Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am having my first ever trouble getting my 10 month old burm to eat. I feed thawed or pre-killed rats. She has refused to eat for two weeks now. I know she is not in danger of starving yet, however I am a little uneasy with this. I manetain 80 - 95 degree temp and 75% - 95% humidity in her cage. Overall she seems healthy, however I have had RI problems in the past. Though she dosen't sneeze and blow snot any more, she is still a little raspy at times. Also, she in not showing any signs of sheading at the present time.

She has always fed well, even during her bouts with RI. Does any one have any suggestions? How soon should I be concerned about weight loss and hunger?

Thanks,

Dan

It sounds like your temps and humidity levels are perfect. Has anything changed in its environment (moving to a new cage, moving cage to a new location, excessive noises, etc.)? Subtle changes can put a snake off feed for a short while. You mentioned previous RI problems. In my experience, most burms with RI will have a marked decrease in appetite until symptoms have resided. Since RI can be a long term chronic problem, I would recommend that you bump up the temps and humidity levels just a tad (such as: temps on the cool side at around 85 instead of 80 and your warm end temps are fine). Despite a good environment and boosting temps/humidity, there are times that I recommend seeing a vet for antibiotic shots and this could be one of them. When you hear a "raspy" sound, that usually isn't good (it is probably either a problem OR perhaps caused by too low of humidity). You can also just wait it out for another week or two at the optimal temps and see what happens. If this snake is only 10 mos. old and already have problems with RI, I might recommend a course of antibiotics followed by the optimal temps. Hope this helps.

I have already gone the the antibiotic route with the vet, but she would keep getting RI. I have since learned from reading this board that I needed to keep her humidity up and since adding a humidifier she has gotten much better, however I can still feel (not hear) some raspy breathing at times about 5" back from her head.

The only change I can think of is I went on vacation for a week and she was not handled during that time. Several weeks ago I added the humidifier but the alfalfa pellets have not been doing well. They get mushy with too much water. So I changed to wood shavings today. I do not feed her in her cage and she has not been back in it since I change it today.

Dan

Alfalfa pellets will surely cause problems for most pythons; glad you ditched this stuff (your snake could very likely be having breathing problems associated with the dust given off by the pellets)...keep a close eye on the wood shavings; those, too, can cause problems. I have found that good 'ol newspaper is by far and away the best and safest substrate for burmese pythons.

Is dust the only thing to watch out for with wood shavings or are there other problems? The shavings are making the humidity a lot easer to keep high.

I would say if youre feeding her in the same cage to be careful of her accidently getting one lodged in her mouth. As for health problems Im not too sure, I kwow parasites have an easier time breeding in wood shavings, I'd just go with newspaper, you can go to your local printing shop and get non printed or old papers, the only problem ive had with newspapers is my ball python had a black belly for a few days.

For all my large snakes, I use old cotton sheets in the cages - yep, the same kind as are on your bed. Solids are easy to shake off and the sheet gets washed in the washer with soap & bleach. The cage then gets wiped down with a mild bleach solution and a new sheet put in. I've found that the cotton sheets are very absorbant of wastes, hold humidity well when misted and are easier to keep clean and quicken the cage cleaning process. I am now up to 25 snakes in the house - 9 in tubs on paper towels and the rest in cages of some sort on sheets. I can clean the whole lot of them, including washing the water bowls and wiping down the cages, in 3-4 hours. The large female burmese I'm getting from a friend has also been kept on sheets and it makes clean-up easier with her as well. Prior to my friend getting her, she was kept on pine shavings. I've helped my friend with her since day one and the snake has fared much better on the sheets. When we first brought her home, many of her belly scales were split or cracked and pieces of shavings were trapped under the belly scales. After a shed or two and being kept on the sheets, the scales mended themselves and she looked good as new. The only precaution that needs to be taken with large burms and sheets is that they are pushed or pulled out of the way prior to feeding to prevent the snake catching both prey and sheet and trying to swallow the sheet. Before bringing the rabbit into the area where the snake might smell it, we've always used the hook to pull the sheet to one side, prepping the cage before hand. It's probably needless to do, but we've prefered to play it safe, just in case.

Raven

I would just keep an eye on it. Snakes can go months, easily, without eating so 2 weeks isnt a concern. If the snake has had RI, I would expect these types of instances pretty often. Keep offering food every week or two....she'll take one sometime.