Peppers basking bulb blew up and got glass on her

[4Dobermans]

It's late here, as far as addressing your set-up (there's other issues too). I don't know of anyone else with a 'hose' dripping water, so there has to be a better way to humidify.

I don't think for a minute that this was anything but an accident, but it's still up to us to prevent accidents. It sounds like she's okay, & I'm glad. But it's time to change what you're doing.

Is it normal that peppers pupils have always been a little different in size not even really noticeable but I have noticed that one is slightly always a little bigger than the other pupil. I think she has always had it and both react to light but this one is always slightly bigger pupil.


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[Caitlin]

Look, your setup needs work, so I hope it's OK if I and others comment on it. I live in a dry area, too. As I write this, the overall humidity in my snake room is 20%. But I have snakes that require anything from moderate humidity - my Ball Python and Green Tree Python are happiest with humidity at about 55-60% - to high humidity - my Brazilian Rainbow Boa needs a minimum of 85% humidity and preferably higher.

I don't use misters or foggers with ANY of my snakes. I don't like them because they are a PITA to keep clean so that they don't just spray bacteria around. In your situation I'd honestly get that thing out of Pepper's enclosure right away. I've kept snakes for 30 years and never had a bulb or heating element blow up; please just remove the risk until you can get your enclosure sorted out.

You're using aspen substrate, which works for some people but for people like me who live in very dry areas, it is terrible for holding humidity. If you switch to something like cypress mulch (Forest Floor brand, for example) or coconut husk substrate like ReptiChip, make it a good 2-3" deep, and keep that substrate just SLIGHTLY damp with water, your humidity will increase and stay stable. You can also get sphagnum moss, get it damp, and mix it in with the substrate for extra help with humidity.

You're using a glass tank. Is the screen top open to the air? Or have you covered most of it with HVAC/foil tape (sorry, I can't tell from your photos). You are using bulbs for heating, which are hell on humidity. If you use a CHE plus a UTH that should work, and will be easier on humidity. It looks like a small tank, so even a lower wattage CHE should keep temperatures reasonable, and a UTH can boost the warm spot if needed.

From your post history it seems like you've had a lot of trouble using heating and basking bulbs. I'd suggest that you stop using bulbs and just switch to a CHE + UTH.

I don't usually recommend Facebook groups because Facebook can be toxic and crazy, but in this case I am going to suggest that you join a group called 'New Ball Python Keepers'. I know Pepper is a Boa, but I think the information you'll find in that group will help you. I'm an admin there and I can guarantee we have zero tolerance for rudeness or for people who give bad information. There are files there on how to set up a tank or tub safely, how to manage humidity, etc.

I know you love Pepper. I also know new keepers need a lot of help and information (so do veteran keepers sometimes!). So hang in there and try to be open to making changes that can help with your enclosure setup and help Pepper stay cozy and healthy.

[Hugsplox]

From your post history it seems like you've had a lot of trouble using heating and basking bulbs. I'd suggest that you stop using bulbs and just switch to a CHE + UTH.

THIS

Also, and please don't take this as me being rude or abrasive, but I remember your last post where you were worried Pepper and IBD but couldn't tell us why. A lot of users suggested you go to the vet and you kind of brushed that suggestion off and are doing the same here. Someone mentioned setting aside some funds for better equipment and emergency vet visits, and this is exactly why. We can't sit here and diagnose injuries or illness with your animal, and I promise you a vet will make you feel 100% better than we can on the internet. You've got some husbandry issues that were addressed in your previous post, and not to jump down your throat but it doesn't seem like you've addressed any of them, and are now having additional issues. I really don't mean to sound rude but it seems like you're just looking for someone to tell you that your snake is fine so you can move on and not make the changes that are being suggested to you.

