter on the ground. In cases of arboreal species, this may be found smeared on leaves, branches or trunks. Because snakes have a cloaca--a shared opening for digestive waste and kidney waste--fecal matter and the kidney product, urea, are expelled together. In a cage, the snake may have chosen a corner, rather than dirtying the center of its habitat. Your nose will tell you if there is fresh scat in a cage.
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Step 2
Study the appearance. Snake scat consists of two parts: white urea from the kidneys and fecal matter from the intestines. Often, the fecal matter will be long and stringy, filled with hair, bones, scales or feathers from prey; color can vary depending on the snake's diet, but expect brown. When fresh, both will appear moist. If you come across the "pile" later, the urea will have been soaked up by the ground or evaporation but should leave a white crust of uric acid. Bird droppings contain more urea matter with only scattered bits of greenish fecal material, and do not contain hair or bones. Lizard droppings are desiccated pellets, the urea a hardened white, chalk-like piece attached to dry fecal matter.
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Step 3
Note the length, diameter, color and readily apparent contents based on consistency and location of any scat you find. Larger snakes will naturally leave more and larger scat than smaller snakes.
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Step 4
Know what snakes share your habitat. Field guides will list the snakes that live in the area you are visiting. Peterson's is a well-known name in wildlife field guides.
