HELP I think my snakes sick plz msg promptly

:oops: hey my baby (bp near a year old and near 4 ft) got into some duct tape a few weeks ago, and I called a vet, got all the gunk off of her, and am bathing her 3 times a week in warm water. She should be better, but she's not. She stays cold and stiff, on the colder side of her tank. Her underbelly has turned severly pink (near red) and she still hasn't eaten. Is she fixing to go into heat or do I need to TAKE her back to the vet?!? Somebody please help, I don't want to loose my pride and joy. Thank You, Ashli O'Neal.

**Please email me at Fuzzy_Gantt_Perfection@yahoo.com or Foreverinlove2@hotmail.com (also my yahoo messenger and msn messenger email addy's too.)

First whats the temp on the "colder" side of her tank? if it is to low it very well could be the cause of her not eating .. the pink belly sounds like an impending shed ... what are the enclosure temps and what are the heat sources being used ?....

the colder temp sits at about 70 degrees, and on the warmer side I've got a heat lamp and a heating pad, her "box" that she sleeps in sits above the pad and below the lamp. The vet said it wasn't too low, that she was just icky from the duct tape, but I've gotten her clean, and she's still not eating. I was told she might be going into "season"?

By the going into season thing, I was referring to how a lot of mature ball pythons often go off feed this time of year. I don't know if that would affect a yearling bp though, which is why I encouraged her to post on the forums.

I also dislike being the only source of info for somebody...

If your not planning on breeding her I would bring your low side temps up to about 80-84 degrees I dont even cool my animals that low for breeding usually staying in the mid 70"s
Edit: I highly doubt that the animal in question is a yearling @ 4 feet

70 is to low. Cool side should be more like 80-85. What are the warm side temps (should be around 90-95)? Where are you measuring them and with what kind of thermometer? If she doesn't have proper temps to digest she won't eat.

yea the lowest its able to go is like 75 degrees

Yeah, work on getting your temps in the proper range. Be sure you're measuring with a digital thermometer w/ probes or a temp gun. Measure under the substrate (if a loose substrate) or on top of the substrate otherwise (if carpet, newspaper, etc). Don't try feeding again until those temps are correct.

Ok, 1.) Coolside temps should be: 80-85*F
2.) Warm side temps should be:90-95*F
3.) I seriously doubt your BP is a year old at 4 ft. Your BP is probably like 2 years old.

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Originally Posted by Fuzzy^poo

**Please email me at Fuzzy_Gantt_Perfection@yahoo.com or Foreverinlove2@hotmail.com (also my yahoo messenger and msn messenger email addy's too.)

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Everyone else is giving you good advice on the husbandry, so I'll just mention here that if you don't intend to check here for replies regularly, you should go into your profile and set the option "Always notify me of replies:" to Yes so you'll get an email when someone replies to your posts, or check the "Notify me when a reply is posted" box at the bottom of the posting form (or on the left on the QuickReply form at the bottom of the thread page, before anyone asks) to get email notification of replies to that thread only.

okay, I had a thermometer thing on the inside of the cage on the sides, but I've gotten it fixed, it's near winter here, so I've had to add more heat lamps to the cage to keep it warmer. I got her 3rd week in December last year and I was told she was just a baby, she was only like 6-8 inches long. I measured her again today, and fully stretched out, she's just an inch under 4 ft...so..I KNOW she's a ball python..she's about as big around as a golf ball, I was told that females would grow pretty quickly..was I misinformed? She still hasn't eaten, moving around more, but still not eating. She's starting to milk over, so maybe she's gonna shed?

Be careful all those heat lamps don't ruin your humidity and make for a bad shed.

they haven't before..I usd to only have one lamp and a pad, but it's too cold now... the vet said the humitidy is fine...but...if she is going into "season" when will she eat again?

When she wants to - not to be funny, but it varies by snake.

A couple of things just dont add up ... 1 . 48 inches = 4 feet 2. if you have a 4 foot ball python that is only as big around as a golf ball it is extremely thin for its length... do you have pictures of this snake?
females will grow quiclky if fed well but not 4 feet in under a year do you mean december of 2003? or 2002?

Yeah ....4 feet and only as thick as a golf ball ?!?! that really really skinny

Its barely big enough to take an adult mouse.

I really hope she messed up and her 4 foot snake is not really the width of a little golf ball.

how should i warm up the cool side of the tank? it sits at around 72-73 degrees, with the light on, with the light off, it goes down to 68-69. The warm side is around 89-90 with the light and heatpad on, with only the heatpad it goes to around 80. HOw should I warm up the cooler side?

