Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi folks,

Last week I posted questions about a possible URI in a rescue bp. No additional symptoms but some new behaviors. Following your suggestions to raise the temps and check for sheds or anything blocking his nares I made some changes in the setup and now have some confusing behaviors. Maybe you can help again?

I raised the Vision terrarium to 80 F centrally with the UTH warm side to about 91 F surface temp. There is a radiant heat panel attached to the top inside of the terrarium slightly off center. Coolest corner is about 78 F. There is no real change in temp day to night. No real day lighting other than general light coming in through the glass front panels. He started roaming the enclosure constantly (I assumed because generally he was warmer). He spends a lot of time trying to get out. He's stopped using hides, spends hours pushing at the glass front, and is active most of the time. Sometimes he crawls up between the heat panel and the terrarium top (it is suspended with wire through the panel frame so is slightly moveable. Yes, I checked...it's not overly hot). I also removed the Bed-A-Beast substrate wondering if particles were blocking or irritating his nasal passages. He is now on newspaper, sprayed daily, and his water pan is now partially over the UTH to raise the humidity a bit more (it is still around 50% unless just sprayed). He is still active at all hours, doesn't use any hides (cork bark slabs) for very long, and spent the last 24 hours in his waterpan. He's ready to eat every few days.

What am I missing? Too hot? Too dry? Is his day/night photoperiod messed up? Does he simply hate the setup? Is it too small? It is a Vision 322 (36"x28"x21" and he's just at 4' TL.

Any suggestions are welcome. Thanks!

That sounds about right, actually. Balls are incredibly inquisitive and will spend most of their waking hours searching things out. It sounds like he's just learning his new environment. Balls are also cleanly animals that enjoy a good soak. Maybe he's close to shedding. If he's hungry every few days, he's either malnourished or your not feeding enough at one time. You should feed him something as big as his widest point, about every two weeks for an adult. He'll defecate every 2-3 weeks. But, basically it just sounds like your rescue is coming back into his own.

Thanks for your patience! I also think he was not being fed large enough prey based on what his foster parent said, and have been giving him larger rats. He's hungry and ready every 7 days right now. Guess I am used to critters who show their discontent with caging by pacing and being overly active for many hours. So would you say that a bp who is NOT happy will roll up in a quiet corner instead? No sign of a shed, belly is white, but I've wondered that too. No ectoparasites or skin troubles that I can see. Just didn't know what would be an abnormally long soak. OK, I'll just watch and learn. I didn't want to be misreading or frustrating him. If I can borrow a camera I'll post a pic. He's nothing fancy but I don't care...a lovely friendly guy who's a hit with the local kids.

You're quite welcome, it's no problem at all.

It's good that you've already stepped his food size up. Just keep feeding him when he's hungry until he's back to a healthy girth and you should be fine. An unhappy ball with most definetly just sit in a corner or a hide, but so will a snake in shed. This is usually because of husbandry issues, temp's and whatnot. So make sure you know what's going on inside his cage. When they're upset and hungry, they're really active and can be somewhat nippy. He could be dehydrated and spending time in the soak to rehydrate himself. But all in all, it sounds like he's improving.

Hello – I haven’t read your previous posts, so maybe someone already covered this. Are you positive it doesn’t have mites? Checked the water bowl and checked on the snake for those poppy seed sized, blood engorged mites? Another possibility – if your snake is a male, at 4 feet long he would be sexually mature, and it is THAT time of year, when their bodies tell them to find a female and get busy.

-Joan

Nope, no mites or ticks. He's a rescue and was recently shipped to me in SE Alaska. I was told he's a male but I don't know by what method this was determined. Gender doesn't really matter to me.