Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Well, I was warned. Damn the unpredictable weather and the inability to regulate the temp in my apartment! My female White lip has come down with respiratory problems. She has gone off her feed and has a noticable foamy discharge. I have put a light on the cage for heat, which is keeping the temp between 85-90, but I don't dare leave the light on 24hrs a day. I have a heating pad, but it has no thermostat, and I'm afraid of "cooking" her if I try to use it. I'd appreciate any advice. Will heat alone clear this up, or do I need to get her some meds? Thanks, CL (Bill Payne)

Hi,

well if possible try to keep up the temps at around 88-90F over at least three days and combined with this the humidity should be at about 80%. Latter is necessary for easy breething (to keep the mucous membrane smooth!). The wlps usually show RI by having musus coming out of the labial pits and the mouth. Sometimes they blow bubbles (when hissing). If this doesn't stop after about these three days you should take him to the vet because then it's a real RI and it woun't take a week to kill the animal.

But sometimes (I've seen this on some of my animals!) they show these signs (mucus and other RI signs) prior to shedd or when being stressed out.

You should somehow get a thermostate to get the temp. allright and be careful with the heatpad (these damn things get quite hot!)

Good luck and keep us updated!

Cheers,
Wulf

btw. When did you get the animal and how old is he/she?
Leiopython

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http://www.leiopython.de ,
http://www.herpers-digest.com

Thanks for the tips. I will keep the heat on as best as I can. She is about 2 1/2 ft. long. I got her at Hamburg PA. show just over a month ago. She ate once and not after. I'm sure there is some cold-related problem. We've had some cool nights and my landlord seems to have shut the heat right off for the summer. I probably should've stuck with Colubrids until I get a better space. The male ate last weekend, but I am keeping heat on him too. I have a larger tank. As soon as I get the opprtunity, I will set it up with a heat pad and see how well I can regulate it before I put her into it. Thanks again! (usually, this time of year, keeping it COOL enough is the problem!) -CL

Hi,

well acutally even young wlps (about 1/2 year - I suppose your's is that old -) can deal with night temps around 68F if the temps at daytime are in the low 90's. This shouldn't be a problem though.
I know that Ross & Marzec suggest to keep the youngsters at low 80's (82F) constantly over the first 6 month but I even took my two month old to "normal" temps. at night time and they are still all alive and very healthy.

So I guess if you held these temps there must be something else that may have caused this. How about air circulation in the box? Is it always wet? Do you use substrate? How do you provide the high humidity?

Cheers,
Wulf
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http://www.leiopython.de ,
http://www.herpers-digest.com