Tongue fork sticking together

[cristacake]

I'm worried about Donuts. I made a terrible mistake with the humidity in her tub somehow and it got to 93%. I am so so mad at myself for letting it get that high, especially since the last time I checked was two days ago. She's been in blue so I didn't open her tub to look at her because I didn't want to bother her. Obviously that was a mistake. Who knows how long her humidity has been this high. My humidity has been really good and her last shed was perfect so I just did what I did last time. Stupid decision. I think I put too many paper towels and one of them got dragged in and wicked moisture up from her water bowl.

I have her out right now and I just noticed that with almost every tongue flick she does, the two forked parts are stuck together. I know this is a sign of RI so I want to be proactive... What can I do at this point? Everything else about her is normal. She looks around, flicks her tongue a normal amount, there's no wheezing, mucus, bubbles, gaping, or stargazing. The only thing different about her, other than the tongue issue, is that she's in shed right now. Coming out of blue, I believe.

Thoughts? And when should I take her to the vet? How would they diagnose an RI other than assessing the other symptoms I mentioned above? Like if they can take some kind of sample and test it or something, I can do that. I just want to know what I can do for her immediately, if there is a problem.

Her hotspot was 91.6 when I opened the tub, ambient 80something (I don't remember, I just panicked when I saw the humidity and forgot the exact number) and the UTH is regulated by a Hydrofarm tstat so hopefully that's been consistent at least. I have the lid open and have taken the extra paper towels out to help it dry up in there. I'm so worried. Let me know what I should do.

[Sauzo]

Raise the ambient temps to around 88F and watch her to see if it gets worse. If you see any mucous or discharge from her nose or mouth or she sits with her head up like stargazing or with her mouth cracked open, then its time for a call to the vet.

As for checking for RI, a vet can take a mouth culture to find out if and what the exact bacteria, fungal or viral "bug" is as well what it is most susceptible to.

[O'Mathghamhna]

Wow, how did the humidity get that high with just wet paper towels in the tank? You sure that was an accurate reading?

[Albert Clark]

First, calm down. It's not your fault, you did the best you can and things happen. She wasn't exposed to that high humidity for any real considerable amount of time. I think she will be fine. Take Sauzos advice and raise the ambient temps to 88.0f. Just keep an eye out for associated symptoms of an RI. The reptile is otherwise healthy and her immune system is built to ward off certain things. These animals are built to take a little high humidity from time to time. LOL.

[DVirginiana]

93% humidity sounds almost impossible... What kind of gauge do you use? It's difficult to keep my frogs at 80-85% even when I'm trying. That reading might have been faulty.

[Kokorobosoi]

If whatever you use to gauge your humidity got wet, that could be why you saw those readings. And I second the difficulty of getting humidity that high. I'd kill to have a tub with those readings.

But back the the snake. In the wild, they do encounter humidity close to that, albeit for a short amount of time. This is pulled from USA today, in a "come to Africa for your next vacation" article.

"...From October through March, humidity levels are relatively low, ranging anywhere from 54 to 85 percent. The high end of this scale occurs in March with the beginning of the winter months. The rest of the year experiences humidity levels from 60 to 91 percent. July is the most humid (67 to 91 percent)...."

So biologically, they are able to tolerate much higher levels than most people realize, even though it is not ideal. So just keep a watchful eye on her, and keep a look out for any other symptoms.

Good luck! I hope this helps.

[cristacake]

Okay, thank you guys. Maybe the reading was wrong but I did have to wipe down the walls of her tub with a paper towel and it came away wet. Not damp, but wet enough to wring it out. Idk how I managed that lol.

So it's all good news from me this morning; Her tongue is back to normal and she seems fine after raising the ambient temps to 88 like Sauzo and Albert said. Thank you guys so much, I think that really helped. I'll still be checking on her carefully for a while though and watching that tongue.