Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Need help… I have around 25 ball pythons and they keep getting respiratory infections. My room temps at 77 degrees and 54% humidity.Slowly moving it up during breeding season. I change the water bowls every week using disposable inserts in all water bowls. Bedding is unprinted newspaper and perforated cardboard. Using vinegar & water as a disinfectant. Don’t know what else to do to stop the respiratory infections from happening.. Any ideas really need help…

A couple things to consider.

What temps are your hot spots during the day.

Are you using a space heater, if the answer is yes do you have a fan running behind it to help circulate the warm air.

When you check your snake's body temperatures with a temp gun what does it read.

I've never heard of using vineger and water as a disinfectant. Not to say it doesn't work, I've just never heard of it. You might consider using a 10 % bleach in water solution.

You might also want to consider warming things up by a couple of degrees.

My cell # is 408.981.6694, let me know if I can help with more brainstorming.

Good luck
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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

I'd also say switch to a 10% bleach solution or even a professional disinfecting agent. Vinegar is NOT a disinfectant. Excellent cleaner, doesn't smell too bad, readily available, but NOT a disinfectant. Only things that are stored *in* vinegar at cool temps in glass containers are kept "disinfected" or preserved(I've been reading up on canning and pickling recently).

What kind of quarantine procedure do you have for your sick snakes?

Have the snakes been recovering from the infections, or passing away? Have you considered IBD?
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 Whitesided P. catenifer sayi, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

Keep a high Temperature and maintain a high humidity percentage.

If you start seeing slime coming out of the nostrils and sides of the mouth then the animal will need antibiotics.
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Chris Berrios
~S.Fl Constrictors~

Brian the resone it at 77 is im slowly warming it back up after cooling off.. went to 75 for the cooling period.. didnt do a night drop just cooled the hole room and turned off the heat tape.. my hot spots around 95 degrees.. when I use the temp gun on the snakes there body temp is 85.. yes im using a space heater but have a ceiling fan in the room pulling air up and around the room..

Bolitochrome yes im going to switch to a 10% bleach solution for a disinfectent.. I dont have a quarantine procedure sould i remove them from the room and set up a nother spot for treating them?

I would recommend removing ill snakes from the room. Respiratory infections can be cause by a variety of bacteria, some are more vagile than others. It sounds like you might have a particularly resilient and movable strain of something. Speaking of which, have you had your vet culture this bacteria (if it is a bacteria)? This would almost definitely help you identify the best medicines to use, level of disinfecting needed, quarantine length, etc.

Anyways, quarantining the sick animals from the healthy animals for at least a month after they finish their medication should help cut down on your reinfections. In cases like this you really can't do too much disinfecting or quarantine.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 Whitesided P. catenifer sayi, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband

With the 10% blech solution do you have to wait any amout of time before returning the snake to the cage? I made it up to day and started cleaning but it has a strong smell didn't no if it would hurt the snakes to put the right back in? Yes I did have my vet do a culture and baytril takes care of the infection.

When using bleach on tubs where the snakes will be closed in I prefer to rinse and dry after use.

My process is to dump out the tub, clean thoroughly with vinegar-water, wipe out, disinfect with the bleach solution, rinse, dry, and then give it 10 minutes or so to just air out completely.

For maximum effect, always make sure you are cleaning the tubs before disinfecting. Bleach binds rapidly to almost all organic material. Left over wood dust, feces, shed skin bits, etc, can bind up the bleach and prevent it from working effectively against the bacterial residue you are really trying to kill.

In your case I also recommend cleaning/disinfecting the surface of the rack system. As you have probably seen, snakes sometimes do extensive nose rubbing and star-gazing when they have an infection. They may be spreading the secretions on the surface of the rack as well as in their tubs.
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Lincoln, NE
0.1 Pastel, 1.0 Pastel het Pied, 0.1 Pied, 0.1 Cinn, 1.0 Black Pewter, 1.0 Woma (hidden gene?), 0.1 Yellowbelly
2.1 Normals, 1.0 Thayeri, 0.1 Thayeri X Alterna, 0.1 Whitesided P. catenifer sayi, 0.1 crazy cat, 1.0 husband