Hurrah!

Blue means is that when they are about to shed, that have a blue tint to them. RI means respiratory infection. It's a nasty "snake cold" of sorts. Their lungs fill with mucus and if untreated can lead to death. Symptoms are mucus from the nasal passages and constant yawning. If her temps have been low like what you said, you'll wanna use a stronger bulb. Bad thing about heat lamps is that they are humidity killers. You could make her a makeshift humid hide. Just get some moss and get it moist, but not dripping wet. She might go in there and that will help with a nice shed. Or mist the cage as needed when humidity gets too low.

When their eyes go opaque (and sometimes it's a blue color) it's called being in blue. The "RI" stands for (upper) respiratory infection. Pneumonia to you and me.......Temps too cold and for extended lenghts of time, the snake will get an RI. They can't cough or gag so at colder temps, fluid builds up in their lungs.


Covering your tank lid w/plastic wrap or tinfoil (tin & then the lamp on top) will help keep the humidity in and under better control, but allow you to get the temps up with the lamp and UTH.

What sorts of hides are you providing??? Or did I miss that somewhere? :oops:

:oops: :oops: :oops: Oooops, ya beat me to it!

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Originally Posted by sweety314

:oops: :oops: :oops: Oooops, ya beat me to it!

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But we both care about a snakeys health :D

Ohhhhhh.... Good to know! I happen to be a mister and I find that the aspen is able to hold the humidity nicely. There aren't any symptoms of something like that. Maybe the culprit is the fact that it's almost 3 in the morning. :D

By the way, yes. Cave chicks are hot.

She only has one hide atm. It's a few inches from the undertank heater/basking area. One the opposite end is her water dish. I guess her hide is the medium between hotter and cooler. I am going to upgrade to something bigger soon with multiple hides and whatnot.

The tank size should be okay for a while. How BIG is your snake? If it's a baby or sub adult then the tank might be too big and the snake feels threatened. You can put loosely wadded up balls of newspaper in the tank to create more cover for the snake. A BABY ball is even threatened in a 10g tank.


The HIDES, one on the cool end and one (on is fine) the UTH end. If the UTH is being controlled by a thermostat, the hide directly over should be okay. If there's a dimmer, than just stay aware of how hot it gets. NO temp control? Then no, don't put the hide right over the UTH. The snake can get burned.

The hides should be snug and small. Balls are burrowers and prefer to hide all the time and hunt from ambush. They should be able to feel the hide on all sides.

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Originally Posted by Vomitore

But we both care about a snakeys health :D

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Yep, yep, yep:sunny:

I'd say sub-adult. I recently switched to full grown mice. Her full length is almost as long as the length of the tank so I think I have a few more months until I need to get something bigger. There simply isn't enough room for two hides yet. =(

two margarine tubs with holes in the lids (or in the bottom) should fit okay. Or the planter trays of appropriate size. Plastic bowls from the dollar store w/holes melted. Search some of the threads and member pics for ideas. :)