Help Please

[momakat]

I will repeat some of my intro in another thread regarding my new Ball Python: I purchased him, discounted, because he was so scarred that I thought nobody would want him. I currently have him in a 20 gal w/screen top, hide, 1 soak dish and one small water dish. He saw the vet yesterday and was pronounced healthy with the exception of a slight upper respiratory issue - probably caused by stress. His history is not nice - he had been maintained in a 10 gal with no hide and has scars all along his spine from light burns - they are well healed now. Vet said to increase heat to approx 90 F all around him and increase humidity to 80-90% for about 2 weeks and this would resolve the UR, as well as his adjusting to a new living environment. So I've had no problem upping the humidity but am having a problem upping the heat.

Would have purchased an additional heat lamp (I use red light as was told they do not require UV) but just sunk $$ into my car for new brakes all around. *sigh* I moved the light directly over his hide - but then the humidity in the area went down. So moved it over to the middle with wet towels on either end. Humidity back up but heat still only about 80F. Any adivce for me?

Also - if anybody has good plans for building an enclosure - would be willing to barter for copy of the instructions.

TIA

	Geek Auto Linker or Gallon Geek Auto Linker Gallon - United States liquid unit equal to 4 quarts or 3.785 liters

[Ghroller]

I wouldn't suggest upping the whole area to 90... he's not gonna like that at all..

[Gecko-Guy]

I might be wrong but aren't you supposed to lower the humidity to help get rid of a repiratory infection? Try and just make one side of the tank 90 degrees. The other side should be a little lower. What if he gets too hot? He won't have anywhere to go. It was great of you to take in the snake. Good luck.

Oh yeah, and when you have time, buy him a heat pad (used for people) it will be alot easier to heat the tank that way. They cost about 13 dollars.

[momakat]

I don't like the thought of the high temps/humididty - but it did work for DD's BP when he had a fungus in his mouth (in addition to a med swab daily). As for knowing for sure about humidity and URI - unable to find much info online so have to rely on our vet and input here. The temp is holding steady about 80F and the humidity about 42%. *sigh* Guess I'm just worried and want to do the best possible for him. He's had such a rough life am considering naming him "El Cajone". Sounds better than the English translation. hehe

About the 'human' heating pad . . . didn't think they could run for long periods or with anything on them. How do you use it and where? My tank is on the floor/carpet at this point. Not much room for change - at least not until I move - but could potentially find another place if needed. Was thinking, after next payday, of getting one of those sticky heat pads for the bottom. With a couple 2x4 blocks under the tank to lift it from the floor it should work - what do you think?

[Gecko-Guy]

The regular heat pads with dry heat and that dont have auto shutoff can run, in my experience, forever. I've had one on for 5 months straight so far and it keeps on going. You can set the heat pad on a surface and then use little odds and ends to raise the cage a little bit. The higher you raise the tank, the lower the temps are. I use little pieces of pvc plastic and switch between medium power during the day and low at night. Mind you, that's for a boa. I have found out, however, that they heat tanks much better when they are on a table top, or even better, something that has drawers. Heat from the pad stores inside the drawer and it also rises to the tank. It stays a lot warmer with the added heat coming from the drawer.I'll take a pic to show you the setup.

[Gecko-Guy]

ok here they are:

[Dragon-Keeper]

Originally Posted by Gecko-Guy

I might be wrong but aren't you supposed to lower the humidity to help get rid of a repiratory infection? Try and just make one side of the tank 90 degrees. The other side should be a little lower. What if he gets too hot? He won't have anywhere to go. It was great of you to take in the snake. Good luck.

Oh yeah, and when you have time, buy him a heat pad (used for people) it will be alot easier to heat the tank that way. They cost about 13 dollars.

The right humidity is needed for correct breathing, just like if it is too humid for us it is hard to breathe. Uping the humidity would make it easier for the snake to breathe, would it not?

[Gecko-Guy]

Maybe, but high humidity also makes it easier for bacteria to thrive. However, I do not believe that humidity has an effect on breathing. You can breathe no matter what humidity level there is outside. (I actually find high humidity more annoying when I breathe than low humidity.) I'm going to use Anthony Caponetto's carpet pythons as an example here. Carpet pythons live in a relatively high humidity environment. Anthony keeps his pythons at lower humidity levels and bacterial growth usually does not occur and his animals are very healthy. His animals seem to do fine with low humidity.

