BP Sick?

[EMSPrincess]

I have a four month old female pastel, and we've been having to do a whole lot of musical chairs with the enclosures of all the tanks and snakes. Recently, I switched her from a 10 gallon into a 5 gallon, and she has a little hide she likes to pick up and move around. Lately, the hide has been on the cool side, and if it's on the hot side she'll tip it over and sit in it. She's been soaking in her water a lot too. I'm worried it's too hot or something, but whenever I pull her out she always seems so cold. Any ideas?

[DVirginiana]

What are your temperatures, and how are you regulating your heat source? It could be a problem with your temps or your snake could just be acting goofy.

[EMSPrincess]

Ha, knowing her she probably is. I have the accurate thermostats on some of the other tanks right now, but one of the little cheapy Petco ones says about 75 degree's on the cold side. I have a large UTH under her tank only covering half of it.

[DVirginiana]

I think you may be talking about thermometers and not thermostats. A thermometer measures temperature, a thermostat is a separate device you hook up to something like a heat pad to regulate the temperature and keep it from exceeding a certain point. Without a thermostat attached to it, a heat pad could very well be getting WAY too hot. This is how a lot of snakes end up with burns.

If you don't have a thermostat on it, you need to get one IMMEDIATELY (this may sound like overkill, but it only takes one day of a high-running UTH to give a snake severe burns, then you're looking at a hefty vet bill and months of rehab). One example is a Hydrofarm thermostat, which you can order online and aren't very expensive. They aren't exactly the top tier of thermostats though, so I'm sure other members will chime in with recommendations for better products.

It does sound like it's getting too hot for your snake though, so I'd probably unhook the UTH until you can get a thermostat. A heat lamp with a dimmer switch is a good alternative until you can get one (you can get these at your local hardware store) and even when you aren't using it anymore it's always a useful thing to have around.

[BoiseBallz]

If your Ball Python is soaking a lot, you should consider it mites until proven otherwise. Pull her out of her enclosure and put her in a temporary tub on white paper towels (makes it much easier to spot mites). Pull out the water dish that she's been soaking in and evaluate for mites sitting at the bottom of the water. If the water dish that she's been soaking in is a dark color, making it too difficult to tell, pour the water into a clear glass and set it on a white paper towel. Evaluate her current enclosure for evidence of mites. If, on first inspection, as detailed above, you don't see evidence of mites, keep her in the temporary bin on paper towels with a clear water dish, and watch for several days to see if she continues to soak or if mites show up in her temporary tub. Hopefully you won't find any.

Also, many paper towels have a small dark flecks in the material itself which can be confused with dead mites. If you're uncertain if a speck represents a dead mite, take a toothpick and very gently try to push it to the side. If it moves, it may be a dead mite. Live mites move, so are less difficult to diagnose, but they do move pretty slowly, so you may need to watch patiently for a few secs before trying the toothpick thing.

[KMG]

Why all the tank changing?

It also sounds like the hide may be to small. You have any pics of your setup? It sounds like it needs work.

[anicatgirl]

Pics! Plz