Hurrah!

It's starting to warm up and my little snake doesn't hide so much anymore! It's time to play. hehe

... Just curious about what you mean? What's his temps in his tubs now? Have they been low before now?

They have been a little low for my liking but perfectly sitable for the most part. She has always had an appropriate basking area but now the the actual temp has risen she roams around a bit more.

Is there a stress trigger somewhere? How low are your temps? Make sure your viv isn't in a high traffic area or where the dogs/cats/ pets can harrass and frighten your snakey baby.

No I'm starting to think she's stressed. Nothing can disturb her because she's all alone. Temp is fine but humidity is about 45. Maybe she's about to go into shed? It has been a while and she might be due.

Well, I hope she isn't stressed. If she is I wouldn't even know what to do. :(

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Originally Posted by Dreamer

No I'm starting to think she's stressed. Nothing can disturb her because she's all alone. Temp is fine but humidity is about 45. Maybe she's about to go into shed? It has been a while and she might be due.

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Just bump the humidity up to 70% and youre good to go :D

Is 70 ideal? Should it be a bit higher when she is in shed?

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Originally Posted by Dreamer

Is 70 ideal? Should it be a bit higher when she is in shed?

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50% when not in "blue" and 70% when in "blue". Also, if her temps have been low, make sure to keep her temps highers when she's in shed. Low temps and high humidity can cause RI. How are you keep her heated btw? She in a tub or a tank? If you can wing it, use a tub. Holds heat and humidity WAY better, easier to clean and saves ya space. :D

Blue? RI? Sorry, I'm just not familiar with those terms. =/
She's in a 20L tank, aspen substrate, with an undertank heater and 70 watt heat lamp.

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. :)

Well Dreamer looks like you got plenty of unsolicited advice.....just because your snake is more active, doesn't mean you're doing anything wrong. Your snake will stop eating if he's stressed. Ball pythons don't need alot of room, and a 20g is plenty until he's closer to 1000 grams (around 2 years old on average). I know it's hard to fit all those hides and a water dish in there though! I myself chose a smaller water dish, it doesn't need to be big enough to soak in. Then I had room for multiple hides. Good luck!