RTB acting weird

Erica_Ann · #1 (**permalink**) 11-12-2005, 09:55 AM

My boyfriend and I have a female RTB about 2 years old. We just moved into a new apartment and shes been acting different. She keeps putting just her head and beginning of her "neck" straight up and leaving it like that. Her grip is still really strong. We think that her under tank heater may be too hot for her in the warm apartment because shes been coming out of her hidebox more lately. Tonight she went in her water dish but was still staring up. We moved her hidebox to the unheated part of the aquarium. Theres no fan where she is staring up at but their is a light down the hallway from the room. But she isn't looking that way, just up at the ceiling where nothing is. Hopefully she is just checking out the new apartment, but it worries me because she did this when she was about a year old. At that time, her muscles had gotten slack. I took her to the vet and the vet thought she had IBD but put her on antibiotic shots just in case, and she got better! I think that she had gotten sick when she was 1 year old from eating a live rat, because it had happened right after that. I always feed her frozen. She ate about 2 weeks ago so I am planning on feeding her tomorrow. She still flicks her tongue at objects nearby and does not seem to have disorientation when being put upside down. She is in a 75 gallon aquarium. We keep it clean and give her fresh water. One side has a large Zoo Med UTH and the rest has no heat. The apartment stays around 70 degrees. We take her outside for UVB and I put a UVB light on her cage occassionally. We mist the cage daily. She is about 4.5 feet long. I want to take her to the vet tomorrow to make sure she is okay. My boyfriend thinks she is allright and wants to wait. I appreciate your input. Thanks!

dfreeman1313 · #2 (**permalink**) 11-12-2005, 12:07 PM

What is the temperature of the hot side? I have a thermometer on the floor of the hot side to monitor the temperature.

If you just moved, the temperature COULD be hotter if you are sitting the aquarium on something different (may not absorb as much heat as previous. You have to monitor that termperature even if the Zoo-Med package said you didn't. I once hooked up a Cobra heat mat without a regulator and the temperature on the botton of the cage (it was a sterilite container) got up to 147 F. I simple got a dimmer switch from Wally-world and can regulate it now.

This may not be your problem, but a simple thermometer with a probe and a $4 dimmer switch can really help the health of your baby down the road.

I'd take her to the vet too just to make sure.

unluckyseventeen · #3 (**permalink**) 11-12-2005, 03:11 PM

What kind of bedding are you using? If it's cedar get that crap out of there and burn it.

Reason I suspect that is because snakes are allergic to cedar and it really irritates their resperitory system. In order to help themselves they will keep their head off the ground so they can't smell or breathe in the cedar.

Also, the heat concerns me if you're ONLY using a heat pad.

Please assure that your living conditions are adequate for her, first thing. No Cedar. Newspaper or Cypress/Aspen mulch works great. Hot side around 86-88, cool side around 78-80. Humidity holding 55%-60%. Hides on either side. A fresh source of water. Being fed around every 10-14 days.

mhsrunner · #4 (**permalink**) 11-12-2005, 08:54 PM

when my snake had RI {which is what it sounds like your snake has} i took her hot side under the basking area from 88-89 to the mid-low 90's for about 2 weeks. it got almost completely rid of it in just that time. if you dont get it taken care of quickly your snake probably will end up needing antibiotics, so id get some sort of over the tank light/heat emitter as well to help supplement the temperature in getting it up like that {id assume that a heat pad turned up that high would just short of explode your snake's belly}... good luck!

Advertisement