So yesterday when I had my baby boy laying on under his hide on top of my belly, I could hear a very faint popping sound. From the research I have done, this seems to be an indication of the start of an RI. So I immediately panicked and made an appointment at my local VCA vet for all creatures. I saw a doctor that specializes in reptiles, but also sees cats, dogs birds, etc. He told me that my snake seemed very healthy and there was no mucus or discharge in any of his glands inside his mouth. I was sent home with a clean bill of health, which I am happy about.
My question is though, I am still worried about that faint popping sound. He doesn't make it at all if I am holding him or he is out and about. I only noticed it when he was in his hide for about 15 minutes. What shall I do to insure he doesn't catch an RI?
I have his cool side at 80-82 (it is pretty consistent, but I noticed the cool side drop as low as 76 at night), his warm side is anywhere from 88-92 and when I check with the temp gun, I get spots ranging from 81-95 depending on how deep down I bury the temp gun to the bottom of the tub under the substrate. Are these temps ok?
I went ahead and bumped up the heat to make sure on top of the substrate reaches the high eighties-low 90s. 95 is the hottest temperature I was able to find in his tub, so I hope that isn't too hot. It's weird, but the UTH from Zoomed that I have seems to not distribute the heat evenly all along the mat, it is more centralized, causing a small 95 degree hotspot (under substrate) with the surrounding area being at around 90.
I currently have a UTH on one side of the tub hooked up to a herpstat 1 and a space heater on the other side to warm up the ambient temps to around 80. I have a boaphile on the way for him complete with RHP and UTH because I like to keep my bedroom around 70 when I sleep and the snake room is hooked up to the same AC unit.
If anyone has any other better suggestions for his husbandry to insure he doesn't get sick I would greatly appreciate it. Thanks for reading!
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