Doesnt the drop in temps plus the stress of breeding...

cause resperitory infections in the females? I realize breeding probably isnt to stressful for the male but, it just seems like breeding is the perfect situation for RI's to come up in females. I have delt with RI's before (not while breeding, and hopefully not while breeding, yeesh) and those are the two factors are the main causes in RI's. And what do you guys do if this happens to your females? I have always wondered this, but I have kinda shrugged it off. What do you guys think?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pythontricker

cause resperitory infections in the females? I realize breeding probably isnt to stressful for the male but, it just seems like breeding is the perfect situation for RI's to come up in females. I have delt with RI's before (not while breeding, and hopefully not while breeding, yeesh) and those are the two factors are the main causes in RI's. And what do you guys do if this happens to your females? I have always wondered this, but I have kinda shrugged it off. What do you guys think?

---

Yes it can..

If it's caught early you can pull the female from breeding and treat her.. It only takes a few week to treat an RI so it best to keep the female healthy even if it means that you might have to hold off breeding her.

I would be interested to see if anyone has even experienced such a problem in the past using normal breeding temperatures and procedures with animals that were quarantined and defiantly healthy prior to the breeding season.

I have never seen this in my limited experience.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

I would be interested to see if anyone has even experienced such a problem in the past using normal breeding temperatures and procedures with animals that were quarantined and defiantly healthy prior to the breeding season.

I have never seen this in my limited experience.

---

Likewise.

What Im really getting at is, what if the female is already pregnant? Wouldnt the eggs be effected by the antibiotics? I guess this would be a good veteranarian ?

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Mike Cavanaugh

I would be interested to see if anyone has even experienced such a problem in the past using normal breeding temperatures and procedures with animals that were quarantined and defiantly healthy prior to the breeding season.

I have never seen this in my limited experience.

---

Mike only once..last year..I don't cool my females, even so my virgin pastel girl got just a whisper of an RI, slight whistle when she would breath .. I got her on meds, raise temps, stopped breeding and she still went laid 6 great eggs..Now she went late but she still went..

I strongly (but carefully) cool my females, and have never had a RI in a breeding female ball. I believe the key is to always have a "hot spot" that the female can utilize. My "hot end" temps never drop below 82-84 degrees (set at 90 during non-breeding season), even though ambient room temps can drop below 70 at night.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by pythontricker

cause resperitory infections in the females? I realize breeding probably isnt to stressful for the male but, it just seems like breeding is the perfect situation for RI's to come up in females. I have delt with RI's before (not while breeding, and hopefully not while breeding, yeesh) and those are the two factors are the main causes in RI's. And what do you guys do if this happens to your females? I have always wondered this, but I have kinda shrugged it off. What do you guys think?

---

Just to clear this up - breeding is very stressful for the male. Ralph admits to killing a young male by over-breeding him (not on purpose). Males tend to be the ones to get the RI's and then share that RI with the females that they are with (another important reason to remove the water dish when breeding to reduce that risk of RI transmission).

Just to be clear, temperature drops do NOT cause respiratory infections, GERMS cause respiratory infections. If the snake already has the disease germs that can cause respiratory infections, then the stress of breeding or being cold can lower the immune system of the snake and can cause a rapid increase of those germs which can cause sickness. But the cold all by itself does NOT do it.