Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I had just posted recently about my snake's eyes pitting and not eating. I usually turn his blue light off at night and it hasen't been a problem until this morning. I looked at the temp inside and it was about 68-70 degrees on the warm side. I do have a heater underside that is on allthe time. What should I do to get more heat during the night? Can I let this light on all the time or will this mess up my snakes photo period? My tanks is a 20 Gal with one of those screen tops. Also, when I touched hime tis morning, he exhaled and it was kinda weazey. He also passed some digested mice this morning and it was pretty dry and white instead of the usual dark color which is unusual. Anybody know if this means he was blocked up and is why he is not eating? I can't figure out what is going on, he was doing soooo good. Had him for several months now and was eating two mice every 5 days (was I feeding too much and caused him to get blocked up?) Since he is not eating, how do I know when he gets hungry? Please Help.

Thanks,
Mike

do whatever it takes to get the temps correct. If that means leaving the light on 24 hours a day, so be it. I would look into getting a temp control device for that animal. It sounds like you have a resp infection that will need a vet. Dented eye caps are the result of humidity being too low, most likely. Get on top of this efore you lose that snake.

good luck
DenverTom

Those temps are way too low. Obviously your UTH is not working. Get another one or a heat pad and use a rheostat on it to adjust the temps. If you need the lamp on at night for heat (lamps are not the best choice for heat) then get a red bulb to use at night.

You need to cover most of the top of your tank with something solid that will keep in the humidity - screen tops are not enough for ball pythons in dry climates. The eye denting is a sign of dehydration. Upping the humidity (get a hygrometer to monitor it) should take care of that.

The dry and white stuff was probably urates not feces.

Two mice every 5 days is not too much and normal feeding should not cause him to become "blocked up". Offer him food on a regular basis and if he eats he was hungry. The most likely reason for him not eating is that his environment is inadequate. Fix your husbandry and keep offering food.

He may have a respiratory infection due to the low temps if this has been going on for a while. Or the exhaling sound could have been hissing. If he has an infection he will need veterinary care. keep an eye on it. If you are still worried - take him to a reptile vet.

Good luck,
Laura

dude, i told you to make a humid hide. get terraium moss, and cut a whole in a plastic flower base. Put the damp moss in it...make sure this is under the UTH. this will cuase the moss to warm, and excrete steamish air...this is humidity. DO IT!

Jesus calm down man....

Lee –

If 68-70 degrees is the maximum temperature he’s able to provide his ball python, then adding some wet moss to the cage is not of critical importance at this time. And yelling at him is even less helpful, DON’T YOU THINK? I think that the possibility of pneumonia trumps a dimpled eye cap or two right now.

-Joan

I would bet my left nut the "exhaling sound" was just your python hissing at you. Pythons fill themselves up with air and then release it with force to make that weazy exhaling sound, it's called hissing, it's their way of telling you to leave them alone

Unless your python spends a lot of time with his head elevated I wouldn't worry about a respiratory infection.

As far as your snake not eating thats probably due to the temperature in your cage, I think the other guys had some good feedback about this...also, try live mice!

Hey Mike – Don’t be worrying about photoperiod or dimpled scales or eye caps. You need to get those temperatures elevated. Ball pythons are somewhat tolerant of temperatures outside their preferred range, but you should be shooting for around 79 at the cool end and at least 85 (88-90 is better) at the warm end. Do you have a human heating pad around the house? Those usually get plenty warm. Try that under the tank. And don’t guess about the temperatures; use a decent thermometer. Too hot can be just as bad as too cold.

So first things first. Don’t worry about the feeding issue until you can provide the proper temperatures. If you can’t provide enough heat for digestion to take place, the food would just rot in his gut or he would regurgitate the meal. And lack of proper humidity is no killer here. You can mess around with some of the ways people suggested to improve on that as soon as you fix the temperature problem.

Good luck.
-Joan

If your Ball Python is in an aquarium with a screen lid,uncovered, you will never get the humidity up. First nix the light. Get a simple heating pad, set on low, and put it under one third of the tank. Next place the water bowl half and half over the heating pad, this will raise the humidity. Place a piece of plastic, I use a kitchen garbage bag, over the screen leaving about one inch uncovered on each end. provide a hide for the snake at both ends of the tank if space will allows. Keep an eye on him/her, if she displays open-mouth breathing she may have a respiratory infection. Otherwise she is just could and need a dy or two to get back to normal. I leave the heating pad on 24/7 and let the ambient room light, light the cage. All my snakes are set up like this and they thrive. Good luck.

im sorry if you thought i was yelling at him. i was telling him to do it becuase a couple posts down i told him some more stuff, and he goes and makes another post.

to mr. leeforbes: My humidity is just right. it is at about 60-70%. Any more would be bad. This post was to be more concerned with temp and my snake not eating. I may be a new owner, however I did research before purchasing. The cage has 2 hides, heat pad, lamp, water in the center, so the living conditions are good except for heat during the night.

okay...so if your living conditions are good except heat...then the living conditions ARE NOT good. heating is the morst important thing your snake will need.

I had the same problem keeping my temp. up at night...To fix it, I bought some simple styrofoam poster boards (the kind kids use on their science projects) and covered the cage on three sides. This helped trap the heat inside since I had a glass case (it also helps to partially cover the top too) Hope this helps