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I haven't seen any RI symptoms for a while. Annika is staying in the hidebox on the hot side of the tank (85-88 degrees). I removed the other heat lamp, so the other side of the tank is room temp (74-76). She is in early stages of a shed. She refused a mouse pinky today.

Out of curiosity, I replaced the new warmer heat lamp with the old one that was always on her tank. It leveled off right at 80. How exactly do you tell when the RI is gone? When she starts eating again? I am planning on going home this weekend (about a 2 hr drive). I am trying to decide if I should bring her with me or just let her be with the old lamp. I would feel a lot better about it if she would eat. Also, do full grown rat/corn snakes even eat mouse pinkies?

jorj
live cam at http://sirjorj.dyndns.org:44444

So what you're saying is,....temps are 74-76 on the cool side, and only maybe 80 now on the warm side.......WHY??? the snake has been in the hide with the warmer temps you gave of 85-88 for a reason,.......the snake "knows" to seek out the extra warmth instictively to help combat the RI!!!,...if ANYTHING, keep the slightly warmer one of 85 degrees or so on her,...as long as she's WILLING to use those warmer temps for the time being...GREAT!.....see what I mean?

Also, DO NOT take her on the road trip unless she is still on the antibiotic regimen the vet prescribed,.....you don't want to lower her metabolism with any undue stress if you don't absolutely have to. If the extra heat is a concern, just raise the lamp some so it won't be as warm.

I don't know if you have mice of ALL sizes readily available at your disposal, but whatever the size, pinkie, fuzzy, or hopper will all be gladly consumed if it gets over the RI, just keep it very small,....any "smallish" sized mouse will do, if mice are what you usually feed it, just smaller than usual until it's digestive tract gets used to working again. I suspect that since you mentioned she is in the "early" stages of her shed cycle, that she just might be up to taking a small meal after she does shed. If the eyes just started getting "milky" looking, then it will be at least several more days until she actually sheds,.....also giving herself a few more days to get better before the small mouse offering.

One final word about... "how do you know when things are better?",.......the answer is as you mentioned, when it starts feeding voluntarily again. Also, if it finally DOES eat after the shed, it would be a very smart idea to keep her with the elevated temps for a good week or two beyond that point, just to make absolutely SURE the RI is gone. After you are SURE things seem normal again, and it has fed a couple times,......it would be better to keep the warm side at 82-85, as I strongly suspect the temps it was being kept at before all this were too low anyway, which is how things got to this point to begin with.

Things do sound to be much better than before, just keep close tabs to ensure they stay moving in this forward direction..LOL!

I certainly would like to hear that it finally ate after it sheds!..

good luck!, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I'm sorry. I forgot to say that I switched to the old cooler lamp temporarily - just to see what the temperature was. I switched it back once I saw the temperature stabilize. Right now it is 84F in there.

I was told to give the antibiotics daily for 14 days. If I leave I will miss one or two doses, but according to the bottle, it is only good for 10 days anyway! I'm guessing that just means that it loses some potency after that long.

jorj

Ah!, okay!, 84 sounds okay!. Hmmm, I guess if there isn't anyone else to give her the shot, there's not a whole lot of choice, a couple days without a shot wouldn't be too great either, as it might allow any bacteria still left the opportunity to build a resistance to the antibiotics, and come back even stronger than before!

A couple good words of caution on the trip.

1) Put the enclosure on a few loosely wadded up towels, or something similar, to help absorb road bumps and vibrations.

2) Make SURE you keep the enclosure low in the seat, and out of the direct sun. Keep it covered loosely with some clothing articles to prevent it no matter what the angle of the car is to the sun.

Hope all this helps the snake recover!..LOL!

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

If I give her a shot Friday before I leave, that means I will only miss the last scheduled shot. I already missed one when she was laying eggs. I wouldn't think that missing one last shot with medication that is already expired anyway would make that much of a difference - especially since I haven't seen any gaping for almost a week. The temp is at 84 in the hot spot and room 74-76 on the cool side. I am going to add some moist paper towels before I go to work today to increase the humidity a bit to help her shed.

jorj

I guess that will work out okay.

It's good you haven't seen any gaping in a week or so too.

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

Today's shot went very smoothly. I held her up to my ear for a while and heard nothing. Also, a week ago when I would hold her to give her a shot, her breathing didn't feel right - almost like there was a small rattle in there or something. I did not notice that at all today. Right now, I am feeling pretty good about leaving her in her tank this weekend (with slightly elevated temps) and seeing if she'll be ready to eat when I get back. She will probably shed by then.

jorj

Very good to hear!,......we'll see what happens!,...but if she hasn't shed quite yet by the time you get back, I wouldn't bother feeding until she does, as she just might refuse again,...and it would only be disappointing. After the shed, and she gets even just one or two more days in of ridding the RI, conditions will be even more optimum!.....then you can play a "drum-role" with finger's crossed in anticipation!..LOL!

good luck, man! ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Today I noticed that she was on the cool side of the tank a few times today (checking in from work via the webcam). It looked like some objects were left on the cool side. It also looked like there were some blood spots on the newspaper, but the coloring on the webcam is a bit off (the red lights look green). When I got home, I saw another egg (bringing the total to 10) and some poo. The shot went well. Her back half didn;t look as big anymore, so I'm thinking the eggs are done. Also her eyes are milky, so the shed will probably happen after I get back next week. I will be sure to leave plenty of water and probably some moist paper towels to keep the humidity up.

jorj

Sounds good so far. And yes, she will shed two to five days AFTER her eyes totally clear up again, and it will depend on her activity level(metabolism) as to exactly which of those days it is.

best of luck!, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Along with making sure the humidity is up some, which is smart, you can also place a rough object such as a big piece of broken cinder block, or brick in the cage to help with her shedding, especially since she doesn't have any substrate right now to crawl around in. Some moist sphagnum moss works well too if it's placed in a pile or even in a plastic container on the cool side away from the lamp, as it doesn't dry out as quickly as paper towels do.

Again, best of luck!,....it would be great news to see her bounce back to normal again! I also think you learned a few important things in the process of all this too.

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