Mr. Corbin Dallas

[Malice]

Whats up BP.net! I just recently stumbled upon this site and found some great information and a good amount of people on here.

My name is Matt and I'm from White Plains, NY. Its about a half hour north from NYC. Im new to owning a snake, I bought a 3 year old male ball python from a nearby petshop last spring. It was a complete impulse buy but Im so happy he's a part of my fam.
They told me when I bought him that he had a respiratory problem. I could hear the clicking/gargling in his mouth. The petstore said it was common and I have nothing to worry about. It used to belong to an employee there who moved to FL and couldn't bring the snake. I brought him to the vet a few months after I bought him and she said he's in great health and his respiratory infection was gone. It was probably the conditions at the pet store. Well, now he sometimes makes noise breathing- it kinda sounds like someone weezing with asthma. If I spray him with water it gets worse. He's still completely active but I think I should revisit the vet to make sure everything is ok.
His name is Corbin Dallas aka butternuts. A complete fan favorite- he enjoys hanging out with me and my friends.

This is a normal ball python isnt it? He's currently 4 feet long. I bought him a nice 85 gallon tank to keep him nice and happy, unfortunately the bottom has already spiderweb cracked due to the heat pad underneath.

[dr del]

Hi,

Bear with me here because quite a few things jump out from your post that might need addressing.

The wheezing definately sounds like the respiratory infection is back - a vet visit is definately the best way to deal with that.

Some people recommend spending a little extra and getting a culture done before treatment to determine which anti-biotic would be the most effective but discussing that with your vet would be the best approach.

The second thing is the heating - it really should never get hot enough to be able to crack the tank as , for that to happen, it is almost certainly hot enough to burn your snake too.

Those small dial type thermometers are notorious for being wildly inaccurate - as are the humidity versions.

We recommend the digital acurite weatherstation with probe you can buy at wallmart, lowes and home depot for about $12-15.

The advantage of those is the base unit measures temp and humidity while the probe is small enough to be put in the animals hides to record the temperatures it is actually being exposed to.

On that point we normally advise you to measure the temps under the substrate directly on the heating element as this is the hottest part the animal should have access to if it burrows down. Once that is set to around 93-95f max then you can adjust the depth of the substrate to get the surface temps inside his hide to 90-93f and your golden.

As to the actual controling of the heater there are a few options;

If your house temps are pretty stable you could use a rheostat - but if it fluctuates those are a real pain to keep adjusted correctly.

The second option is to use a thermostat - there are a few types and brands that we could give you information on if you like. I like this option best just for the peace of mind of knowing that if the heating fails or jams on in the house the tank should still keep to a safe level.

Does your guy eat ok for you?

Sometimes they need a little more security - in that case we would suggest covering the back and sides of the tank with an aquarium background and getting small snug fitting dark hides. But if your guy eats ok then I wouldn't mess with a working set up.

He is the regular "wild type" normal morph - and a good looking one at that,

Have you had him sexed? It might be a good thing to ask the vet to teach you if they were willing while you were there for the RI anyway.


dr del

[Malice]

dr del thank you so much for this info!!

He does eat well, I dont feed him in his cage, inside a large box that i can close the top.

I will buy a digital weatherstation very soon this week.

What type of thermostat would you recommend for my setup?

The vet told me that he was male, that was a visual test.

Again, thanks for the help

[dr del]

Hi,

Agentra made a really excellent post that shows the most commonly recommended articles we use.

I'm not sure on the visual test for sexing - the only ways to be 100% sure is to either pop or probe the snake to see if they have penes.

I personally just can't get the hang on popping anything larger than a hatchling.

But I can probe so I tend to do that - but it is a little scarier to do on really small snakes.

Whichever method your vet uses make sure he lets you have a shot while he is there to supervise as they are really quite delicate procedures.

Here is a link to the glass tank sticky to see if it raises any other questions.


dr del

[DutchHerp]

I think you have an AWESOME setup!