Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok, these dang Emeralds are gonna' get the best of me! My big male regurged 8 days after eating a small rat - it was just hair, almost like a cat w/a hairball. I'm at my wits end w/these gems! They'll cruise along fine than I get a spate of pukers. Out of 10 snakes I may have 2 that puke maybe 1 out of 4 feedings, never back-to-back but one upchuck is too many. And its not always the same snake. All are LTC imports and most are juvie to young adults.

Here in Vegas I went from worrying about them being too hot to too cold in like 4 days, now its warming up again to the low 80s. All are on Helix panels w/a DTH of 85F and a NTL of 79F w/ humidity peaking at 75% during the afternoon down to 40% or so by morning. These parameters have been in effect for 2 weeks. Ambient room temp is 80F and a heater goes on if it dips below 75F in the room at night. Prior to that it was really warm outside so the panels were off and the a/c was set at 82F.

I'm left to assume this is all husbandry related though I'm thinking of treating them all one more time w/Panacure and Flagyl. Any insight, suggestions? I've included a pic of the room (one side) as I was setting it up.

Bill

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The Menagerie:
3.8 Emerald Tree Boas
2.4 Spilotes Pullatus
1.3 Chondros
2.4 Red Tailed Green Rats - Maylasian Origin
2.2 Scrub Pythons (Kofiau, Moluccan)
1.1 "Sunburst" Indian Sand Boas (Adults retain juvie coloration)
Veileds, Jacksons, and Panther Chams
1.1 American Bulldogs

This is just my thoughts here, but I would suggest running at least a fecal test on the animals before running any drugs through their system, no matter how "safe" we tend to term them.

You have some really cool animals there, and ones that I know can cost a great deal...full fecal exams could easily be worth the $15-50 you pay for them.

Personally, I am very happy I invested in a microscope and some sodium nitrate so I can run a fresh fecal float whenever I please.

As far as temps and humidity, I have recently been hearing some contradictions from people who have vastly more experience with emeralds than I do. I would have originally thought you were erring a little more on the high end of temps, but I have heard some success that makes me thing erring a little high is not as bad as I would have thought.

I wish you luck.

I will invest in some fecals..problem is I travel so much during the week its a long shot to get a fresh one! I agree w/your comments on temps, I too kept them a bit lower but I've been reading the same threads I guess wherein people are advocating higher temps. Honestly I had more issues when they were being kept cooler!

Bill
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The Menagerie:
3.8 Emerald Tree Boas
2.4 Spilotes Pullatus
1.3 Chondros
2.4 Red Tailed Green Rats - Maylasian Origin
2.2 Scrub Pythons (Kofiau, Moluccan)
1.1 "Sunburst" Indian Sand Boas (Adults retain juvie coloration)
Veileds, Jacksons, and Panther Chams
1.1 American Bulldogs

Just a note: If you find someone who knows what they are doing, they can find things in a fecal that is far from fresh. I have a good friend that ran a fecal that he had forgot about in the freezer for like 2 weeks, and he still ran a positive test.

Anything you would need to treat with Flagyl or Panacure can be found in a not so fresh fecal.

Good luck with it.

What you are describing sounds like they don't have the ability to completely digest prey. If you look closer you might find that there is undigested bone in the stool. From my experience, you may be facing the same thing we experienced with WC emeralds. Unfortunately, those animals didn't survive. With some it took 18 months to reach the point where we decided to put them down. Of the animals on which we had necropsys done, kidney damage was determined to be the cause. The vets felt that it was probably caused by dehydration prior to the animal being imported. My opinion is that the way they were cared for during collection and at the exporters facility, left them without proper hydration.

I don't know a way to "sugar coat" what I've gone through with WC emeralds and I cringe whenever someone purchases WC emeralds as a first emerald. I never say anything when I see it happen as most people get offended. You have had these for a while and seem to have been having continued problems. I hope what I've said isn't the case with your emeralds, but the similarities are too close to my own experience to offer you encouragement.

Craig

I will make this short and sweet; because I have posted on this subject 100 times in other forums and you guys can take it as you will. I have worked with and bred Emeralds for 21yrs and it took that long for E.R.S. to catch up with me. When it did get into my collection it wiped out over 120 of some of the nicest Northerns in captivity. I lost Emeralds that I had for 18yrs and I tried every method known to Science and other methods that had never been used by anyone else and NOTHING WORKED!! There is a Virus that plagues these animals and NOBODY has ever came close to figuring it out. There is no cure and the end result will absolutely be a death sentence. Once the first one gurges and releases the virus and hormonal chemicals that come along with it; " they will all eventually start and the ones that do not gurge are still infected and will in time show respiratory and other signs of distress due to the illness. " I really do not care to once again go into allot of detail, but I will give you guys the real answer to this problem; " BUY CAPTIVE BORN EMERALDS AND RAISE THEM!! " So many keepers want to take the cheap way out and or want to get adult W.C. to see if they can breed them faster and 9 out of 10 times, the end result is a broken heart and a desire to not work with this Species anymore. Raise babies from known breeders and be patient and in the end you will see what a joy these animals are. The prognosis for your emeralds is very grim and you may hope to be the " exception to the rule, " but I promise; " you will not be. ".......Good Luck..........John Johnson