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  1. #1
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    Suggestions for a stressed snake

    I have a problem snake. She has been sick before and I’ve gotten her through it. The reason I’m posting is because I feel like I’m missing something or maybe I could try something else to help her that I just haven’t thought of.


    She pushes and tries to get out of her enclosure every single night. She is hurting herself, and stressing me out because I just want to help her. In my opinion she started doing this out of the blue, no changes had been made to her enclosure at all. I cannot figure out what is bothering her.


    Things I have done to try to solve it: New IR Thermometer Gun(bought a professional one just to make sure my surface temps weren’t off), moved her enclosure(I could feel a slight vibration when I touched the sides of the enclosure so I moved her to a different room), more clutter in her enclosure, lowering temps, two vet visits, both increasing and decreasing humidity, more places to hide, switching substrates.


    Below are the questionnaire responses in order.



    • I’ve had her almost three years
    • Little over three years old and over 4ft long.
    • Yes
    • She was fed on 9/3
    • Small Rat (I get mine from big cheese rodent factory) this is the only major change I have made was switching where I bought her food. She has had similar issues before this though.
    • Every 7 days
    • Animal plastics T8 (4x2x1)
    • I’ve tried several in the past month to see if maybe that was the issue she is currently on Reptisoil(no I do not feed her on it for risk of impaction). She has been on Reptichip and Eco earth too. No depth on it.
    • Radiant heat panel connected to a thermostat. (Proproducts)
    • Yes
    • To measure surface temps I use an IR temp gun (AMES brand from harbor frieght. Not the tiny cheap one, the way too large one. Thing is massive…). For ambient I use some digital thermometer hygrometer combos I got off Amazon.
    • Cool side surface 80-82f, ambient 80-81f. Warm side surface 89f-91f, ambient 85-87f.
    • 50-65%
    • Three Reptile basics black plastic hides and one cork log.
    • Yes, changed every couple of days.
    • Alone
    • Lately she is held as little as possible to reduce stress. Before all those 2-3 times a week for 15-30mins each time.
    • Yes, I got her from Petsmart with and RI and she has had trouble ever since. I can’t tell you how many RIs this snake has had. My poor vet sees me waaaay too often.
    • I own a BCI Boa as well. I’ve had her going on a year and a half now. Nothing new though. My Boa is perfectly healthy.
    • Just that she seems to always be sick or stressed and I can’t figure it out. She isn’t in a high traffic area in my home either, and my Boa is in an the same type of enclosure directly beneath her.

  2. #2
    BPnet Veteran nikkubus's Avatar
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    I'm not a vet, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say if she is "getting RI's over and over" and the husbandry is exactly as you say, she isn't actually getting over the RI at all, it's just getting slightly better and then bad again.

    How experienced is your vet with reptiles? Is he running cultures to treat with the correct antibiotic? Is it being given exactly as prescribed?

    I could be wrong but that's my best guess. Husbandry seems to be on point. My only other guess is there is something in your home aggravating her, do you use any cleaning chemicals, scent sprays, or something like that which might be bothering her? I guess that leads me to another idea, how often do you clean her enclosure and with what?
    7.22 BP 1.4 corn 1.1 SD retic 0.1 hognose

  3. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to nikkubus For This Useful Post:

    Bogertophis (09-07-2021),Hugsplox (09-07-2021)

  4. #3
    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    You did great answering the "Help us help you" questionnaire, but for future reference, it would help if you'd posted the questions (including #'s) along with your answers, since we don't have them memorized, lol. (When you just answer "yes" we have to figure out what you were answering yes to.) To quote that thread: "Just copy & paste the following questions into a new thread, or an ongoing thread that you've already started, with your husbandry question(s)."

    Anyway, I agree with nikkubus that seeing a vet with plenty of snake experience & training is essential. (And I'm not a vet either.) In case you need to find one, this may help: https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661

    Have you also had your vet check her stool for parasites? I've never had "worms" but I can imagine the internal symptoms would make me pretty restless & unhappy too, not to mention the actual damage they can do to a snake's body. And as was pointed out, the wrong antibiotic won't fully cure an infection, so that's a possibility too.

    Then after your snake was given antibiotics, did you include some probiotic* powder in her meals? (*such as Bene-Bac or other brand "FOR REPTILES" in her prey- I install it in the f/t prey's oral cavity, btw- otherwise most of it tends to fall off their damp fur.) Remember that antibiotics kill off the "good" bacteria along with the "bad"- & snakes need their "good" bacteria in their digestive tract to properly digest, just like we do, so giving them a probiotic AFTER a course of antibiotics can help recover, & also do no harm.


