Reptile & Amphibian Forums

For the second time I put the male in with the female this season, the male developed an RI. Whenever I take him out and give him constant 92 degrees, he gets better. The temp with the female is 88/82 so I dont think its heat related. I mist the cage every night. Also, he cuddles with the female so I dont think she stresses him out either. the female luckily never catches the RI from him.

Why does this keep happening?

thanks,

Mat

I'll try to keep this short...I'd take the male into a vet, atleast have them swab him and do a culture. Find out what is causing the RI, and treat it. Also, don't take them laying in the same spot as a sign that he's not under stress. If it's not triggered by temperature, stress is the next best thing. Also, if your room temps. are dropping at night, coupled with the misting, you're causing a sudden temp. drop within the cage. So, temps. could be playing a part. You can cool a healthy boa pretty dramatically with no ill effect, something is going on with your male that needs to be solved. Until then, I wouldn't re-introduce them at all. If your female is exposed, as she has been, the stress of being gravid could weaken her immune system at which point she starts to show signs. Worst case scenario, two dead boas and no babies. Half of the scenario, which you see just in this forum A LOT....the male dies. I think alive and unbred is a lot better than bred and dead! I have my share of boas in the freezer, and if that's not bad enough, some of those were full of babies at the time they took residence there! Things happen, but if you can stop it, do it while you have the chance. Well, stepping down from the box now, best of luck. I really hope you get it straightened out. Take care

might call me a jerk for it but my buddy had some stills/deformed babies and we fed them to his kingsnake instead of freezering them.

Why would I call you a jerk for that? If I had something to feed that would take them...why not??? Atleast they're not just wasted that way. Take care

Made me think of something. You know what? Being the cheap sob I am, I always used to keep a Montor lizard around to eat all the refused rodents the next day. I hate wasting good rodents. Don't have nearly as many snakes right now, so I pretty much pick em up after 30 minutes or so and feed them to some garbage can snake (I know better,I know) or just refreeze them. Hey. I'm on a budget here.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer

some breeders and keepers of reptiles think its wrong lol trust me when I worked at a pet shop I got a lot of hate for it. Though feeding house geckos to a baby gator is fun.

I agree with all the above. Just want to add, I've had chronic whistling boas. Get better, but it keeps coming back. Not optimum, but seemed no worse for the wear. One of those almost imperceptable stresses. Could have been better, but...

Let me see, my point is -- by RI, how obvious is it? Gasping and blowing bubbles with mucous, or what? Just how serious is your situation? Like my first example or like my last example?

In both cases, just because the symptoms go away, that doesn't mean the snake is well. It could take months of treatment to eliminate something like that. Could be latent and chronic. Could be induced by environmental stress or psycological stress.
Better to wait till next year. Concentrate on fixing that male.

My 2 cents.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer