Close call with Mojave

[BaierBalls]

I keep all my snakes and bearded dragons in a shed in my backyard. It is insulated, but has no central heat or air. I keep it cool in the summer with a window AC unit and warm in the winter with a space heater with a thermostat. It has worked fine for me.

Somehow, after a night that got almost to freezing, my heater cut off. When I came in the next morning, it was very cold in the shed. I checked all the animals. Everything was curled up over their heat tape, but everything was fine...except for my male Mojave. For some reason, instead of sitting on the heat tape like everything else, he was curled up in his water bowl on the cool side of his tub. I picked him up and he was cold to the touch. His movements were very slow. I rushed him into the house and put him under a heat lamp. After just a few minutes he livened up and started exploring his new tub he was in. I kept him inside for about two weeks to let the cold snap pass and make sure I had everything straight with my heater and to observe him.

Needless to say I found out what happened with the heater and I have moved the mojo back out to his tub. He seems completely fine and just as healthy looking as he has always been. However, he was always an aggressive feeder for me, usually taking 2 mice or 2 rat pups every 7 days. Since this event, he has not taken a meal. I offered him a mouse a week after the day I found him cold when I had him inside, and he would not take it. A week after that, since I moved him back to his original tub, I offered him a rat pup that I left with him over night (too young to cause any harm to the snake) that he also would not take. It's been almost 3 weeks since his last meal. His last meal was 2 mice on 12/30/09. Do you think he just got really stressed out from the cold, or something more serious? Also, being moved around from outside to inside to outside I'm sure stressed him out...like I said, he looks and acts perfectly fine other than not having taken a meal in three weeks. Any ideas on what I can do to get him eating again?

Thanks in advance

[BallsUnlimited]

only thing i didnt like about what u did was how u put him directly under a heat lamp to warm up. Granted you didnt have any problems from this but to my understanding putting him in a tub for a few hours at room temps around 75 or so would have been a better way to warm him up. Its not such a shock to him. After he spent a few hours warming up at room temp i would have then put him in his enclosure to warm up the rest of the way.

[BaierBalls]

I thought about shocking him that way too...so what I did was put him in a small tub with holes in the top....set that tub in an empty 10 gallon aquarium, and put a 50 watt bulb over the top of the 10 gallon, so it wasn't like I put him directly under a high wattage bulb. I figured, just like you mentioned, that might shock him. Thank you for your response.

[DemmBalls]

Are you sure he didn't pick up an RI or some other illness?

[BallsUnlimited]

I thought about shocking him that way too...so what I did was put him in a small tub with holes in the top....set that tub in an empty 10 gallon aquarium, and put a 50 watt bulb over the top of the 10 gallon, so it wasn't like I put him directly under a high wattage bulb. I figured, just like you mentioned, that might shock him. Thank you for your response.

no problem. I have always been told by breeders to warm them up the way i mentioned above to avoid the shock. Glad your guy is doing well cause that could have been much worse than it was. A few years back i had a normal shipped to me and it got to me like an popsicle. Warmed him up the way i mentioned and had no problems.

[singingtothewheat]

Are you sure he didn't pick up an RI or some other illness?

This would be my number one concern

[BallsUnlimited]

Are you sure he didn't pick up an RI or some other illness?

he may or may not of. Since you cant see any signs of it right away mayb a trip to the vet for a culture would be beneficial just to be on the safe side. But they dont always get r.i when something like that happens. If the snake has an other wise healthy immune system he should do just fine.

[BaierBalls]

No signs of an R.I. I had a female that was shipped to me a few months back that had an R.I. when she arrived. I quarantined her and I was givin Fortaz and Baytril for her, and I still have some, but he shows no signs of an R.I. and I do not want to treat him unless he sees a vet to be sure, but I really don't feel he needs that. He seems completely healthy from all I can tell. No wheezing whatsoever. I'm thinking I'm going to just keep offering him food once a week and see what happens. If he refuses for too much longer, I will take him to a vet.

[j_h_smith]

I would be worried putting my collection in a shed where you can't tell if the temps take a dive. There are alarms that work over the phone line that will call any number you program if the temp goes below a predetermined level. Maybe you could have it ring your cell phone.

Trusting your collection to a space heater is pretty ballzy if you ask me.
Jim Smith

[BaierBalls]

It is certainly not ideal. I will have to look into one of those sensors. Due to where I am living now it is my only option. However, I have not had a problem with it until now. It was my own fault it went off. It has a safety feature that turns it off automatically if something comes too close to where it is emitting the heat, and I left my watering bucket too close. I do worry sometimes about it going out. I check it several times a day. The only risk is the time when I'm sleeping between 9-10 pm and 5 am. Always check temps last thing in the evening and first thing in the morning. It has a thermostat that turns it on and off according to the temperature I have it set at, and it has been very accurate to this point. I plan to have things set up much better in a couple months when I move. Thank you for the input.