Ri?

Ok... I need everyone’s help. I was just bragging yesterday that my new mystic potion ate ferociously his first meal since I have had him. He has been having a bad shed and I made a shed box and was going to put him in it. Then I noticed he was opening his mouth here and there and heard a popping noice. So what do I do now? I didn’t use the shed box since he might have a RI. His head and eye caps and neck have been covered in shed so I wanted to help. I got it off the rest of his body. Should I automatically take him to vet or since he just ate maybe something else I can try first? Advice please....


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More info.....Has 3 hides...90 hot side 80 cold side humidity 53%. 2 water dishes to try and get humidity to rise.


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I wouldn’t react just yet. The noise could be from stuck shed over nostrils. Opening the mouth doesn’t seem good but i didnt see it and i dont know how often he is doing that. Do you see mucous from the nose or mouth?
Your temps are good, id keep humidity up 60% to 70% when you know he is pre-shed. Why are you saying he just ate? Did you feed him while he was in blue? Has it been 48 hrs since he ate? If so soak him in warm water for 15 min. Use a tote with a lid. Keep the water 90 and keep it above 80. Work on the shed after he soaks and softens up. He might rub some off himself.

Rushing him to the vet right now would probably just yield a regurge too, since he just ate. I agree with CALM. ^ ^ ^

He was in blue 2 weeks ago and didn’t shed well at all. I soaked last week and got almost everything except his head and neck. It was looking really bad this evening so I decided to do warm pillow case wet treatment and when I had him out he seemed agitated and would crack open his mouth just a little here and there. I also would hear a popping sound so I panicked. I fed on Saturday after not handling for 2 weeks and he ate like a champ. Just nervous.... I added some more moisture to his cage so hopefully that will bring humidity up. He is so small so I am concerned. None of my snakes have ever had an RI.


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So is it ok to put him to soak if he is starting to get an RI? He was so nervous and in a tight tight ball.... can they cause themselves trouble breathing squeezing so tight? Never seen a little ball as stressed as he was tonight when I was trying to soak shed.


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Poor little guy...the "RI" symptoms may be due to the stuck shed on his head & neck. Try to minimize his stress, work slow & gently when you soak him. No,
he's not going to strangle himself by squeezing into a ball.

BUT DO measure the actual water temperature FIRST. You want it warmish for him, which means it will feel cool to you, since we're roughly 98.6* & if it felt
warm to us, it's too HOT for him. (make sense?) The water should be 80-90*, and SHALLOW, not higher than half his body height. He should not have to
swim (& never leave a snake unsupervised when soaking)...you can put a small towel in the water for him to have traction...the loss of traction is what freaks
most snakes out when "soaking". Part of what's making him so uptight right now may also be that his eyes are still hazy, assuming his eye-caps didn't come off
either. Most snakes instinctively hate to be bothered when in shed for this reason...they feel more vulnerable.

Yes he still has eye caps and his head neck are all wrinkly from not shedding. Hopefully that’s what it is [emoji120]


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You got to much going on at once that’s why he is stressed. He shed 2 weeks ago so that should of been when you soaked him and worked on the stuck head and eye caps not fed him. Shedding and eating use up a lot of the snakes energy. Stress does the same. This is a recipe for compromising his immune system. Now that i understand what happened I take back my advice. Get your humidity up to 60% min until the next shed. Let him be for now. Keep the hot hide a min of 90 and the cool side a min of 81. If he is coming down with a RI you want him to beat it. Let him rest and keep him stress free. If you keep his humidity up he should shed the stuck shed next time.
Not sure what his story is or why he is having shed trouble to begin with but you need to get that figured out asap otherwise 2 stuck sheds is a Vet appointment.


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Also, snakes need good hydration to shed properly...not just in the cage, but inside their bodies. And guess what? digestion also requires good hydration,
which is why it's best not to expect a snake to do both at the same time. Some can manage, no problem...but others get stuck like yours just did.

