HELP?!- Breathing hard, Scales Wrinkly

I fed her two days ago- haven't touched her.
She's on the cooler, more humid side of the tank, breathing heavily, and if I come near the tank she coils up and acts scared, which is not like her.
Her scales are dull- but her eyes aren't blue- I don't know if she's going to shed or what's up.
She is out of her hide- just coiled up in the corner.
I have no idea what to do.

Breathing heavily sounds like it might be a sign of a respiratory infection. Is she popping, wheezing, etc? Is she breathing with her mouth open? The best thing to do is take her to the vet ASAP if you really aren't sure.

No- she's just breathing hard- her sides are heaving, but her mouth is closed.

What's the husbandry like? Temps? Humidity? Substrate?

She might also be dehydrated considering she ate a couple days ago. Have you seen her drinking?

80 on the cooler side, 90-95 on the other, humidity is 80.
It's a type of bark for the bedding, I know that it's negligent for me to forget, but it's not dusty or bad smelling, it came with the snake, basically.
Yesterday the humidity was 60 so I put some water under the lamp to bump up the humidity because her scales were ridiculously wrinkled and I thought she was either shedding or dehydrated.

I have not seen her drink, but she's been by her water.

50-60% humidity is perfect actually. Most would agree on here that 80% is actually too high. What are you using to measure temps and how are you doing it?

Temperature and humidity gauges on both sides of the tank. I heard 60 was too low, that 80 was the perfect humidity.

Are they the analog type gauges or digital? Are you using a probe to measure belly heat? Also, do you have a thermostat regulating the temp?

Now her breathing is erratic.

I don't have a probe to measure that... I'm pretty new at this.
They are analog.

Generally speaking those analog gauges are garbage. If her breathing is erratic I would take her to a herp vet ASAP.

Do you feed her in the cage or separate feeding area? I'm wondering if she swallowed some substrate.

Ahh I wish someone with more experience would post!

You should go out and get a digital thermometer/hygrometer. The indoor-outdoor Accurite thermo/hygro costs about $10-15 from lowes, kmart, walmart, etc. Do you know what type of bark bedding you're using? If you aren't sure you should get rid of it right away and use paper towels or newspaper. The bedding could very well be cedar or pine. How big is the snake and the enclosure?

I would at least take her out and put her in something with paper towels for the time being. If it is cedar or pine that her substrate is made from then that's most likely the cause. That stuff is like poison for Ball Pythons.

Oh okay. Well I took her out to show her to my friend- and when I did her breathing was fine and she was really friendly again... so I guess it is the bedding...

I just ordered a humidifier but I guess I need temperature stuff more.

NO! Not MORE humidity! lol. I would look more into the husbandry section to get a better idea on how to properly house ball pythons. Since you're new, the more research you do, the better off you and your ball will be. We were all new to the hobby at once, but this site is the best place to get all the info you need! I'm glad to hear she seems to be doing better though :)

TQ is absolutely right. You do not need more humidty, and this is a great place for information
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...s%29-Caresheet here is the link to the caresheet on this site for BP's.

I would avoid handling her for a few days too as a precaution just in case she is stressed.

Thank you. :)

Check the belly to see if it's pink, I'd guess she's huffing and puffing at you since she's in shed and scared of the shadows your throwing over her ;)

Uhhh.... no. She knows me quite well and wasn't huffing and puffing at me.

okay,i am understanding the breathing,you say you had her on pine or cedar which caused for the bad breathing,i am not understanding the wrinkled skin,thats a sign of shed and or dehydration,being she is breathing funny i would say ri or dehydration.Too much humidity can cause Ri's too, i would get her to the vet and check that out.

Just my two cents.

Hi,

To be honest I think she'd going into shed which makes them more nervous and lethargic.

But, to try and find out for sure, here are a few things to rule problems in or out.

If the wrinkles in her skin run tail to head then (ie along the body ) they can be a sign of dehydration.

If they run top to bottom from the back down towards the belly it is usually just either a fat snake or going into shed.

Heavy breathing by itself is only a sign of slight stress. If hewr mouth is open and her head elevated for any length of time with it it can be a sign of an RI - but you still need to look for excess mucus in her mouth and listen for noises when she breathes ( note: noises also happen during a shed ).

Higher humidity does not cause RI's - in fact it helps with the symptoms if you have one.

I would probably try and get it to 70-80% since I think she is shedding.

As to the bedding then unless it was cedar, camphor or another very smelly timber it shouldn't reallt be a massive problem - exactly what is it you are using and where did you get it? I seem to have missed that info.

I have the nagging feling I am forgetting to ask for some info so if anyone spots what I missed post up.


dr del

She is definitely shedding. There are little sheds allll over the tank.
And I think it's cedar- I'm not sure. It came with the tank and is only a few weeks old.
Her breathing has evened out and she is much calmer, one of the eye scales has already come off and it is much clearer.

Ah,

I think you may need to read this;

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...hed-No-problem.


dr del

I'd get her off that bedding and onto something else since you're not sure of what she's on now. Paper towel or Aspen is good.

I highly doubt your humidity is as high as the gauges are telling you. Since you mentioned you are using a lamp and a tank for one thing, and she is having a bad shed now as well.

Get a humidity/temperature digital gauge with a probe. You can get them at Walmart for $10-$15. You tape the probe on the glass right above your Under Tank Heater. That should read 90-95 degrees. Then you put the unit itself on the other end and that'll give you your humidity and ambient temperature.

Make sure you're regulating your heat sources with a thermostat of some kind so you don't burn your snake.

Until then, keep an eye on her and try not to bug her too much. :)

Just to clarify what sarin is saying.. The probe is taped to the bottom of the tank, on the inside above the UTH.

You dont want any exposed tape, in the enclosure. Thats why I prefer the probes with suction cups.

Eeeep Tape, :O

Do your snake a favour an use a few drops from a hot glue gun as an alternative - once it has cooled and set ( about a minute tops ) it has zero risk to the snake.

Don't make me dig out the anti-tape post. :rolleyes:


dr del

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Nefertiri

80 on the cooler side, 90-95 on the other, humidity is 80.
It's a type of bark for the bedding, I know that it's negligent for me to forget, but it's not dusty or bad smelling, it came with the snake, basically.
Yesterday the humidity was 60 so I put some water under the lamp to bump up the humidity because her scales were ridiculously wrinkled and I thought she was either shedding or dehydrated.

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well if you're still using the same substrate the 'came' with the snake, I'd start off by saying its probably(and my probably, I mean definitely) time to change that.

Thanks, dr drel for the links. :) I'm going to try that tomorrow if she doesn't get the rest of the shed off by today.
And yes, I'm going to change her bedding after the shed.
I'm going to get the different thermostats and whatnot probably tomorrow.

Keep us updated on her. :)

Whenever I needed to tape a thermometer probe inside my enclosures, I never had a problem. But I only used painters tape. It's not strong enough to do any damage.

But a Temp gun has eliminated any use for thermometers now!

I just put her in a little plastic bin with a towel in luke-warm water to soak for a little while.