I think my snake has a burn.

[skylord0110]

Also to the person who asked. I'm 16. I'll be 17 in a few days. And guess what? Probably going to lose all the money I have at the vet. I'm more than willing to throw money away if it means helping her, but I just want you to realize that a trip to a vet isn't a simple thing for me.

[dr del]

Hi,

You can get the temps from here. That gives the temps we recommend inside the hot and cool hides but it depends on your room and other factors what you need to set the thermostat to to get them dialed in.

Bear in mind you need to check under any substrate too and adjust the depth/ type if it gets over 95f under it. Snakes can burrow or crawl under things - and usually do so when you are really wishing they wouldn't.

Tone is very hard to read in text unfortunately - but, knowing these people they really do have your snakes interests at heart. Oh and it might be a good forward planning move to not handle her for two days after feeding so as to avoid problems when you increase prey size. It depends on the snake really but if you are feeding small or medium rats then one day isn't enough to digest it and it may cause a regurge if she freaks out.

ETA: I had a look and the picture problem is because you are using a secure google mail account - you can see them because you have permission to access the page but nobody else can see them as they ( rightly ) do not.

You can put them in the free gallery space on here or you can host them on any of the image hosting sites and they should show up just fine for the rest of us.

[Godzilla78]

Tone or no tone, you are keeping your snake in a poor way

[BluuWolf]

I know sometimes people here can come off as rude, but they really do have the best intentions at heart. They have seen many a new person come on here with similar issues and not take the advice given and end up with an injured or dead snake. They know have seen all this stuff first had and don’t sugar coat it because if they come off to nice what they are saying won’t seem as urgent as it is.

I would just ignore the tone and take the advice because the advice is great and will really help you Snake in the long run.

As for the vet, keep everything as simple as possible. Unplug that UTH until you have a thermostat and use paper towels as substrate so you can monitor its belly better and so it won’t get dirty. As for the thermostat you want to set it to a few degrees higher then what you want the belly heat to be, so about 95 or so. Then you’ll want to make sure to check the temperatures of the substrate and glass with a temp gun to make sure they don’t get to hot. The ideal heat you will be looking for max in the enclosure is about 91.


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[skylord0110]

Tone or no tone, you are keeping your snake in a poor way

Well I won't try to change your opinion. You're free to think that. I'm not here to be told I'm doing my snake harm. I want to know what I can improve upon. Thanks. Also I want your opinions on how her belly looks. To me it doesn't look bad, but it's not like I commonly see tons of ball python bellies.

[hilabeans]

I think you are feeling beat up, so here is some encouragement!

You are 16 years old and discovering the word's greatest hobby - how cool! I wish I was that cool at 16. I didn't get into this until my late 30s. I think you are trying really hard to do it the right way and will make an excellent snarent. It's obvious you want what's best because you are here asking for help.

We certainly DO NOT want you to bail on this site because you are feeling attacked. You need us! And your snake needs us. Once you get this stuff figured out it will all be easy breazy from here on.

Now the tough love:

The tone you are hearing is for a reason - you don't have a second to waste in getting these critical elements of your husbandry corrected. Too much heat on your snake can not only cause physical pain and scarring to your animal, but can cause neurological issues as well.

Nobody is chewing you out because they feel like it, or because they are mean spirited, but because this is a HUGE issue you must fix immediately. So that's the tone you're hearing, not mean-ness, but more like a slap to someone who's unconcious. Just a little jolt of reality. Truth is - this is one of the kindest, most supportive resources out there for reptile keepers. You want mean? Join some of the FB groups for bp lovers. (just kidding, don't do that - those people are awful)

I think you've got the picture now and you're making your adjustments. We love nothing more than someone who admits mistakes, listens to advice, acts, corrects, and comes back here with an update on how wonderful everything now is.

[ladywhipple02]

Also I'll handle her for over an hour if I want to. It's not an hour plus every day, and I'll avoid handling her until I know she's okay, but when she is okay I'm going to handle her for long periods of time. And I wait at least a full day before handling her after she eats. She hasn't shown any signs of stress yet, and plenty of people get along fine doing the same thing.

Annnnnd you sound 16 here. Sorry, but the immature attitude of I'll do what I want whether it's the best thing or not... not really helping your snake. Good luck.

[skylord0110]

Annnnnd you sound 16 here. Sorry, but the immature attitude of I'll do what I want whether it's the best thing or not... not really helping your snake. Good luck.

Well I'm saying that because I'm trying to be honest here. I'm not going to stop handling my snake when there is no reason to. I value your opinions, but when it comes to things that vary from snake to snake I'm more experienced than all of you when it comes to Nausicaa. When it comes to handling her (When I know she is healthy of course) she is fine with being out for hours. She has never shown any signs of stress.

[Craiga 01453]

Well I won't try to change your opinion. You're free to think that. I'm not here to be told I'm doing my snake harm. I want to know what I can improve upon. Thanks. Also I want your opinions on how her belly looks. To me it doesn't look bad, but it's not like I commonly see tons of ball python bellies.

You say you want to know what to correct, yet you were given a valuable piece of advice on your handling sessions being too long. You shot it down... So what makes us think you really want what's best for your snake?? If you really want to help your snake be open to the suggestions and we'll be happy to explain why you shouldn't have your BP out that long. Taking our advice showsyou care. Disregarding it shows you're selfish and putting your desires ahead of the snakes health and we'll being.



Look, we're here to help...because we care.
I get it, you're young, but you need to learn to accept constructive criticism. If you truly care for your snake you'll take the advice given. The people trying to help you have decades upon decades of proven success with thousands of animals.

That being said, is there more than one way to do things? Of course. But until you've got the experience to identify stress and other behaviors it's best to stick to basics.

To answer your question on what to set your t-stat at, you'll have to experiment because it's different for everybody. Set it, then a little while later check the temp with a temp gun (on the surface, not the substrate). If it's too high, lower the t-stat. If it's too low, raise it. It'll take some trial and error to get it dialed in.

So, as you can see, we're here to help. Whether people continue to offer there time and experience to you is up to you. If you're mature, receptive and apply what you learn we'll continue to want to help you. If you're argumentative and combative and pick and choose what advice you take, less and less people will choose to help.

I wish you and your snake the best...

[Kcl]

Maximum cleanliness, silver sulfadiazine cream (SSD, sold under names like silvadene), and monitoring for infection (signs of pus, injury getting worse instead of better, inflammation, increased/different discoloration sometimes) are usually best for burns outside of the vet visit. And of course, fixing the issue that created the burn.

Just as a note since I do have a bioactive setup - doing bioactive well is expensive and somewhat tricky. Just be aware of that since it sounds like your funds are pretty limited.