Soaking and defecation

jcase

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This is my first time around with radiata so forgive the 'noob' questions.

With every other species I've worked with, soaking reliably results in defecation with most individuals. I know with my platynota that each one will defecate during the soak almost every time.

I soak the radiated hatchlings daily. They eat well, I do find droppings in their setup, but I have not once had them defecate during soaking. I've also not found droppings in the water dish, which is at least a weekly thing with the stars.

Is this expected? Do they just not foul water?
 

Sterant

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I've soaked many, many babies and some poop in the water and some don't. If you only soak for 15 or 20 minutes, they don't usually. If you soak them longer, you will find they poop more often. I wouldn't worry about it either way.
 

jcase

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I've soaked many, many babies and some poop in the water and some don't. If you only soak for 15 or 20 minutes, they don't usually. If you soak them longer, you will find they poop more often. I wouldn't worry about it either way.
im not worried at all, they seem to do well, just odd. I've had 100s of hatchlings (not radiata), given most were 2 decades ago, i dont recall a group in which none defecated when soaked.
 
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