Questions from a Nervous Owner

Tank size is irrelavent as long as your temps are good. They dont live in small bins in the wild so as long as husbandry is on point it doesnt matter what size tank they are in as long as there are hides. Keep in mind in the wild they spend most of their time underground. The majority of wild caught balls are dug out of the ground in termite mounds. As far as temps i wouldnt drop temps at night. If your cooling for breeding then thats another story but in your situation i would keep temps solid. As far as faint whistling goes its not uncommon for them to make noises around shed time. Just kep an eye on it and be proactive. Perfect husbandry is key always. As far as food goes 1 size appropriate rat once a week is perfect.

First and foremost I want to say thank you for everybody who took the time to read my question and posted an answer. I cannot stress enough my appreciation for the generous sharing of knowledge from people.

I hesistate to say anything being such a new person to this website, but, I've always been a bit outspoken, so I will try to be brief at the very least.

If any of you are interested in building a community of people that welcomes others, I highly suggest that some of you take the time to read the questions posed and only answer those questions, or provide information relevant to the question at hand.

Examples:

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Also stick on thermometers are meant for WATER, not GLASS.

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Total BS. All Living Things and other companies make LCD thermometers designed for terrariums.

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I too would suggest either more plants/overcover, or a smaller tank. I have two babies that WILL NOT eat unless they are in a box the size of a small shoebox. More overcover would also help - maybe a hide or two more than you already have - more options.

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How does any of this relate to a nose whistle or concerns about the interior of the snakes mouth? I did not express anywhere feeding issues.

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Lowering your temperatures at night is completely unnecessary.

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You might be right. But then again, does it hurt the animal to mimic what it will encounter in the wild? More importly, how does this relate at all to the questions I asked?

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Feed a prey item that is slightly larger around then your snake is at its widest point. It should leave a little lump. For a such a young snake, I'd suggest feeding every 5 days...but every 7 is OK too.

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Again, I aked nothing about feeding size, frequency, type, etc.

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My thoughts on some things stated above, you need to get your priorities straight. You want to be a good reptile keeper, correct?

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Again, IMO, totally unneccesaary and only serves to alienate the herp community. Unless there is some desire to an insular community.

Seriously, I'm not trying to ruffle feathers, though I'm sure I have. It bothers me to see such acrid attitudes towards people seeking knowledge.

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On the topic of temperature regulators. I would hope that the manufacturing companies of these items that are made specifically for reptiles have a pretty good track record as far as not having malfunctions. Thats not a good business model if your product routinely maims or kills your customers. Does that mean that it won't malfunction. Of course not. Is it a good idea to safeguard against malfunction. Of course. How more reliable is a thermostat than a UTH? How do I know the thermostat won't malfunction which will lead to burning my snake? All I'm saying is that out of the thousands of those UTH's made and sold, I bet there are a good number of them that never use a thermostat, and I bet a low number of those snakes get burned. You guys just don't hear about the happy healthy snakes because when something does go wrong, they come here looking for answers. There's no reason to post on here to say, "Yup, my snake didn't die today."

I'm sorry if I've been overly rude. Again, I want to say thank you for everybody who took the time to read my question and posted an answer. I cannot stress enough my appreciation for the generous sharing of knowledge from people.

Hey man, you don't have to be a jerk about it.

You had a problem, and you wanted answers. You gave us the info on the tank as well as your snake to help us assess the problem. We used the info and suggested things to improve to help you and your issue as well as point you in the right direction to keep things healthy and happy. If you didn't want to hear any of it, too bad, because we would have asked for temp, enclosure type/size, feeding routine, shed cycle, etc anyway to figure out what the source of the whistling is.

Your caustic reply was really unnecessary.

As far as the thermometers go - regardless of what they are /for/ they don't function adequately.

I would like to mention that everything we've suggested - alienating though it may seem - is actually in response to your query. You have a question. We are trying to help you eradicate the potential causes. IF it is an RI, it could be caused by the dropped temperatures or stress of a larger than comfortable environment. We really are just trying to help and the fact that it is over the internet, with very emotionless text, we can't quite convey our meaning without seeming like complete and total jerks.

Also - The thermostats - yes, there are an untold number of heating pads that are sold, there are also more than a few animals burned because of old, unregulated ones, or new ones with a short circuit. The reason we use them is it's ONE MORE SAFEGUARD to protect our children. I treat every one of my snakes as if it were my child, and I know many more of these people do as well. If you had a kid, and you let her ride around in the front seat without her seatbelt on because - well she's already got the airbag...

Please just understand that we are trying to help.

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IF it is an RI, it could be caused by the dropped temperatures or stress of a larger than comfortable environment. We really are just trying to help and the fact that it is over the internet, with very emotionless text, we can't quite convey our meaning without seeming like complete and total jerks.

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I guess I just didn't quite get the connection. Now I see it. Thank you.

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You had a problem, and you wanted answers. You gave us the info on the tank as well as your snake to help us assess the problem. We used the info and suggested things to improve to help you and your issue as well as point you in the right direction to keep things healthy and happy. If you didn't want to hear any of it, too bad, because we would have asked for temp, enclosure type/size, feeding routine, shed cycle, etc anyway to figure out what the source of the whistling is.

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Yeah I provided as much info as possible because I figured it would help. I didn't get why all of the comments were presented that weren't connected to the question. I get that now (see above).

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Hey man, you don't have to be a jerk about it.

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Yup...again. Sorry about that. I'm usually pretty friendly, if outspoken. Well, at least I think I am, and apparently so does my wife. :)

Thank you all again. Have a good weekend!

It's really hard to take someone's tone over the internet. I wasn't trying to sound harsh or a jerk either, and I apologize if it came out that way to you. Ultimately, I am just trying to help you so you can avoid any problems down the road, as was everyone else. :)