Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Transporting my FAV Leusustic Rat, "Eveah" was very hot in jeep and I poured out ice water on her towel!!! I didnt think it would hurt her, it was almost 100 degrees, but obviously damage resulted; she must of stroked out. I thought she was dead... playing dead???... 2 days later her movements are so slow as her neck is contorted; she refuses food looking as if she is in pain with stiffened neck. "Eveah" is still alive but isnt well at all! Can someone tell me the mechanics of what I did to her. Plez.

Edited on July 6, 2010 at 23:04:15 by PHFaust.

Rapid temperature change can be bad for almost any animal, including humans. A while back, a crew of fishermen had their boat sunk in the sea off the coast of the Scandinavian peninsula. They survived the hypothermia, but when brought aboard a rescue ship and given blankets and warm drinks they all dropped dead. It is thought that their bodies, weakened by hypothermia, were unable to take the wild temp fluctuations.

Your rat snake had the opposite experience, going from possible hyperthermia to a much cooler temperature. Since snakes obviously have much less control over their body temp than humans, they are even less able to deal with rapid temperature change. So that's basically what happened. After two days, I imagine and hope your snake has a decent chance at survival, but I have no idea what you could do to help her other that give her normal cage temps and let her rest.

Good luck,
crocacutus

I did something very similiar once.I lost my ball python for like a month during winter.Then one day he climbed out of the wall but was very cold and dehydrated.So I thinking I was doing something good put him in a bin of warm water(warm water to us is above 98 degrees).He promptly went into a seizure and aspirated water...Long story short he was okay in the end.I thought for sure Id given him pneumonia or something because the water was coming out his nostrils.But he survived my stupidity, and I felt really bad about it.Lesson learned.
Hope your snake recovers and there is no lasting damage.

Good lesson for us all. Rapid temp change spanning that many degrees is not good for any organism. Hope she pulls through!
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Mark

Your posts made me feel better. Eveah is appearing to be recovering; tongue flicks still slow, neck still crocked but she is a fighter! I hope others will benefit from this lil'story about temperature importance. I know if it is over 80 degrees I will just avoid any transporting- just wont let this happen again!

when transporting in hot weather ice packs are good! Of course make sure she has room to move away from it if she chooses to.