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  1. #401
    BPnet Veteran Starscream's Avatar
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    Re: Mazikeen progression thread

    Got some video from the night-vision camera of Maze climbing into her sky-hide, so hopefully they post properly and don't turn into weird links. If they do, sorry about that!





    Edit: direct link in case they're not working: http://imgur.com/a/V4gTo7C
    Last edited by Starscream; 04-25-2021 at 12:10 AM.
    0.1 Red Axanthic P. regius | Mazikeen
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    E. climacophora | Lan Fan
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    C. paulsoni | Inej


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  3. #402
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    Hey, That's really cool! I think she approves too.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

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  5. #403
    BPnet Veteran Starscream's Avatar
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    Re: Mazikeen progression thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
    Hey, That's really cool! I think she approves too.
    She definitely does! It is her second most-used hide. And it lets her look down upon the world, which she likes to do when I peek in on her during the day. She's a very curious girl.
    0.1 Red Axanthic P. regius | Mazikeen
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    E. climacophora | Lan Fan
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    C. paulsoni | Inej


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  7. #404
    BPnet Veteran Luvyna's Avatar
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    It's so cool to see her climbing up! The sky hide is one of the best ideas for enclosures and wonderful enrichment. I also love how Maze stares at the camera toward the end of the first video as if she knows someone is watching her

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  9. #405
    BPnet Veteran Starscream's Avatar
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    Re: Mazikeen progression thread

    Quote Originally Posted by Luvyna View Post
    It's so cool to see her climbing up! The sky hide is one of the best ideas for enclosures and wonderful enrichment. I also love how Maze stares at the camera toward the end of the first video as if she knows someone is watching her
    Agreed, sky hides are great. I'm honestly tempted to give her a second one.

    Oh yeah, I'm pretty sure she can see the IR the camera gives off for night vision. She doesn't seem too disturbed by it, other than occasionally staring at it lol, so I think it's fine? I hope so. She still wanders around at night like it doesn't bother her.
    0.1 Red Axanthic P. regius | Mazikeen
    0.1
    E. climacophora | Lan Fan
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    C. paulsoni | Inej


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  11. #406
    BPnet Veteran Starscream's Avatar
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    Re: Mazikeen progression thread

    Maze shed recently, and has been making a few tours around her house during the day. Not frequent, but I did catch her in time to take a few pictures before she decided she had enough and went to back to sleep upstairs lol.

    Edit: She also started knocking down the camera so I've since nailed the wire for it into the top of the enclosure as a deterrent. One of the bad things about letting a snake climb -- they will climb literally anything and everything.
    Last edited by Starscream; 05-15-2021 at 04:35 PM.
    0.1 Red Axanthic P. regius | Mazikeen
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    E. climacophora | Lan Fan
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    C. paulsoni | Inej


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  13. #407
    BPnet Veteran Starscream's Avatar
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    Unfortunately, the camera-knocking shenanigans became a nightly theme, so I had to move it to an exterior location. Apparently Maze thought it was entertaining and was actively seeking it out just to knock it over, which was scaring the dogs. They didn't like the loud thumping noise from the camera hitting a branch.

    As for Maze herself, she's doing pretty well. Turned 4 on the 22nd, and had a rat a week later. Measuring in at 49 inches, so she grew an inch in a year. Stayed about the same weight, too, so I'm satisfied with where she's at. Here are some pictures from the other morning, before she decided to rest for the day.





    0.1 Red Axanthic P. regius | Mazikeen
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    E. climacophora | Lan Fan
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    C. paulsoni | Inej


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  15. #408
    BPnet Veteran Starscream's Avatar
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    Only updating again so soon because I was rereading my thread a bit, and ran into a portion where people were arguing about the validity of giving ball pythons climbing space, and then Maze did this tonight:



    Two thoughts:

    One, Maze doesn't give any hoots what people think about whether or not ball pythons are supposed to climb, she just does it. And to be fair, 3 feet isn't even really that high. Most movement recorded in the wild isn't counted as 'arboreal' until it goes over 6 feet, so 3 feet is pretty short in comparison.

    Second thought: This is exactly why light cages are necessary. Even though it's night time and the light is off, and I've never once seen her do this during the day, she very well could've shattered an exposed bulb. She's committed to keeping me on my toes, I'll give her that.
    0.1 Red Axanthic P. regius | Mazikeen
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    E. climacophora | Lan Fan
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    C. paulsoni | Inej


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  17. #409
    BPnet Veteran Starscream's Avatar
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    The phrase "when it rains, it pours" definitely applies here.