[4Dobermans]

She has a 40 gallon tank and I haven’t been keeping her on aspen but I was out and it was either this or papers. Her soil had glass in it so I took it all out and washed everything off and put some aspen in there since I was out of eco earth. I have tried spraying the dirt with water and moss but non of that works because it can cause scale rot and it still dries up very fast. The Che is a 100watt but it only gets to about 79 degrees and that’s okay for the night but the basking bulbs I use keep to around 85-90 degrees during the day. I also just don’t feel comfortable leaving the ceramic on all day because my bulbs usually burn out in less than 3 months only using them during the night. Pepper also does bask under her bulb sometimes. It’s winter and it hasn’t snowed or rained here even 3 times this whole year. I will use the foggers because those keep it nice a humid in there for her but the bulb was just a stupid accident. I still don’t even know if it was the water because the bulb is a few inches off the screen. I moved the hose over her bamboo and the dome is over the wood hut so those two won’t clash again. It’s so dry here my hands are literally cracking and bleeding. I am trying and I will raise the humidity because she will be shedding soon, I believe. I will be getting her some new eco earth on Friday and more large mice.

[4Dobermans]

THIS

Also, and please don't take this as me being rude or abrasive, but I remember your last post where you were worried Pepper and IBD but couldn't tell us why. A lot of users suggested you go to the vet and you kind of brushed that suggestion off and are doing the same here. Someone mentioned setting aside some funds for better equipment and emergency vet visits, and this is exactly why. We can't sit here and diagnose injuries or illness with your animal, and I promise you a vet will make you feel 100% better than we can on the internet. You've got some husbandry issues that were addressed in your previous post, and not to jump down your throat but it doesn't seem like you've addressed any of them, and are now having additional issues. I really don't mean to sound rude but it seems like you're just looking for someone to tell you that your snake is fine so you can move on and not make the changes that are being suggested to you.

Trust me a vet visit will not make me better, I would not trust that lady with my snake for all the tea in China. I really am not trying to but you don’t know this vet she is Horrible and I mean she really shouldn’t even be a vet. My animal went in there breathing heavily after she diagnosed her with a tooth infection and she wasn’t getting better after a few days, so I took her back and the lady said to leave her for the day. We were ready to get her after a few hours because the lady called and said she was very stressed there but she wouldn’t let us get her until it was the scheduled checkout time. She came home on her side and less than 10 minutes she literally died in my lap. I called and the vet said she wasn’t that bad there and she was eating and moving around, how could the lady get her go eat when even I couldn’t and had to force feed her? She then went on to say that we must have done something between the 10 minutes because she was “fine” there. My father picked her up and he said she was on her side breathing really hard when the technician gave her back. I already took her to that vet before that happened and I will never do it again. I had that animal for years and I loved her and it was obviously a mistake to take her to that lady.


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[Bogertophis]

Trust me a vet visit will not make me better, I would not trust that lady with my snake for all the tea in China. I really am not trying to but you don’t know this vet she is Horrible and I mean she really shouldn’t even be a vet. My animal went in there breathing heavily after she diagnosed her with a tooth infection and she wasn’t getting better after a few days, so I took her back and the lady said to leave her for the day. We were ready to get her after a few hours because the lady called and said she was very stressed there but she wouldn’t let us get her until it was the scheduled checkout time. She came home on her side and less than 10 minutes she literally died in my lap. I called and the vet said she wasn’t that bad there and she was eating and moving around, how could the lady get her go eat when even I couldn’t and had to force feed her? She then went on to say that we must have done something between the 10 minutes because she was “fine” there. My father picked her up and he said she was on her side breathing really hard when the technician gave her back. I already took her to that vet before that happened and I will never do it again. I had that animal for years and I loved her and it was obviously a mistake to take her to that lady.


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Enough excuses! Find a better vet: https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661

And the best way to avoid going to the vet is to FIX YOUR HUSBANDRY ISSUES.

[4Dobermans]

THIS

Also, and please don't take this as me being rude or abrasive, but I remember your last post where you were worried Pepper and IBD but couldn't tell us why. A lot of users suggested you go to the vet and you kind of brushed that suggestion off and are doing the same here. Someone mentioned setting aside some funds for better equipment and emergency vet visits, and this is exactly why. We can't sit here and diagnose injuries or illness with your animal, and I promise you a vet will make you feel 100% better than we can on the internet. You've got some husbandry issues that were addressed in your previous post, and not to jump down your throat but it doesn't seem like you've addressed any of them, and are now having additional issues. I really don't mean to sound rude but it seems like you're just looking for someone to tell you that your snake is fine so you can move on and not make the changes that are being suggested to you.

