This isn't good. NOT AT ALL.

I had a good feeling lack of heat at night would casue something bad for Gem.

She now had the startings of a respirtory infection, i took her out and heard her do the puffing noise.

And to make things even worst, i discovered a mite crawling on her head.

For now i'm keeping the heat lamp on at all times, which is at 94ish. And i'm keeping the heat pad on as well.

I need some advise quick, i'm probably going to take her to the vet if possible tomorow.

Tonight i'm running to walmart to get that digital thermom and hydrom 12 dollar device. Hooking that up and making sure my readings are correct.

You should definatly get her to a vet asap. as for the light... you might want to think about possibly another heat pad at least because keeping the light on 24/7 will stress out your snake. Unless its a nighttime light... For the mites, make sure you clean and disinfect your cage, also go ahead and get some Provent-a-mite cuz this is the only way to be sure to get rid of the mites, eggs, etc... I know it might be expensive, but using flexwatt and a thermostat is the best bet to make sure thoes temps stay where they should. you could however, ditch the light, get another heat pad, and two rhetostats (sp) and hook them up to your two heat pads to create the warm and cool spots.... just a suggestion. But above all else, take a few breaths, calm down, you seem to be worried and plan on doing somethign about it! gatta give you credit for that! :-)

the best thing to do is take it to the vet. you might have got lucky and jus caught the begining of it so there really isn't a lot of room for real damage!

You should keep it warm (like u said 94ish) with the humidity a little less than normal, but not to much less.

jus get it into the vet just to be on the safe side

Alright i plan on taking her to the vet tomorow. Sigh i hope she's alright. I just cant afford to buy a tstat/herpstat/(insert word here)stat right now.

As for the mites, I'm taking everything out of her enclosure tonight and cleaning them.

How much do the shots usually cost at the vet? i hope its not some outragous price, geeze.

Take her to the Vet asap. Also, you many want to rethink your husbandry practices to ensure that this does not recur or cause a respiratory infection in your other bp. Make sure your temps are 92-94 on the warm side and 82-84 on the cool end. The ambient temps should not fall below 80. This has to be maintained 24/7. Getting the accurite from walmart is a good step forward. You should also give Matt at www.mgreptiles.com a call and check out some flex-watt and thermostat combinations. The thing with regular UTH pads and temperature gauges are that they are prone to severe errors that would be detremental to your husbandry. Basically you want things to stay constant and not fluctuate. Once again, please make sure that you are on top of your husbandry for the sake of your snakes. Good Luck! :)

Ok, just saw the post about "cant afford the thermostats thing." I think you should be able to get a dimmer or a rheostat of somekind from Lowes or Home depot and use that in conjunction with your accurite to gauge your temps. I would also suggest that you save up some money if you can for the flexwatt and the thermostats. Its not worth owning the animal if you cannot provide for it the care it needs. That's just my opinion :)

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Originally Posted by Roundabout136

How much do the shots usually cost at the vet? i hope its not some outragous price, geeze.

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Varies from vet to vet. Mine cost around $100 to round it off.

Ok well i just got home from wally world and went ahead and put in the therm/hydro acurate device....heh.

It's reading 95 warm side, and 74 on her cold side.

I looked at the plastic storage bins as well, found one that looked to be the right size. But it seemed a little too short.

I feel so bad for her becuase whenever i come up to her cage to look at the temperature or do anyting near it she sticks her head out and watches me.

Poor little baby. I'm taking her to the vet tomorow, i haven't called or anything yet, i'm planning on calling tomorow morning or when i get home from classes.

What should i do for tonight? Should i leave the heat lamp on?

And on top of RI, and mites. I now see that she has a dimple in her eye.

My humidity is reading 55....wth

Ok so.....daytime correct temp is 95 on warm side, 77 on cool side, and 55 humidity.

That's how its been for a while, that's even what my old temp guage and humidity guage said. Weird....

I'm taking her to the vet as soon as i get home from classes today. When i return i'm completely cleaning out her enclosure, making sure everythings out of there.

When the vet treats the snake for an RI do they keep the snake over night or do they do it on the spot?

I appreciate the help and long live gem hehe.

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Originally Posted by Roundabout136

When the vet treats the snake for an RI do they keep the snake over night or do they do it on the spot?

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Mine was treated on the spot. I did not have to leave the snake overnight either. Also, try to get that 77 up to like an 82-84. Good luck.

the dimpled eye is a humidity issue, get a margerine tub say 1ltr and get some sphagnum moss, cut a hole in the lid of the marge tub fill it with damp sphagnum moss and u have a controllable 100% humid hide! that should alleviate any probs with humidity in the future

Ok so until i get enough money to go ahead and buy some flexwatt and a tstat/herpstat i'm going to try to keep using the 20g tank. I can get the daytime temperatures and humidity perfect, its just night time is the biggest problem. Is there a bulb i can buy for now that doesn't emit that much light at night but is a good source for heat?

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Originally Posted by Roundabout136

... its just night time is the biggest problem. Is there a bulb i can buy for now that doesn't emit that much light at night but is a good source for heat?

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They make red bulbs for reptile heat. Just look for it where they sell the rest of the bulbs in the pet store. As far as the reptiles are concerned "red light" is the same as "no light."

exactly but u need a decent thermostat if u bought a twin channel dimmer u can control the light and the heater/cable etc off one item!

Alright thanks everyone, i'll report back later today with what happened at the vet!

Ok well things are looking better. I called a ton of vets, mostly being turned down when i mentioned i have an "exotic animal" heh. I found a few vet's around my area that would help and i made an appointment with one for tomorow. There were no available times today, DOH.

I completely cleaned out her cage today. I took her out and didn't hear her making the puffing noise that much, but maybe twice. Temperatures and humidity are pretty stable, except my cool side is around 77 during the day, i have no clue how to raise that, i'm thinking of ideas.

The price for the check up is 52 bucks, anyone know a rough estimate of how much it would be for the shots?

AND, i didn't see any mites at all today, i looked really hard and long too, i made sure i looked at every square inch of her and her enclosure.