It appears the immune system or at least parts of the immune system is developed at maximum perferred temps.



Which is totally avoided in most snake setups. They are decidedly middle of the road.



for instance we know you can cure URI and other gram-negative infections with heat. Whats so funny about that is, if the snakes had access to that heat, they would not get sick.



In working with varanids, gram-negative infections, URI and mouth sores(rot) were and are commonplace.



When I started with varanids, I started with a wide temperature choice. In some cases, I have horrible conditions, in my efforts to keep them outside. all varanids are tropical. that is, 99% of species and numbers occur between the tropics. Yes there is a very small number of exceptions.



Well, we heated outside cages in the winter, then it snowed, rained froze, etc etc. hmmmmmmmmmmmm we had them freeze to death, almost freeze to death, stay wet and cold for periods of time. But as long as they could get hot in the day, they never got sick. That is the ones that did not freeze. Truth is, we only lost a few.



As I kept working on those cages, outside is a very hard to control condition and changes year to year. So we now keep most indoor or indoor outdoor.



What I noticed with varanids is, they will go to heat, up to panting, that is, gular flapping. Which is designed to cool the brain.



They choose to stay at those temps for extented periods.



in cages inside, the keepers would see that and quickly lower the temps. Thats called fear keeping methods, many or most methods are developed from fear, not from actual needs for the animal.

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