Reptile & Amphibian Forums

i have a six year appx 5 ft male old rainbow boa i got not too long ago. when i got him he had been in a 20 gallon tank with a tiny water dish and not much heat. so i placed him in a bigger tank and gave him a large water dish (a large plastic storage container) larger hide spot, and fixed the humidity (75-85%)and heat (85-90 degrees and always above 75 degrees on the cool side). recently he started making whistling noises and puffing out his chin, all the signs of a respiratory infection. he has a vet appointment for tomorrow but i guess im just not understanding how he got it. i raised the temperature a few degrees higher and put him in quarentine but does anyone have any other suggestions of how he got it and how i can help him. i don't want him to get worse. i have not noticed any signs in any of my other snakes.

than you for your help

Well, I'm no vet so really need to take him in.

RI's can be brought on by change, he could have been used to the crappy conditions and got sick when they changed.

Could have been sick all along and just now showing?

Might not have an RI, just whistling? I do see mine having a "puffy throat" look from time to time but no other symptoms!

And lastly, quarantine is a MUST for any new animal!

I even put a male coming to me on breeding loan through qaurantine.
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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:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

I think the same thing happened to my newly aquired BRB, he's been breathing heavily on and off and not as active as before. I'm not sure if it's from his conditions at the pet store (a very dry cage) or the change. He'd lived 8 months at the pet store they'd said, and seemed fine, eating, active and everything. I was going to take him either way, also to be sexed.

It also might be the fact that the cage got so dried out by my ceramic heater, with the light I didn't have to spray anymore but it wasn't hot enough with just that and the UTH. I want to use something else instead of the ceramic bulb so that I can keep the humidity better, what do you suggest (I'm working on getting a cage instead of the aquarium, but for the time being)?

Hey Danne,

some questions first...

Where is the tank?
Is that room (area) cold?
Do you have a warmer location you could move it to?
Have you closed off most of the top?
Have you insulated the sides? You could even insulate some/much/all of the front in addition to the sides as a temporary fix until you get your new cage.

A UTH will only put out so many therms of heat. If the overall system is "leaking" out therms at a similar rate you can never get the temps up. Two ways to fix it, pump in more therms or even better, stop the leaking out. You've tried the pump in more with a ceramic heater and found it dries out the enclosure. If it's drying out the enclosure, the moisture MUST be escaping!!! You really need to close off MOST of the top.

To keep the heat in, insulate insulate insulate!!!!!!!

For example, I have a quarantine rack in a room that gets very cold. Standard melamine rack with belly heat. 3/4" melamine is a great insulater but the tubs were cold towards the front where they were exposed to the cold room. Only thing I added was a heavy blanket draped over the front of the rack. That keept the heat in and the snakes in the tubs nice and warm!!

>>It also might be the fact that the cage got so dried out by my ceramic heater, with the light I didn't have to spray anymore but it wasn't hot enough with just that and the UTH. I want to use something else instead of the ceramic bulb so that I can keep the humidity better, what do you suggest (I'm working on getting a cage instead of the aquarium, but for the time being)?
-----
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:
26.49 BRB
20.21 BCI
And those are only the breeders

lots.lots.lots feeder mice and rats

Also another cheep but extremely effective option for keeping the heat in is Reflectix. It is basically bubble wrap with emergency blankets on both sides so it reflects heat as well as having air layer insulation.

I've used it to boost the temps in a screen top aquarium by, if memory serves me, about 10-20 degrees. How your tank is setup will change how much it increases the temps though. I was using it arround the sides of the tank with a ceramic heat emitter and uncovered screen lid because it was for Trans Pecos Rat Snakes which require drier conditions and relatively high ventilation.

That being said if you cover almost all of the top of your tank and add good insulation on at least 3, prefferably all 4, sides then the UTH may well be adequate to your heating needs.

Also how thick is you substrate layer above the UTH? If it is too thick then you might be losing your heat to the substrate and from the substrate to the glass walls.

Sean.
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1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
0.1 Silver TPRS
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

Danne,instead of investing in a cage now you might want to consider a rubbermaid or sterelite sweater box. You can buy one for about 7 bucks and they are excellent for holding humidity. I have 12 BRBS set up in them right now. I use under tank heat controlled with inexspensive dimmer switches. When they outgrow the sweater boxs I'll move them into 4ft plastic cages.

Dan

If he has been kept too cold, his immune system may have been susceptible to attack from bugs in the less than optimal conditions, but the bug may not have been able to grow due to the cool temps. Unfortunately, the correct temperatures are ideal for the growth of bugs (as well as being ideal for the snake), and so raising the temperature could have spurred a bug into life before the snake's immune system could catch up.

In my opinion (I'm no vet), you've done the right thing and a trip to the vet will hopefully see things improve. Keep stress to a minimum and definitely keep him in quarantine.

Good luck!

Sorry I should have known to answer more of the questions -

The tank is on a stand in my room. It's ideal because it gets very little traffic. It's sort of near a window but not directly next to one (maybe 5 feet away). The room (and whole house) is pretty cold, during the day when no one's home we turn the heat down (it gets to be in the low-mid 60's) which definitely doesn't help but I can't convince anyone to change it with the high gas prices.

The top is a screened lid, I covered 2/3 with towels which I spray periodically, and above the towels is plastic wrap. This worked out fine when I only had the UTH and a smaller, traditional bulb going for humidity, I never even had to spray. I use newspaper on the bottom (I'll probably switch to paper towels since), not a very thick layer though just a few sheets.

If I insulate 3 of the sides (maybe the bottom too), would that help enough? I'd use a sweaterbox instead but I really like to be able to see him when I'm rushing around in the morning just to make sure everything's normal and note where he is in the tank and what he's up to.

The vet appointment is scheduled for tomorrow, the Exotics Vet doesn't work every day. He seems to be fine now, the heavy breathing might have been due to stress (I might have handled him a bit too much since I was concerned about the humidity/temps). Either way it's good to have a regular check-up, as well as probing to be able to decide for sure on a name

Thanks so much guys.

Are you using a moss box or anything in there for humidity? The only way i know of using paper substrate and still being able to maintain humidity is with a mossbox or simmilar very high absorbtivity material in addition to the paper.

If you are not using a moss box then I would suggest using one or switching your substrate to a thin layer of orchid or other bark with patches of green moss on top of it to keep the humidity up. Paper by itself just can't hold enough moisture for humidity without turning to mush/pulp.

Sean.
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1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
0.1 Silver TPRS
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat

Hey everyone, just wanna give an update.

I got some of that reflectix stuff, it's been amazing. The humidity stays at 80% now like before, and I even had to remove some of the insulation from the bottom because it was getting too hot. I had had a humidity box already (one of those little glad containers with a whole cut in it and damp paper towels, I'm probably getting moss soon though). So far everything's going great, I'm going to try and feed him for the first time today, hopefully he'll take f/t!

Sounds like everything is working great. Hopefully they take the f/t but if not just work them up to it.

My adults still mostly eat fresh killed but with frequent f/t feedings mixed in. I hope to have mine eating all f/t later this year.

Congrats again,

Sean.
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1.1 BRB
1.1 Triple Het TPRS's
0.1 Silver TPRS
1.1 Amel Bloodred Corns
0.1 Abbott Okeetee Corn
0.1 Blizzard Bloodred Corn
1.1 Thayeri Kingsnakes
0.1 Reeve's Turtle
0.2 Amstaff's
1.0 Pudytat