    For some backstory, my job is a traveling one. Usually, I only travel once a month for a week at a time, but lately I've had to be out every other week. Additionally, our oldest dog passed away at the beginning of the month from cancer. This has caused me to feel a little frazzled, so my attention hasn't been as sharp as usual in regards to the snakes. It's not an excuse, but I feel like it helps explain why I wasn't able to catch this any sooner, and why it didn't occur to me to do things differently until after the fact.

    Maze has scale rot. It's a minor case, says her vet. About a month ago, she shed, and a piece of one of her belly scales came with it. At the time, I thought I'd keep an eye on it, but then our dog's health really started to go downhill, and I had to leave the next day for the first of three trips. I now know I should have immediately pulled her out of her bioactive enclosure and put her in a sterile environment, but that's hindsight. It's easy to beat yourself up after the fact, and I can't say I've been entirely easy myself despite the circumstances.

    I get back from the trip and she's still fine, however our dog is not. We find out it's cancer 3 days before I leave for the next trip, and I spend all of those mourning. He passed the day after I left. Get back from that trip, check on Maze and I notice her scales are a little rough around the edges, but I'm still so distracted by everything else I again decide to keep an eye on it, which was a mistake. I leave for the third trip.

    I come back from the third trip, try to get settled. I pull her out on Saturday and her scales feel awful. Her belly is bright pink and inflamed, and the scales look puffed up and away from her body. There are brown patches dotted up and down her belly. It doesn't look anywhere near as bad as the pictures you find on the internet of scale rot, but I know immediately, this is scale rot. It's Saturday night, probably close to 9pm, so calling a reptile vet is out of the question until Monday. I immediately get her into a diluted betadine solution and let her soak for a bit. After that, I set up a sterile tub from one of her previous enclosures with just two hides and her large water bowl, all scrubbed down to get off any bacteria from her normal setup. Added some fake vines for cover. Sunday, I repeat the soak and show my roommate how to do it so she knows what to do just in case we have to keep this up while I'm gone. This photo is from Sunday night after her second soak:


    Monday, I call the vet. They get me an appointment for Wednesday and tell me to keep soaking her daily.

    Tuesday, she goes into shed. This is a good sign, because it means she's trying to heal; however, thanks to the shed, she now looks puffy and inflamed again. We go to the vet the next day and the vet tells me it looks minor, and there's only one darker spot he's concerned about. He prescribed us with Fortaz just in case, and gave her the first injection to show me how to do it. She did not like that at all --- she was pretty huffy when I'd gotten her out for the vet appointment, but by the time we got back and I gave her her daily soak, she was very angry. I'd go to wipe off the betadine and she'd huff immediately and loudly, the poor thing.

    We do the antibiotic injections every 3 days, with the last one being on the day I leave for my next trip. This was all entirely preventable, and it really, really sucks to see her in pain like this, but all I can do is make sure she gets better and provide her with better climbing opportunities so she's less likely to break a scale going forwards. I don't know what she broke the original scale on, but I figure giving her wall-mounted branches to catch herself on will hopefully prevent a full hard fall (I'm assuming) like that in the future. I'm also just mentally and emotionally drained between all that's happened, so I'm trying not to be too hard on myself, but I'm not gonna lie, it's hard.

    I'll keep y'all posted on her progress going forward.
    Last edited by Starscream; 07-29-2021 at 11:16 AM.
    0.1 Red Axanthic P. regius | Mazikeen
    0.1
    E. climacophora | Lan Fan
    0.1
    C. paulsoni | Inej


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  19. #410
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    Hey, so sorry for the "perfect storm" you're dealing with lately, with too much going on.

    On July 14th, I had to say good-bye & 'rest in peace' to my dog of 16 years ("Casey") so I know how bad you feel having just lost yours too. Dogs are more than wonderful companions, they're family, they make our lives interesting & fun, & it's always hard to lose them. Yet as painful as the loss is, our lives were immensely better for having them be part of it, and our dogs wouldn't want us to be forever sad either. Sounds like you have another dog too, & right now, I'm very glad that I do. We both miss our buddy, & together we won't forget her, but we're adjusting.

    Back to Maze, don't beat yourself up too much- it sounds like you're getting this scale infection under control. You do want to prevent "hard falls" in a snake's enclosure though- they can do internal damage & you won't necessarily know. Snakes & dogs are both very stoic- it's part of their survival instincts.

    Antibiotic injections are no fun- & once you're done with that & she's eating again, it might help to add Bene-Bac (for reptiles) to her food to help replenish what the Fortaz has removed from her gut microbiome.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

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