Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i just received a retic that has a respritory infection that i caught early, i have been treating this but i noticed today that it is going to shed, my question is, is it ok to raise the humidity in the cage for her to shed or do i keep it low because of the RI? thanx josh

>>i just received a retic that has a respritory infection that i caught early, i have been treating this but i noticed today that it is going to shed, my question is, is it ok to raise the humidity in the cage for her to shed or do i keep it low because of the RI? thanx josh

If it were me, I would keep the snake in the range of about 83-88 degrees. This as you may know will help it's own "auto-immune" system combat the existing infection...... Also, it would be beneficial to mist the animal with warm water from a spray bottle couple times a day just before you see the eyes clear up. Snakes are typically ready to shed their skin after the second or third day after the eyes clear.......I don't know what you meant when you said you are treating it, I'm assuming you meant a good "reptile proven" antibiotic such as "Amikacin" or "Batryl" or the like??..........Anyway, what made you notice something was wrong in the first place, I hope it wasn't badly "weazing" with it's mouth gaped open, and bubbles comming from the nostrils,as this would be a very bad sign of severe infection..........anyway, good luck with getting retic better....................Doug PS forgot to add,....make sure you moisten the skin as mentioned before,and it completely sheds, as being in a possible weakened state from infection could possibly cause a shedding problem,......the LAST thing you want is this compounding the respiratory problem...........hope this helped some...............Doug

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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

i caught it very early with just a slight weezing there has been no mouth gaping or mucus i talked to my rep vet he told me to lower humidity and rais temps to around 90-92 degrees and lower humidity that is why i was asking should if i should raise the humidity back up.

>>i caught it very early with just a slight weezing there has been no mouth gaping or mucus i talked to my rep vet he told me to lower humidity and rais temps to around 90-92 degrees and lower humidity that is why i was asking should if i should raise the humidity back up.

Okay,.....continue keeping the snake good and warm, just make sure it doesn't have a problem shedding with a few mists as it's eyes clear, this will help ensure it sheds properly.Then lower the humidity back down as before. This will no doubt help things out......take care,.............Doug PS, I'm glad to see you took some action BEFORE it became severe, unlike so many other people would have done!!!

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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!