From now on, cloudy (shedding) snake = no food. Makes life easier...;) And like CALM said, when he first failed to shed completely, that's when I'd have
been soaking him & getting the old skin off, then fed only after that.

I understand... I have been soaking last week and got all shed off except head and neck. He wouldn’t let me get close to head... just ball up. I fed because it had been 2 weeks and I thought he needed to eat. Sorry... lesson learned


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Having a hard time getting humidity above 50’s. My other snakes are in PVC cages and this little boy in tank until April and I can get another PVC cage. I bumped up heat and added extra dampness.... hours later still in the 50’s. I’ll keep working on it. Thanks for help!


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Humidity cannot escape thru glass OR plastic...the only difference is the screen tops used on most tanks. If (when) you restrict most of the air-flow out the top,
the humidity will stay in the cage. People use plexi or foil...many things can work to modify the air-flow. All the best...

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jaguar63122

I understand... I have been soaking last week and got all shed off except head and neck. He wouldn’t let me get close to head... just ball up. I fed because it had been 2 weeks and I thought he needed to eat. Sorry... lesson learned


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They will go months and months without eating and be just fine. Cover that tank lid like mentioned and work on humidity. Keep us posted. You can fix him up [emoji106][emoji2533]


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update....Cold side 80.96. Hot side 91.7.... humidity up to 60....so far so good. Poseidon sticks his head outside hide and I do not see him opening his mouth. But when he sees me he is gone!

Question... so just keep temps high for 1 week or 2? Do I check on him in hide or do I not stress him and leave alone the whole time?


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Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jaguar63122

update....Cold side 80.96. Hot side 91.7.... humidity up to 60....so far so good. Poseidon sticks his head outside hide and I do not see him opening his mouth. But when he sees me he is gone!

Question... so just keep temps high for 1 week or 2? Do I check on him in hide or do I not stress him and leave alone the whole time?


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Sounds good, leave him alone! No peeking. You're might take a look in his cage (without opening it) at night though, BPs are more active then anyway.
For the stuck shed, you might want humidity higher though...like 70%.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jaguar63122

update....Cold side 80.96. Hot side 91.7.... humidity up to 60....so far so good. Poseidon sticks his head outside hide and I do not see him opening his mouth. But when he sees me he is gone!

Question... so just keep temps high for 1 week or 2? Do I check on him in hide or do I not stress him and leave alone the whole time?


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Thats what I keep all my snakes at anyways. Cool temps are a recipe for RI. My enclosures are 80 & 91/92. All my snakes, Burms included spend more time in their Cool hides than Hot, but having the cool 80+ is best IMO.
Also id let the guy be for a week min. With all thats gone on in a short period of time he needs a break.
As far as sticking his head out thats Great. My Balls stick their heads out every night. This is normal behavior. Dont expect much else from a Ball. They explore in the middle of the night sometimes but there is a reason people call them a Pet Rock.



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Sounds like your BP got TMJ if it makes popping noise when opening its mouth!! Makes sense when it opened its mouth for 180 degrees for a big meal!!!

Just kidding, probably not TMJ. Since you already fed yesterday im not sure soaking today is a good idea unless you can keep it warm enough for hours. I would wait a couple of days for digestion and help its shedding.

When i first got BP it didnt eat almost a month and couldnt shed. It was too dry and when i figured something is wrong it was too late to shed by itself. So i socked my ball baby for 20min which was quite short time.the old skin just kept breaking but didnt come along as a one shed.

eventually i had to use some gentle scrub and peel it all, which was hellish process and so much stress on the snake. In the end of bath the snake kept its mouth wide open and try to bite anything on the air like swinging a baseball bat hoping to hit something.

Anyways its an old story. Despite of all the stress, it started to eat a few weeks later, and when i put wet cypress mulch in the tank for right humidity 50-60% it shed normally.

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Thanks again.... got home from work temps still good... humidity was down to I dampened some substrate and boosted it back up. Had his head out again.... looks pretty content. Thanks again for all the help. I learn more and more everyday on here.

Thanks,
Letreze


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