Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a 10 tub rack. I bought 10 adults and semi-adults over 3 months ago. Everything has been great and all have been eating great except for one of them. The non-eater was always very stressed and I left her alone as much as possible.....until I heard her weezing.

I put a post up about a month ago about her and that she had an RI. She died 2 weeks later after administering all of her Baytril injections. So, I have been very carefully monitoring and listening to my other 9 BP's. ALL have been eating, gaining weight, and I have not heard any congestion. Last night, one of them started breathing congested. I pulled her out and she had some bubbles in her mouth. So, she is in quarentine now. Her tub is at 92 on the hot side (1/2 the tub)and 78-80 on the cool side (I am TRYING to get the cool side up but having trouble). I am taking her to the vet today at 11am. I will make sure the vet does a culture, learned that lesson from the last RI and I am going to a better snake vet too.

My set up is a melamine rack, 3" bellyheat at the back (8" from the very back of the tub), 41q sterilite tubs, hot spot is 92, cool side is 82-84, humidity is pretty conistent at 53-65%, & newspaper substrate. I clean with Chlorohexadine weekly and change the water weekly too.

I am just worried about two things......one, how did she get this RI? Was it from the other girl that died about a month ago? My temps, humidity, etc have been spot on.

Two, are all my BP's going to get sick now? I cannot afford $1,000 in vet bills. Is there a chance maybe only a couple of them will get sick? Should I raise the hot spot on my racks to 93-94? Thanks for any advice.

watch out for cross contamination. wash your hands very well after touching the sick snake. and dont touch another snake at all after handling the sick one or anything in the sick snakes cage. id change and wash the water bowl daily as well as clean the cage every few days.
adam jeffery
-----
" a.k.a. farfrumugen "
When I die, I want to go peacefully like my Grandfather did, in his sleep -- not screaming, like the passengers in his car.

If your temps are what you're saying, it's not temp related!

"I bought 10 adults and semi-adults over 3 months ago. Everything has been great and all have been eating great except for one of them. The non-eater was always very stressed and I left her alone as much as possible.....until I heard her weezing."

There is the problem. You bought adult and sub-adult snakes from someone you probably don't know very well. It is always a big chance. Since they came together, I guess they are quarantined together. When the first one showed signs did you remove it from the others.

I hate to be negative, but I would never allow a snake with any kind of respiratory problem back in my collection. RI are very difficult, they easily hide only to return during breeding season.