Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Howdie!!
I have been a lurker for quite some time, so this is my first post. I have 4 snakes, 1 Red Sided Garter, 1 Corn, 1 speckled King and one brand new Male Sumatra Blood Python (named Socrates). I have raised snakes for about 5 years now, and am very used to taking care of Colubrids.. Pythons are a new one to me. He slithered home with me from a Herp show here in Oregon. The breeder said they were completely docile.. So far, Socrates has yet to hiss or look annoyed (unlike all my other snakes which try to run for the hills). Soo Here are my questions.

Socrates skin is real loose, Feeling his underbelly it feels kinda hollow. His belly scales tend to grab and rasp on the hand a littlebit. Is this normal?

Socrates on occasion sounds like he has one or two raspy breaths then all is quiet, I hold my ear to his mouth listening for a bubble, gurgle or whatnot and have not heard anything. I hear that Bloods can Huff, so I am thinking that is what he is doing.

a couple days ago, I noticed a white fleck of skin in his mouth, (that was not natural) it has sense gone away, but I notice that his mouth is wet. Do bloods usually have wet mouths?

So far he has eaten, I fed him two fuzzy mice last night and he seems to have scarfed them down with no problems. Also, I keep my Ambient around 87 degrees during the day and about 78 during the night with a 60% Humidity. I have a heat pad duct taped to the under side of the hot side (because I use a 45 watt light to keep ambient) of his Aquarium with one thermostat at the hot end. The heat pad registers about 100 with a IR probe. I need to knock it down a bit to something like 96. For now, he tends to half lay on it, half off. He has a half log hide on the warm side, but he tends to hide next to the water dish under the aspen shavings doing the typical waterside preditor thing, with only his nose and eyes showing.

I have not been able to find info on how to GENTLY pry open the mouth to check for mouth rot. I have included a picture of him head on. My concerns are that he is dehydrated(I have never seen him drink), or might have a mouth problem.

Thank you very much for your advice.

Here is Socrates mouth, The wetness is what bothers me..

I set him in his water dish after taking pictures.. I Figure if he doesn't like it, he will leave.

Here is Socrates in hand

Your knowledge and skills developed over the last five years will serve you well with your blood python. Congratulations!
The loose skin, hollow body cavity and occasional raspy belly scales are normal blood python qualities.
The noise you may hear is also likely normal; they do make noises...huff & puff...less than a hiss. You may really notice this when he's in blue...you'll think R.I. for sure.
Not sure of what to make of your obs about his mouth, but he's eating, so would not worry unduly.
I think you'll want to consider rats soon. I would watch his hydration...offer fresh cool water every day...show it to him. Also soak him, even daily. He may take that oportunity to drink too.
Your ambient(air temp in the enclosure) is high I think..82-84 is better.
Overall, seems like youre off too a good start. Also, try again on the pics. And lets see what the others think...

Wew.. Thanks for the response. I will go to the store today and buy a couple dimmers. I left him in his water dish last night and he stayed there until this morning, where he buried himself on the coolside of the tank. I need to figure out some sort of hide on the cool side, but because the tank is so small, and the water dish is so large, I don't think that would be possible. I bought a small tupperware box from the breeder, He said it was big enough for the snake to live in. There was just enough room for the water dish, a small heat pad, and the snake. I had Socrates in there for feeding, but in just 8 hours there was standing water from condensation and a horrid smell. I did not like those conditions so I returned him to his 10 Gallon Tank. I think I will only use the small box, if he refuses to eat in his tank. I tried to feed him a rat hopper but he did not go for it. He did like the mouse fuzzies. I will try and move him over to rats ASAP.

Thanks for the help, I have never neglected any animal, and I don't want to start now.

plenty of time to switch him over...no worries on that. The smell in the small container was urine I suspect...it can pretty rank

i deff agree on the smell ...its deff urine because i know with mine when i have it in a 75gal there is still a smell and if you had it in a humid and smaller enclosure then the smell would deff be pretty bad...also make sure it has water right after it eats...i take mine out to feed and then i put it back in its enclosure and it drinks alot of water
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0.0.1 Borneo Blood Python
0.0.1 IJ Carpet Python
0.0.1 Colombian Boa
0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Aru Green Tree Python
0.0.1 rose hair tarantula
0.1.0 2 year old boxer

Good Advice.. I fed him overnight, (he had to push the water bowl out of the way to get on the cool side of the Tub) I will start putting him in his bowl after eating. I got a lower lipped bowl for him. Hopefully he will like it. Now I need to run to Home Despot and aquire a Plastic Planter Saucer to slice and dice as a hidey hole.

