whew!

[drache]

she sounds way better this morning, and it's not likely to be a shed, since that just happened recently
I do think she's having "a cold"
what I mean to say is that she has an upper respiratory infection, but not necessarily fatal
Sean (rescue guy) looked at her (listened to and palpated), and we agreed on it being a uri
given that she seemed otherwise fine, we also agreed that antibiotics might be overkill, and so far that seems to be borne out

[Tyrel26]

Good to hear; but I think we need a pic to be sure....or maybe just to see her lol

[ConcinusMan]

It's good to hear it may not be all gloom and doom. Error on the side of caution and keep him warm and dry. If he's eating feed him food that has high water content such as fish or worms to help keep him hydrated.

It's very easy for a cold (upper respiratory virus) to open the door for bacterial pneumonia. I nearly lost my own life that way, I thought I just had a cold. Turns out I did, but it quickly turned into a life threatening situation when bacteria took advantage of the taxed immune system.

I tend to think that anything above 90 degrees is a bit excessive though. Anyone else?

These things can be caused by excessive heat or lack of a gradient too. Snakes need to thermoregulate you know. Ideal temperature is not ideal if it's uniform throughout the enclosure. I know that when I was keeping/breeding sceloporous (spiny) lizards, they would develop nasal "colds" if they didn't have sharp gradients, and/or a drop in temperature at night. Uniform heat, even in the ideal range wasn't good for them. they needed a cooler area, a hotter area, and drop at night. The colds (runny, bubbling noses) stopped when I started doing that.

[RicMartin]

I got a new snake some months back that hissed something serious, it sounded like my baby was possessed or something, and I thought it was some respiratory problem, only to find out later that the hissing was coming from the heat pad (!), not the snake. I trashed that pad real fast, what a silly scare!

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah, that is scary. I try to avoid using heat pads anyway. I mean, some reptiles need warm surfaces. IMHO garters do not. Too many problems associated with heat pads or rocks. Garters are perfectly content with overhead heat such ceramic heat emitters and it not only heats the snakes and surfaces but also raises air temperature. Very easy to create zones of heat with those, without the troubles associated with heat pads or undertank heaters.

I mean, if I can create an envirionment in something as small as a 10 gallon screen top tank, which is 70-72 on one end, 80-85 on the other,(air temperature) that's a winner. Can't do that with heat pads. All you end up with is a surface that is often too hot and air that is too cool.

Very important when you have a cold: Simply wrapping yourself in a heat blanket so you feel warm will NOT SUFFICE. The air you breath must be warm also.

[Stefan-A]

The ground stores and conducts heat much more efficiently than the back of the animal can capture from the sun or the air and according to a study I read a few weeks ago, it's the ground temperature, not the air temperature, that determines when snakes retreat to, or emerge from the dens. While basking in the sun might give a little extra boost, let's not exaggerate its importance.

How high do you think the air temperature is one inch off the ground, if the ground is heated to 40 degrees Celsius from above and below respectively? If we were talking about a vacuum, the temperature should be the same.

[Mommy2many]

I cleaned my squiggles house the other day and as a precaution, I decided to "bake" my wood in the microwave for 4 minutes. (It is the kind you can get at Petco). When I placed it back in the house, it was a very comfy, toasty "warm". (I checked for hot spots) Can you guess where all of my babies wanted to congregate? Happiness is a warm snake

[ConcinusMan]

Would that be mopani wood? I just bought a piece of that for my upcoming water feature project. Great stuff!

[drache]

well - Sammy just wolfed down a rat pup and an adult mouse
true, it's Sammy, and she'll eat a shoe if it smells of protein, but I do think if she was seriously ill it might affect her appetite
I'd say she's fine

[ConcinusMan]

That's good.