Humidity is only applied by herp-keepers to keep their animals from drying out. Frogs have very sensitive skin and need a lot of humidity to keep hydrated. They can dry out if humidity gets too low. The ball python has low humidity requirements and as long as it has water to drink, it will not dehydrate (unless it has parasites, which is another story ) Anyway, what I'm trying to say is that I think low humidity would be best for this python to help clear up its infection and I don't think that it will make it hard for him to breathe.

Man that was long

[JuliusSqueezer]

Humidity is a touchy issue with certain species and not with others. Emeralds and amazons are very humidity specific animals and are fairly unforgiving...emeralds moreso than amazons. Ball pythons however come from a variety of habitats in Africa from humid rainforest to dry grassy savannahs and are geared for handling a variety of humidity conditions. The one thing they seem to all agree on is that they hate heat. Even during the scortching African summers, they find burrows to hide from the heat and come out durring the cooler nights. I never keep ball pythons much over room temp..but room temp in my snakeroom is 78-79 degrees. I keep a warm spot for them at about 85 and they never use it much.

When treating an RI there is a time for elevated humidity and a time for reduced humidity regardless of species. If the snake is congested (hacking up phlegm) You must kill the humidity as much as you can. Snakes do not have a diaphragm and while they can cough, they can't cough well. Humidity breaks up the congestion and if too much breaks loose at once, your snake will choke to death on it. Once the mucous and phlegm starts to dissapear or if you catch it early on, short bursts of high humidity can break up what's left a little at a time but this is dangerous and I don't recomend it unless you really know what you are doing. For snakes with just a bit of snot bubbles /excess mucous. dryer conditions will help dry that up and as Gecko-Guy said, there is less bacteria in dry conditions. A snake that is used to higher humidity though may wheeze when it's too dry and cause the RI alarm to go off when it may not be anything required treatmentwise but to mist the cage with warm water and get the humidity back up. I have never in 32 or so years of keeping snakes, ever seen a Ball Python with an RI....freaky weird. What are this snake's symptoms that led your vet to believe it has an RI?

	Respiratory Infection Respiratory Infection

[momakat]

Thanks for all your input! I will purchase a 'human' heat pad tomorrow after work. I can switch places so he will be up on a table, and snatch a couple pieces of wood to raise the aquarium from the surface.

Symptoms . . . the only thing the vet said was the eyes were cloudy - a sign of an UR issue. No bubbles, congestion, wheezing etc. were noticed or mentioned. Think I need to email him to get a more definitive answer. I did have my new baby out tonight to feed - definitely no lack of appetite there! *VBG* I did rearrange his home, added another water dish and moved the light more to the middle as the heat where he hides doesn't get above 80. I can see this 'problem' doesn't really have a pat answer. *sigh*

I do know that at the shop his humidity was quite high - not sure of the heat but he was with a couple other snakes and the enclosure is very humid. Could he have responded to the lower humidity in our home? Although the hygrometer (sp) was measuring about 40-50% prior to the vet visit it was probably lower than he had been living in the last 3 months. The other thing I am wondering . . . it is possible that with the neglect he lived with - and considering the scaring from burns - that his eyes were damaged and will always have a 'cloud' to them? Think I definitely need to email the vet to ask this question - did not think of this when we saw him.

The current conditions in his home, with the minor changes I made, are 80F and 65% humidity. Many of the opinions here reflect some of the things I have heard that balls don't require as much humidity as some 'experts' say.

Well - running late tonight and much more I need to get done, considering the time of year, etc. aaaack! Thanks again and will return tomorrow.

[Ghroller]

Vet said his eyes where cloudy... you sure he's just not shedding?

[momakat]

Yes - very sure he is not preparing to shed. Vet agreed he is not close to shedding at this point cuz I did ask about that. I have also notice that sometimes his eyes seem more clear - seems to vary but since I am trying to let him adjust to a new and more stable have not had him out as much as I would like. Just fed him last night and he looked good, though. *G* Still some small clouding of the eyes but not much. Plan on making a few minutes tonight between batches of holiday cooking to find the vets website to ask a couple more questions and hopefully get an answer in a couple days or so. hehe