Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a friend that i got into snakes and he has a Guyana red-tail and he recently acquired a BRB it was at least a year old prolly older. Well it escaped for about a week and then he got it back, it then didn't eat for a couple weeks after that and then yesterday he told me he went to try to feed it and it was dead! I asked about the husbandry. He said the Humidity was 75-80%. He said that the temp was 85* and it usually stayed pretty constant . . well i know that that is just about the upper limit of these snakes, i assumed that it was just too hot for too long, it couldn't have been because of humidity, and it couldn't have been because it didn't eat (i know they can go much longer then a few weeks) So i assume it was the heat, he also had it temporarily in too small of a tank (only a 10g tank) The ONLY other thing i can think of some sort of parasite or disease because it was wild caught and it never was checked for parasites etc.. .

thoughts?
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Russ
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Apollo)
1.0 Columbian Rainbow Boa (Odin)
1.0 Guyana Red-Tail Boa (Ares)
0.1 Pastel Salmon Boa (Minerva)
0.1 Rosy Boa (Athena)

Melbourne, Fl

10 gallon at 85 assuming it was a temp gun if not it was definately higher but dry heat is one thing but humid heat is like a sauna I believe and that smothering heat can't be good it prolly seemed very stuffy for the little guy
Bob

IMO it was the heat. Cooked the poor thing!!

85 is most likely too hot by itself but how did he measure the temps and/or humidity? In a 10 gallon, that hot would be hard to keep the humidity in.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

thats what i figured, that 85* temp was prolly from a thermostat stuck to the side of a tank. aka ambient air temp

although there are so many other factors in what went on with it getting out and getting caught again god knows what it could of gotten into
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Russ
1.0 Brazilian Rainbow Boa (Apollo)
1.0 Columbian Rainbow Boa (Odin)
1.0 Guyana Red-Tail Boa (Ares)
0.1 Pastel Salmon Boa (Minerva)
0.1 Rosy Boa (Athena)

Melbourne, Fl

could be the culprit, in a 10 gallon there is no room for any type of thermoregulating and the humidity was probably a lot less then he thinks, those two factors could easily kill a brb rather quickly. Those thermometers are also not very accurate, It may have been even hotter then he thought.

temps & humidity can be a major contribitor to the snakes demise plus the other unknowns could equal, who the hell knows without a necropsy.
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Thanks,

Frank Roberts
Roberts' Realm Of Reptile Research

Being out for a week could easily have gotten it into a death spiral if it didn't find any water. Then putting it in a hot cage would just accellerate the decline.
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Thanks,

Dave Colling

www.rainbows-r-us-reptiles.com

0.1 Wife (WC and still very fiesty)
0.2 kids (CBB, a big part of our selective breeding program)

LOL, to many snakes to list, last count:
21.29 BRB
19.19 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

how old was the snake? I wouldn't be able to stuff my BRB's into a 10gal if I tried. well, the probably think it was a bad hide...but 10gal tanks can get hot really fast if too much heat is put on it.

Was he using under tank heaters or lights? Also, how long was 'temporarily' housed in a 10gal? IF he had it in for less than a day, it may not have played a factor. I stick my BRB's into small rubbermaid containers all the time, when I clean the cage (they are only in it at the very most, 20min), but they have no heat added.

It is also possible your friends BRB was exposed to something toxic while cruising the house. Ate a wild mouse in the house that had rat poison in it etc. Really hard to say what it got into. A necropsy would be the only way to know for sure. Heck, it may have caught IBD from his other snake...
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PHLdyPayne