Thanks

Windwalkr

i would say just put him near the bowl in the enclosure....you dont have to put him right in the bowl...i just place mine inside its enclosure and it goes and drinks
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0.0.1 Borneo Blood Python
0.0.1 IJ Carpet Python
0.0.1 Colombian Boa
0.0.1 Ball Python
0.0.1 Aru Green Tree Python
0.0.1 rose hair tarantula
0.1.0 2 year old boxer

>>Wew.. Thanks for the response. I will go to the store today and buy a couple dimmers. I left him in his water dish last night and he stayed there until this morning, where he buried himself on the coolside of the tank. I need to figure out some sort of hide on the cool side, but because the tank is so small, and the water dish is so large, I don't think that would be possible. I bought a small tupperware box from the breeder, He said it was big enough for the snake to live in. There was just enough room for the water dish, a small heat pad, and the snake. I had Socrates in there for feeding, but in just 8 hours there was standing water from condensation and a horrid smell. I did not like those conditions so I returned him to his 10 Gallon Tank. I think I will only use the small box, if he refuses to eat in his tank. I tried to feed him a rat hopper but he did not go for it. He did like the mouse fuzzies. I will try and move him over to rats ASAP.
>>
>>Thanks for the help, I have never neglected any animal, and I don't want to start now.

Hey there, I'm one of the people you bought the blood from. We start babies off in shoebox sterilites, then move them up when they are feeding well and growing. Sounds like he probably peed the box, phew!

If he does well in the 10 gal then you're not doing anything wrong. I don't use tanks for snakes anymore unless for display purposes. As long as he has a dark place to hide (one on the warm side, one on the cool) he should be fine. I give mine all large water bowls as I've found my babies like to soak. The adults don't do that as much, I just mist them down when they're in shed.

Keep trying with the rat fuzzies. Most of our babies started off on rats and it's much better nutrition for them.
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http://www.lowergroundreptiles.net/

Awesome. So far he seems to be doing OK. I had to get the Temps dialed in just right, I got a larger bowl made of Terracotta which is a little shallower then the last bowl. But seems to keep the humidity min-max of 68-87%. With temp Min-Max of 75-85 (using new Digital remote technology) At the far end he has a warm dark hide which he does not seem to like as much as just burying himself on the cool side.

I am inclined to think that the smell was urine and remaining stench of mouse or something. Later on, as my snake collection gets larger I will probably move back to Rubbermaid Snake Storage devices.. But, until then..

Thanks for your help. The help has been wonderful!

Windwalker

Congrats on the blood! They are wonderful snakes.

The hard part about those tubs is ventiliation. I found that drilling larger holes (quarter inch) helped a lot with the condensation.

I would toss the half log, they don't offer nearly enough security for these guys. They like to squeeze themselves in small spaces (see the post below with the SST in the planter!).

The hides that I use are those water-catching dishes that plant pots sit in.(the name escapes me) I get the plastic ones from Walmart and cut an access hole in the side. It's less than $1 and easy to clean.

As far as the hollow feeling, that's typical. The raspy breath sounds like it could be huffing (they "talk" a lot) and the scales... that sounds normal too. Hard to tell without pictures, maybe you could try loading the pictures again? They didn't show up in your post.

I second the suggestion of feeding rats. More nutritious than mice, too. =)

just my $0.02
-Jackie

Huh.. Yea.. I tried posting the pictures up to a picture service.. but it does not seem to take, here let me try again.

Here is a Picture of Socrate. Notice how his tongue hole has liquid in it, He has not drank recently.

Here is Socrates in Hand.. Cute Little Snake *snark*

Here is Socrates after I finished taking his picture, I put him in his Bowl.. He stayed there most the night.

Today, I ran to the store and picked up a Lamp Dimmer at Home Depot for $10, and an Oregon Scientific Remote Humidity and Tempature gauge. It allows me to watch (wirelessly) the humidity and tempature on 3 of my cages. (the remote units also have an LCD display so you don't need the base station) It also records Temp and humidity Highs, and Lows. The RadioShack transmitters are currently on Sale for $14.95 as they are liquidating them. I also found $1.90 Dial Temp Gauges at the Auto Parts store of better quality then the ones you buy at the pet store for $10.

I pulled an IR probe of his heat mat and it was Waaaay to hot for my liking.. I moved his light over his water to increase humidity and closed off the top of the cage. Now Ambient is about 83, with a 65% Humidity.. The humidity will go up as more water evaporates from the water dish.

Windwalker