Home Treatments for RI (Vicks?)

[CthulhuChan]

Hello All,

I noticed recently that my ball python (2 years old) has begun to exhibit some RI symptoms. She has a bit of squeaking/wheezing when she is breathing heavily and a little bit of bubbling in the back of her throat. She isn't acting sick, eating well and being pretty active, so if she does have an RI, I believe it is in it's early stages. I immediately called my vet and booked an appointment, but she can't get in until two weeks from now. (COVID, ugh). So although I am getting her seen ASAP, I still wonder if there is anything I can do to help her in the mean time before her appointment to alleviate her symptoms or prevent her from worsening. I have heard of the Vicks vaporub or eucalyptus oil treatment. Will that help? Could it hurt her worse? Have any of you had experience with it? Also, if anyone has any other suggestions that would be great. Just trying to keep my baby girl happy and healthy!

Thanks a bunch!

[Bogertophis]

Both Vicks or eucalyptus oil are toxic to snakes & should NEVER be used in or on them in ANY way. I'm very glad you asked, & it's far better to wait for your vet to see her than to do the absolute wrong thing in the meantime. She isn't even that sick yet, according to your description- just keep her safe at home until you see the vet.

What are the temps. in her home, & how are you measuring them? Sometimes a minimal (2-3*) bump up of the warmth will help, but I hesitate to even suggest that, not knowing what temps. she's already being kept at, because if she's already at the maximum temperature for safety, that's just not an option.

[CthulhuChan]

Thanks for your reply! Glad to know that, definitely wouldn't want to risk making her sicker. She is normally kept with a hotspot of 92f, ambient temperature at about 78f. I measure using a digital thermometer for the ambient, a thermostat for her heat mat, and a lazer surface temp reader as well. I did bump up her hotspot to 95 (which, over the substrate, was reading more like 93-94). I was thinking about giving her some extra soaks because I suspect that she may have developed this RI due to her humidity being too low for a while. I was able to get her humidity regulated but there were a couple weeks where I was struggling to keep it over 50%.

[Bogertophis]

I'd keep the "hot spot" surface to nothing over 90-91*- keep in mind that some digital thermometers can also be off by a couple degrees, & that "best advice" for BPs is to keep their heat to 88*-90* at the most. You don't need a heat injury (burn or neurological) on top of an RI, right? You do want more humidity- have you tried offering her a humid-hide? Soaks can be stressful (for the snake, I mean- ).

[CthulhuChan]

Thanks, I'll keep that in mind with her temps. I forgot humid hides were a thing, good idea. Ill fashion one for her, good idea to have one around anyway just in case

[Bogertophis]

Your choice of substrate will be the biggest influence on the humidity. What are you using? And what kind of enclosure is this? (ie. screen top?)

I use humid hides for some of my snakes- they really use & seem to enjoy them- like a "day at the spa"- .

As far as temps.- if yours were on the low end (88*) then a bump-up of 3* would have been worth a try, but not since your temps. are already too high.

[Caitlin]

I live in a super arid area so I've had to find multiple strategies to deal with the godawful humidity here, especially in the winter when ambient humidity in my house can sit at 19-22% for days at a time.

One thing I've found that is a nice alternative or addition to a humid hide is to simply keep a big bowl (or upside-down hide) filled with damp sphagnum moss. Almost all of my snakes really seem to love it - they'll sit on their moss 'cushion' or partly bury themselves. I let the moss gradually dry out on its own over the course of 3-4 days so that even the snakes that tend to stay there all of the time aren't constantly sitting in the damp. I re-moisten the moss a couple of times a week and have been seeing perfect sheds even with this hellish humidity. The photo below is of my Stimson's Python Jake, who doesn't seem to care for humidity hides but really loves his moss 'bed' and will spend hours on it regardless of whether it's fully damp or nearly dried out. I put his moss box (upside down hide) on top of his regular hide.
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[CthulhuChan]

Yeah I adjusted her temps per your suggestion. I've been using coconut fiber substrate in a screen top enclosure. For a while I was using paper towels/newspaper to avoid substrate ingestion but the humidity was way too low so now I use the coco fiber but feed her outside her tank. I had an issue pretty shortly after I got her where she ate too much substrate and then had a prolapse, so I'm really paranoid about it now. She's kind of a "messy eater" lol, but that's besides the point. Anyway I cover a good portion of the screen top with plastic to keep the humidity up.

[Bogertophis]

Some of my snakes have "moss cushions" too, lol...as described above by Caitlin. And for a heavy-bodied snake like a BP, that's probably a better option than a completely enclosed humid hide, since fitting thru the "doorway" might be awkward for them. I do the same thing, replenishing the moisture from time to time, & my snakes will hide in or under the damp moss, usually peeking out & feeling very smug & secure. (it's pretty cute!)

You might need to cover nearly all of your screen top to maintain enough humidity for a BP. You'll notice that many endorse the professionally-made PVC/plastic enclosures because they "retain humidity better", but that has nothing to do with the material they're made of, and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that there are only a few tiny vents for air exchange. The more air going in & out of a heated enclosure, the faster you lose humidity.

[lovepig78]

You can try nebulizing some F10 in the meantime. You’d just need a reptile fogger and some F10. There’s some videos out there on how to do it.