Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Is there any other reasons that would cause a burm to get an RI? I'm getting worried now because I cant find anything wrong. My fairly new albino burm seems to have a bit of a cold and as far as I know I have her setup correctly the temps are where they should be and she can soak but I never even see her basking to raise her temperature at all. should I be worried right now she is a little cool to the touch. any help would be appreciated because she is the only one of my snakes doing this and its driving me crazy!! thanks.
Kyle

Burms are especially susceptable to RI because they have a very minimal flux gradient allowed for humidity. Now, don't get me wrong, some is good but anything over 60% will easily start your burm into a downhill spiral. I recommend 40-55%. Some people think otherwise, it'll all depend on your burm.

There are other things that can give your burm RIs other than humidity like cedar/pine/birch/etc substrates. They have very fine grain particles that can get into the lungs and attach themselves making a great spot for fungal/bacterial growth and can easily lead into a RI.

I hope this helped to some extent. The forum seems pretty dead at this point, if you have other questions you can contact me at iloveboids@aol.com or use that as my aim contact.

Sami
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0.2 Burms
4.6 Rats~Rex, Winkin', Kanga, Noodle, Cy, Pyp, Symone, Vyolet, Onyx, Blinkin'
1.1 Dogs~Boots, Karrey

"She's got beauty, brains...and a set of pipes"

What has happened to this forum? The advice I see here is inexplicably bad. Lowering humidity will only exasperate the problem (severely dries the mucous membranes) and is actually the cause of MANY RI problems in captive burms. Our facility treats MANY abandoned burms each year; most have various stages of RI. In ALL cases, boosting humidity levels to the 80 % range accompanied with EXCELLENT VENTILATION and air flow is usually all that is needed. Of course, I would be remiss by not recommending that you get your burm to a vet right away as it could need a course of antibiotics such as amikacin or baytril. Seriously folks, if we are going to give advice, we better know what we are talking about.

I do agree about the bedding though as various wood/particulate types of substrates have been known to cause problems. I would recommend good old fashioned newspaper.

Rob Carmichael, Curator of the Wildlife Discovery Center
Lake Forest, IL

I thought it sounded off but am still fairly new to the hobby and did not want to give more bad info. Thanx for stickin with us to ensure we get the best advice possible!

DZ

thanks for all of your help I will do anything I can to ensure the problem will be fixed as soon as possible. ventalation might be the problem I never thought of it as a possible cause before I do have a lot of air holes in the back of her enclosure but they might not be big enough for air flow. I will be moving her to another soon since she is outgrowing her old one. As far as substrate goes I keep her on newspaper because it is easy to clean. Should I change to a different choice? I feed her in her cage so I don't want her to swallow the substrate. anyway thank you for all your help.

Newspaper is by far the best substrate that anyone can use for their snakes. It is cheap easy to clean and doesn't present any of the problems that are often associated with the other common types of bedding/substrate. The problem with pine is not only the dust particles but more so of the oils and "fumes" that are emmitted from the wood chips. They are very irritable to the membranes of the snake and can lead to other problems such as being more susceptible to RI's. As far as the ventilation problem I would avoid making larger holes because by doing this you are just creating more area's of escape for your humidity. Instead I would just ensure that the room that the snakes are in has a strong circulation of air. If you have a ceiling fan utilize it, if not then use a regular fan to circulate the air. You really need to ensure that the humidity levels are high, just as Rob stated. That is truely the key. I have dealt with RI's on a few occassions and within a week of raising the temps and humidity levels they were gone. One other thing to consider is the fact that your snake is not thermo-regulating itself. There is no way to tell for sure if it is moving around the cage to bask and such unless of course you monitor it 24 hours a day, but I am going to assume that it isn;t and one reason might possibly be that it is scared and or intimidated. Ensure that you have a hide on the cool side of the tank as well as the warm side. This way the snake doesn't have to sacrifice security to obtain the proper temperature. Honastly I do not use hides with mine unless they show some signs such as this, then I do provide them with hides. Anyway, I have rambled on long enough. Keep us posted. Good luck, Todd

I no sooner had realized that I had deleted a much needed sentence then Carmichael attempted to "respectfully" decline my advice. As not to cause too much worry, I will correct myself.

The cages we use are not very well ventilated and with that, we have had trouble with respiratory infections in our pythons. Moreover, we have had to lower the humidity because any more ventilation would allow escape. I should have iterated that these were for poorly ventilated cages. As far as ventilated cages, of course, higher humidity is safe. However, when you get higher humidity in a poorly ventilated cage...problems begin. So, as I said before, if you have a poorly ventilated cage, try dropping the humidity to something like 55%. If you have well ventilated cages, yes, a higher humidity around 80% is going to work well. It's all going to depend on the caging system as well as your burm. Gunner, you're going to have to try different humidities and see where the progress begins. The ultimate thing is that your burm be in a gradient where s/he is best fit for living. I am done with that subject.

Carmichael, as far as your "respectful" decline...I dare say you were anything but! How do you expect the forum to stay alive when egomaniacal people are thwarting their more-experienced-than-thou opinions all over the place. This should be a place of teaching and learning. Yes, I do admit that my humidity levels were off...especially considering everyone probably expected Gunner's caging system to be fully/greatly ventilated...but lets be honest, not everyone keeps their herps in the same manner as the next. There is no humidity that is going to work for all burms. I respect the fact that you have made a further suggestion, but please, next time you step up to bat for the people posting questions....know that the forum is made up not only of people asking questions...but people answering them. Herping is a subject of many debates...let us not make the forum one where people are afraid to answer questions because they fear persecution.

Sami

Sami, what Rob has done is nothing personal. You gave erroneaous information and he corrected you and gave the proper information. Even your revised post trying to correct your error is wrong. If you have poorly ventilated cages then the only correction that should be made is not with the humidity but with the ventilation. Regardless of the ventilation a burm needs a relatively high humidity levels. The problem with the poor ventilation is that it creates an atmosphere that harbors bacteria and mold growth. That is why it is crucial to create an atmosphere with ALL the right components and if one is unable to meet one of the needs (temp, humidity, ventilation, photocycle) it can not adequately be fixed by adjusting another component. They are all individual aspects that all work together. By giving out bad information you jeopardize unknowing individuals that might take your advice and create a major husbandry problem. I am not trying to be harsh just hopefully you will understand a little better. Todd

thanks todd I will put her hide back in because that might be the reason she wont bask. I usually leave them out as well. thanks,
Kyle