    Last edited by Bogertophis; 09-07-2021 at 09:57 AM.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

  5. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Bogertophis For This Useful Post:

    Hugsplox (09-07-2021),nikkubus (09-07-2021)

  6. #4
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    Re: Suggestions for a stressed snake

    Quote Originally Posted by nikkubus View Post
    I'm not a vet, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say if she is "getting RI's over and over" and the husbandry is exactly as you say, she isn't actually getting over the RI at all, it's just getting slightly better and then bad again.

    How experienced is your vet with reptiles? Is he running cultures to treat with the correct antibiotic? Is it being given exactly as prescribed?

    I could be wrong but that's my best guess. Husbandry seems to be on point. My only other guess is there is something in your home aggravating her, do you use any cleaning chemicals, scent sprays, or something like that which might be bothering her? I guess that leads me to another idea, how often do you clean her enclosure and with what?
    To the best of my knowledge my vet is very experienced with reptiles. When I first got my Boa she got too cold on the ride home and I had a power outage that night too. She wound up with and RI and the first vet I took her to just kept giving her Baytril. I switched to the vet I use now because she was clearly still sick. After he gave me the right antibiotic and taught me how to give shots she cleared up. Never been sick since thank goodness. I don’t know if he is running cultures, I would have to ask him. Yes, I’m giving the medicine exactly as prescribed. She hasn’t had one the last two times I’ve gone in to see him. There is something else wrong.

    As far as the cleaning and scented thing, I do use scent stuff to clean around my house. I haven’t used them in over a week though. My husband burns a scented candle three rooms away from her during the day while he works. Been doing a full clean of her enclosure every 2 weeks since she has been doing this. I use Chlorhexidine diluted as per the instructions in water. I spray the enclosure down and let it sit for 5-10 minutes before wiping it down and putting fresh substrate. I also clean her hides and water bowl with it.

  7. #5
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    Re: Suggestions for a stressed snake

    Quote Originally Posted by Bogertophis View Post
    You did great answering the "Help us help you" questionnaire, but for future reference, it would help if you'd posted the questions (including #'s) along with your answers, since we don't have them memorized, lol. (When you just answer "yes" we have to figure out what you were answering yes to.) To quote that thread: "Just copy & paste the following questions into a new thread, or an ongoing thread that you've already started, with your husbandry question(s)."

    Anyway, I agree with nikkubus that seeing a vet with plenty of snake experience & training is essential. (And I'm not a vet either.) In case you need to find one, this may help: https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661

    Have you also had your vet check her stool for parasites? I've never had "worms" but I can imagine the internal symptoms would make me pretty restless & unhappy too, not to mention the actual damage they can do to a snake's body. And as was pointed out, the wrong antibiotic won't fully cure an infection, so that's a possibility too.

    Then after your snake was given antibiotics, did you include some probiotic* powder in her meals? (*such as Bene-Bac or other brand "FOR REPTILES" in her prey- I install it in the f/t prey's oral cavity, btw- otherwise most of it tends to fall off their damp fur.) Remember that antibiotics kill off the "good" bacteria along with the "bad"- & snakes need their "good" bacteria in their digestive tract to properly digest, just like we do, so giving them a probiotic AFTER a course of antibiotics can help recover, & also do no harm.


    I use one of the vets on the list you linked. Yes we went down the parasite avenue and there was nothing. As far as the wrong antibiotic I’d have to talk with my vet about it. She doesn’t have an RI now and she hasn’t for quite a while, just wanted to throw that in for her medical back story. I’ve never given a probiotic. I’ll talk to my vet about one. Thank you for the suggestion.

  8. The Following User Says Thank You to Shyanna For This Useful Post:

    Bogertophis (09-07-2021)

  9. #6
    Bogertophis's Avatar
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    Re: Suggestions for a stressed snake

    Quote Originally Posted by Shyanna View Post
    ... I don’t know if he is running cultures, I would have to ask him.

    As far as the cleaning and scented thing, I do use scent stuff to clean around my house. I haven’t used them in over a week though. My husband burns a scented candle three rooms away from her during the day while he works...
    You would know, because it takes time to do a culture, to be sure what the pathogens respond to. Also costs more $, which is why some vets just guess & may not even ask/offer- they get tired of people saying "No, that's too expensive!".

    Some "scents" are irritating or even toxic to snakes- it might be worth considering, but it's not my "first choice for a guess".
    Last edited by Bogertophis; 09-07-2021 at 11:59 AM.
    Rudeness is the weak man's imitation of strength.
    Eric Hoffer (1902 - 1983)

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