And the sad thing is that we have been going to that animal hospital for almost 30 years.
I trusted those people with my pet but that was a big mistake.
The lady told us the first time that her back tooth was infected. But the second time said it was a respiratory infection, how can those two get mixed up? A different vet form the same hospital said that my bps tail tip turning black was normal and she should be fine, go find out it isn’t normal for their tip to turn black and fall off for no reason.


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[Caitlin]

If your CHE are burning out in less than 3 months, something else is wrong. I'm hoping others can chime in here as I have never experienced this before. A 100 watt CHE should be enough to keep your 40 gallon at proper temps, though if your room is kept chilly you may need a higher wattage or a supplemental UTH. There is no reason you should have to worry about keeping your CHE on at all times; this needs to be addressed for the sake of your snake.

An enclosure with proper humidity will not cause scale rot. Scale rot arises from a combination of wet substrate (WET, not the very slight dampness that you find in properly hydrated substrate), incorrect temperatures, and enclosures that aren't clean.

This is what I share with new keepers who are struggling with humidity:
1. Use a moisture-friendly substrate such as cypress mulch or coconut husk. These substrates are good for mixing water into them and not molding.

2. When the substrate eventually dries out and humidity drops below desired levels, re-hydrate it. My method is to remove the artificial plants, hides, water bowl, etc. and pour several cups of water (depending on enclosure size) directly onto the substrate. You want your substrate to feel just slightly moist, but not so much that it makes your hands wet or that you can squeeze water out of it. Mix it in thoroughly, spread it out, and then replace the furniture in the enclosure. This enables the moisture to evaporate slowly throughout the week, because it is deep in the layers, rather than quickly if you mist just the top of the substrate.

3. Seal off about 3/4 of a screen mesh lid (if you have glass or a terrarium that has a screen top lid) with foil tape. Foil tape is good because aluminum does not get hot like other metals. You can use straight up aluminum foil as well, but it's crinkly and loud, does not seal as well, and is often difficult to maintain with removing the lid now and then.

4. Use a large water bowl, and put it somewhere near your heating element (either over an Under Tank Heater, or near a Ceramic Heat Emitter or Radiant Heat Panel). The extra water in the tank will evaporate into the air.

5. Mix sphagnum moss with water and squeeze it out until it is damp but not "dripping". You can either mix it straight into the substrate or put it in little mesh bags or stockings to make "moss balls", or set it in little cups where you can add more water over time.

[4Dobermans]

Enough excuses! Find a better vet: https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661

And the best way to avoid going to the vet is to FIX YOUR HUSBANDRY ISSUES.

I just did that and it said that there was no matches. I honestly don’t know how to make it better considering I can’t buy anything until Friday.

And by the way they aren’t excuses because they have really happened!! And since I am lying I know the name of each animal hospital. This other one I haven’t went to before but took my chicken because she had a staph infection, said that it was cancer. It wasn’t cancer considering a huge kernel plus pus popped out and after months it finally healed.

Prescott animal hospital and there are 3 vets that take reptiles but I have tried all of them.
Premier pet hospital. Only one doctor takes reptiles here

Those are the only two that take exotic animals in Prescott.


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[Hugsplox]

I just did that and it said that there was no matches. I honestly don’t know how to make it better considering I can’t buy anything until Friday.

And by the way they aren’t excuses because they have really happened!! And since I am lying I know the name of each animal hospital. This other one I haven’t went to before but took my chicken because she had a staph infection, said that it was cancer. It wasn’t cancer considering a huge kernel plus pus popped out and after months it finally healed.

Prescott animal hospital and there are 3 vets that take reptiles but I have tried all of them.
Premier pet hospital. Only one doctor takes reptiles here

Those are the only two that take exotic animals in Prescott.


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Again not being rude, but this is the same story you gave on your other post, yet you still have all these animals with, allegedly, no vet that you trust to take them to. If I didn't have a vet I trusted to take reptiles to in my area, then I wouldn't have reptiles. This is like pet keeping 101, and I'm at a loss as to what else to tell you or how else we're supposed to help you. You told us on your last post that it was hard to have funds available for basic husbandry because you had all these other pets, now you're saying you can't buy anything until Friday. I'm sorry but exotic pets require exotic vets and supplies, all of which can be expensive, and if you don't have the funds to dedicate to that then maybe it's time to consider rehoming.