hello all, my wife and i have a 2ft male bp, a 3ft male ca-king, and a new 4ft female bp. We got the 4ft fem bp (Zoe) 3 weeks ago. She was doing fine up untill about 1 week ago. I'm worrying she has an RI but I've never had a sick snake including ones i've owned in the past so I'm not quite sure.



I started noticing:



- weird, almost hissing or clicking sounds when she was hanging on my neck or close to my ear.

- constant, all day soaking in water bowl.

- she struck my hand (bite strong enough for my finger to bleed) when i was fixing the bedding and water bowl last night. this is completely out of her character so far...shes very docile...we were shocked because it was no where close to feeding time and, as always, my hands were washed and sanatized with germ-ex.

- as ive read other postings i have noticed that when coiled up, or in her water bowl, she does have her head raised up against the tub or resting at a 45* angle.

- when she struck my hand she got some aspen bedding stuck in her mouth. I took her out and held her gently behind the head to pull the aspen out. I noticed some saliva or something on the aspen chip. My wife held her and she left a couple streaks of this saliva on her shirt. I'm not sure if the saliva is from an RI or if it was induced in trying to get the aspen out of her mouth.

- rubbing her face against a rock the other day.

- i have not noticed any mice.

- the cal king and baby BP are doing fine.



Here are pics and details:

*aspen shavings for bedding

*fake plants

*zoo-med forest moss for additional humidity

*no heating pad (have never used one in the past 6 yrs of owning snakes)

*heat is from infrared bulb with a dimmer switch

*temp and humidity monitored with accurite weather station

*temps are around 80-85 (cool side) and 90-95 (warm side)

*humidity 50-60% (i have a hard time keeping this constant even with the moss and daily misting)

*water is changed daily

*she eats 1 large rat (frozen then thawed) every 7-9 days with no problems



so my questions are:

• Does my snake have an RI?

• What causes an RI?

• Are there any home remedies for it?





Here are pics of enclosure (Click to enlarge):









P.s. Sorry for all the info on post, but i want the best possible answer to my questions.. THANK YOU!!!



P.s.s. Any critique on our enclosure setup will be helpfull..

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