Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Ok so I am a fairly new snake owner, I'm gonna go ahead and give some basics to my pet's story before I ask questions.

I'm the owner of a yellow corn snake and have been since late February of this year. I have a good friend who works at a petsmart, and about that time a woman came in and dumped this poor snake, citing that her daughters weren't taking good care of it and she was tired of having it. I don't know why, but apparently petsmart is the place to take animals if you are 1) tired of them, and 2) and idiot. ANYWAYS, no one wanted to take the poor baby, and of course, I'm a sucker for animals, so I agreed to adopt her. I knew very little about corn snakes, but this friend of mine has one of her own and she has been a huge help and great teacher. So I got everything i needed for her, the aspen bedding, hide, heating lamps, dish, etc. She seems about 1.5-2 years old, although nothing is certain. either way, last night I noticed that she was sounding quite sniffly, just like we do when we catch colds. I took her to my friend for her opinion, and of course did some online research, and we of course came to the conclusion that is is likely that my poor esmerelda had an upper respiratory infection, and has likely had it, progressing, the entire time I've had her. First thing this morning I got her into the vet. He took a look at her, and first of all alerted me to the fact that esmerelda is a boy! He took a poop sample to test for parasites (she conveniently pooped in the box)and looked in her mouth for excess mucous (at this point, she has had none come out of her nose, she's just kind stuffy sounding, but still able to breathe from her nose fine). So HIS test came back parasite-free, which is fortunate, and the vet doesn't think he has a URI, which is great news. He said that perhaps he could be developing one, which if his symptoms don't leave then to come back in another week or so for antibiotics, but that he belives he is allergic to his aspen bedding substrate. He said it's very rare but he has seen it before, and recommended I change the substrate to non-oily reptile bark, which I have since done. He seems quite happy, i've added a hide to the cool side of his home, in addition to his warm hide, and have increased his heat on the warm side as well.
My question is, has anyone every encountered a problem with aspen bedding substrate before? I know the vet said this was rare, so perhaps I just got a special corn snake, but it concerns me that his stuffy nose may not be cured by the substrate change. I'm just wondering if anyone has had experience with this substrate issue that was fixed by a switch in materials and not by antibiotics.

Thanks for reading
Rachel

What the temp you can sometimes treat the R.I. by raising the temp. and humidity in the cage.

Hi Rachel,

I doubt very much the snake is allergic to aspen. What's more likely is that the snake was breathing the dust particles from the aspen and that was causing it respiratory irritation (sneezing). All particle-based substrates (Care Fresh, Aspen, Pine Shavings, etc.) accumulate dust on the bottom of the enclosure. It seems the more time the substrate sits, the more dust accumulates. And if the snake is burrowing under the substrate, it's likely to be inhaling dust.

I've had several snakes over the years that got "sneezy" when kept on aspen (as well as other particle-based substrates) that were "cured" when moved into a cage with newspaper substrate.

Having said that, there are many, many people I know who use aspen without any problems.

Tim

Are you using shredded aspen or aspen chips? Shredded aspen is more 'stringy' in shape like pulled beef/chicken whereas aspen chips or shaved, is more rectangular in shape, sort of like the wood 'curls' you get when using a plane on block of wood, or a chisel.

I find the shredded aspen isn't as dusty as shaved aspen or aspen chips, though I find both products do have some amount of dust. I have kept snakes on shredded aspen in the past but moved to simple paper towel since, as I find this is far easier to clean, doesn't have any dust and cheaper. I don't like using newspaper as its too 'inky' turning everything black and often it cements to the bottom of the cage, when soiled..which can be a pain to scrap off. That and I am concerned the soy based inks could be an irritant to some snakes.

So I recommend paper towel, or unprinted newsprint. May cost a little more but 12 rolls of a cheap brand of paper towel costs less than a week's worth of newspapers and covers about the same amount of cages (though this varies as big cities have thicker papers...than say a town. And well, people can save more money by 'raiding' the recycle bins for more paper...but I prefer inkless substrates.)

Just so we can help best, could you detail out your setup? What size cage is it in, what are the cool/warm end temps? How are you providing a hot spot? (I think you mentioned a heat lamp, but snakes do best with an undertank heater set on a thermostat, be it an on/off type, dimmer switch type or proportional style (increases or decreases power to the heating pad to maintain a constant temperature, more accurate than most dimmer style and on/off styles but also more expensive...on/off styles are cheaper and fine for a single snake really). What are the exact temperatures as well and the humidity? Too dry of an environment can cause respiratory problems as can a too wet environment. Lastly, what are you using to measure the temperatures? (ie a temp gun, stick on thermostat, a strip?, digital probe? Combination?)
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PHLdyPayne

Yeah as some one mentioned it's probably the dust combined with the heat lamp making it too dry. I would use and under tank heat source instead of the heat lamp. Snakes don't require special lighting so don't worry about that. Place the heat at one end to give the snake some choice. I use Pine shavings from Wal Mart which is pretty dusty also but if you keep the humidity up it's not a problem. Maybe give him another hide with moist spagnum moss. I bet he will spend a lot of time in there. Good Luck.
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King Snakes! Who can make a better mouse trap?
J Sierra

thanks guys!!

My boy snake, potentially to be named Marvin, is doing great now. I followed the advice of the vet and switched his substrate to "reptile chips"... ATM I can't remember if they are fir or birch, but it's one of those. I also was concerned about the ink on the newspapers, so I went ahead and purchase the reptile chips, and -I'm not even kidding-- by the end of the day his stuffy nose was gone and the next day he went ahead and shed his skin After visiting the vet, I added to his 20 gallon Tall tank an under-heater as well as an extra hide to the cool side (I had no idea he needed one, but he spends a lot of time there now during the hotter part of the day). I also added a living plant to help with the humidity and his cool side is, give or take, 78-80 degrees, with the warm side being around 84 degrees. I also have gotten him a reptile hammock, which I wasn't sure he'd use, but he climbs into it when I turn on his basking light and just chills there for a few hours. I usually turn his basking light off when he leaves and moves on to another part of his cage. Either way, boy-snake is doing great right now and I'm grateful for all of your advice