Is he ok?

For the past 2-3 weeks, Moses has been being very inactive. He's been hiding in his hide, doing nothing else. He's usually very active, coming out at 11:00 on the dot to be held. Not only that, but he hasn't been eating. The first time I offered him food, he struck, missed, and acted terrified and hid again. The second time he didn't care at all (though that may have been my fault - I had to offer a different species of rat because our usual reptile store was closed).

Today I changed his water and decided to check on him. I took him out of his hide and I first noticed that his eyes seemed... dull? Pale? Not as much when he's in blue. I thought they might have been retained eye caps so I gave him a soak for about 5 minutes (he then escape from the tub so I just put the humidifier in my room). While I was holding him then I noticed he was making a whistling sound every 15 seconds or so. Then I was worried. I put him back in his enclosure and left the humidifier on.

Respiratory infection? Shedding? Nothing about his setup has changed except a different climbing branch.

Elaborate on your husbandry please?
A couple photos could help too.

Hot/basking side is 90-93 F, cold side is room temp. I do put the humidifier in my room pretty often to create humidity as Arizona is pretty dry. Aspen substrate, 2 hides on each side of the enclosure.

Picture won't work for some reason, but here's his enclosure: http://imgur.com/3AWjyam

I'll try to get a picture of his eyes later but I don't want to stress him out too much.

When you say "room temperature" what does that mean?
The ambient temp should be around 85 F

Also, maybe I missed it, but when was the last time he shed?

WHY is your thermostat inside the enclosure? Where is your heat source and what is it?
What are you using to measure your temperatures and humidity?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Mephibosheth1

When you say "room temperature" what does that mean?
The ambient temp should be around 85 F

Also, maybe I missed it, but when was the last time he shed?

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Yup, 75-85 depending on the weather.

The last time he shed was... I believe around the middle of October, if I remember correctly.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

WHY is your thermostat inside the enclosure? Where is your heat source and what is it?
What are you using to measure your temperatures and humidity?

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That's just... Where we put it? He can't move it or knock it down off the wall, and there's nowhere to put it on the outside as the chord would prevent the door from closing... He can't move the probe - we glued a little part of the chord behind the probe with a teeny dab of spray foam. We can't put the probe on the outside as the enclosure is wood.

He he has a heat mat between 2 tiles of slate.

we have a thermostat to measure the temperatures, but not a hygrometer.

A thermostat regulates a heat source.
A THERMOMETER measures temperature.
Secondly neither the thermostat or probe should be in the enclosure. Fluids will change your temperature on the heat source.
All of this should be outside the enclosure, UTH and probe under the enclosure.

He was switching hides so I took the opportunity to get pictures of his eyes. It's very hard to tell in pictures, as it's only really noticeable in person.

Left eye: http://imgur.com/2x80kPF
Left eye: http://imgur.com/5OTicvG
Right eye: http://imgur.com/vPYnaj1

Weird though- right when I opened his enclosure he just immediately tried to get out - which he did (it's not very hard for him to escape once I have the door open since he's so huge). He's still trying to get our right now, actually. Weird behavior after hiding nonstop for 3 weeks.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

A thermostat regulates a heat source.
A THERMOMETER measures temperature.
Secondly neither the thermostat or probe should be in the enclosure. Fluids will change your temperature on the heat source.
All of this should be outside the enclosure, UTH and probe under the enclosure.

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I understand this - the thermostat we have properly regulated and measures the current temperature, and I can just open the door and adjust the temperature if needed.

Putting the UTH and/or probe under the enclosure would not work - at all. There's 2 1/2 inches of wood separating from the top and bottom of the floor.