Maybe get another heat pad and put it on a lower setting. The cool side should be in the low 80's

If you've had the snake since last December aren't you accustomed to what the signs look like for an impending shed by now? In any case, your temps are definitely of concern as everyone has pointed out. Work on that issue first and take if from there.

Yeah, those temps need work - both sides need to come up. What kind of thermometer are you using? Got a pic of your bp to share?

I said she was ALMOST 4 foot, last I measured her, she was like 3 foot 6 inches... = 42"...yes, she is only as big as a golf ball, a little bigger, but that's b/c she hasn't eaten in like nearly a month and a half now... I NEED to know if it's a seasonal thing or what... I got her last december (2003) and she was about 6-7 inches long... I know that still sounds funny, but she's really THAT long, no pics yet, but I'll take some tomorrow..OH..she just started to shed again, so she's gonna look funny...this time she's got a real metallicky look to her...I dunno..get pics on here shortly... Ashli

I was feeding her once a week, rats bigger than mice but smaller than adult rats...keeping her cage well cleaned out..I don't understand what I've done wrong?

I'm not sure, but a ball python that's the width or the same size around as a golf ball is quite small for a ball python over 3 feet. My baby ball python, who's only 5 months old, is the thickness of a banana and capable of eating weanling rats. The only thing I can think of is to try and fatten her up. Maybe feed her every 4-5 days instead of every 7, and/or give her more than one prey item and see if she'll take it. If she really is as thin as a golf ball and the length you say she is, then yeah it's pretty underweight. I'd love to see pics as soon as possible. :)

well, she quit eating about a month and a half ago...I cant get her to eat, I've tried moving her eating environments, and nothing works. My aunt said her red tail boa quits eating for like 3 months during our winter..so could that have to do with it? I can't get her to eat, dead or alive..so...what do I do? the vet couldn't help me, said he had NO idea, she don't LOOK sick.

If she's 3+ feet long, she's most likely old enough for reproducing, so her having no appetite could easily be because of breeding season. It should pass within the coming months. As long as she looks healthy and thick, and doesn't lose a lot of weight, it should be fine.

okay, so I got some pics on here, not good ones, but general ideas I guess..she wasn't in too good of a mood. She just started shedding but wasn't doin too well, so I was trying to moisten her a bit, and mom started taking pics.. A NOTE of CONCERN: when I got her out of her cage, she was a real brassy color all over, really metallicky on her underside. When I put her in the tub, the parts that submurged turned so bright metallicy it was really wierd and looked almost transluscent. unfortunatly, the pictures don't do her any justice, mom's digi. camera SUCKS. but, I'm in the gallery, look me up. Thanks!

Just for kicks ..how are you measuring your BP, shed length? the snake in the pictures you have looks to be somewhere in the 25-30 inch range between 350-450 . The likely cause of going off food is your temps .
also hatchling ball pythons usually start out in the range of 12-14 inches or so

I recommend you weigh her a.s.a.p. and then again every week or so to monitor her weight. As long as she's not losing too much, there's no need to worry too much about it.

I would definitely work on both your temperatures and humidity though. I'm guessing you're using a glass tank, and in conjunction with multiple heat lamps I would bet that your humidity is too low. If you were to intentially cool her, I wouldn't worry too much about the cool end being 70 at night time, but it should definitely be higher during the day and definitely higher if you're not intentionally cooling. The other thing that concerns me is that you're still getting this temperature despite the heat lamps, which leads me to believe the ambient air temperature is significantly lower. Keep in mind that the air circulating in the room is the air that circulates into the enclosure and that your ball python breathes.

Personally, I would find a warmer room and get rid of the heat lamps. And if you are using an aquarium, no matter what I would find something to cover most of the top to lock in humidity.

well, this last shed wasn't whole, but I think that's because of her getting into the duct tape. The problem with moving her into a warmer environment is that she's in the warmest part of the house, the living room. I live in Texas, and when it gets cold in the winter, it's impossible to keep the entire house warm, so I've got a little mini heater pointed in her direction. It's a plexyglass cage, and I've got a few holes drilled into it for air circulation, and other than that, it stays real humid in the cages..enough to form a dew type thing when I open her cage in the mornings to check on her... so, using the heat lamp and the heating pad and the heater is just now bumping the other side of the cage to around 80...I'm workin on it guys..she's looking a lot better now..she's not brassy anymore since her shed..she still hasn't eaten though.