possible illness?

[evilsinner]

hellow everyone! im a new(7month) owner of a borneo blood python and i love this guy. im not sure if there is something wrong with him but i tried to feed him last week and all he did was kill this mouse didnt eat it could he be sick? another thing he coloring looks a little pale i guess its not as dark as usual his eyes arent that blueish color they get when they are about to shed and his belly isnt white its starting to turn a little black, i know this cant be normal so any info asap possible would be greatly appreciated im really worried about my boy thanks in advance!

[ncbloods]

I wouldn't worry about it, all snakes skip meals sometimes. I have several bloods who from time to time will "kill" (I feed F/T) the rat and then not eat it.

Unless he skips a significant amount of feedings, don't worry about it.

[evilsinner]

another quick question i have heard alot about these rubbermaid enclosures and was wondering if walmart/homedepot may carry these? i think my blood would like one alot more than his aqarium i hear they are better to keep the humidity/temp up. right now i am using a 4ftx4ftx12inch with some ecolite substrate and this awesome ceramic heat lamp doesnt give off any light and keep the temp on the basking side at80-85 and the cool side at75-78 humidity flucuates 45-65 i would like to see the humidity stay around 55-60 any suggestions?

[2kdime]

Rubbermaid/Sterilite containers are great! I use them as quarantine enclosures. And you can get them at Walmart/Target.

How big is your blood? These snakes need an adequately large enough enclosure to sprawl out to prevent respiratory problems. Blood pythons' lung is just MASSIVE and they need more room than some. But even for an adult a 4ft by 2ft by 15in tall is perfect. Too small a snake and too big an enclosure will stress them out and can get you the "strike and no feeding" response that your getting. These snakes are known as enthusiatic feeders. And when they dont eat, that can be a sign of your husbandry being off.

Secondly, a tub will help with some of your husbandry. These snakes need 86 to 88 on the hot side CONSTANTLY. 78 to 80 on the cool side CONSTANTLY. And humidity of 60 to 70% CONSTANTLY. As well as an overall cage air temperature of ~80 degrees They're not as forgiving as other species and little mistakes can cause big problems.

I will ask if you have any pictures of your snakes' belly? If its turning black then thats not good at all. That could be scale rot and would need to be taken care of asap.

Hope this helps.

[ncbloods]

2kdime made some great points. I use Sterilite tubs for all of my bloods until they get larger. I get mine at Target, they seem to have the best selection. They will keep your temps/humidity from fluctuating so much. Your humidity is entirely too low. Ceramic heat lamps dry the air entirely too much. That coupled with the aquarium will make it near impossible to achieve proper humidity. You're better off with a tub and some belly heat on a thermometer.

Also, I'm guessing this is a young blood given that you're feeding it mice. If it is you may want to get a smaller enclosure than 4x4. Much smaller. Like 2kdime said, young bloods tend to get stressed out in a large enclosure.

You need to read this:
http://www.newenglandreptile.com/CareBlood.html

[evilsinner]

thanks guys when i get my camera phone working ill snap some pics and post. i have had this guy for 7 months i guess the info i read off the net isnt accurate from what you all are telling me i need to go up my temp and humitiy 5-10 degress. my boy is about a foot and half maybe 3-4 inches in diameter he isnt small, oh and i am feeding him jumbo mice, ill stop by target and pick em up a tub. thx for the info and the link!(sorry post is short at work) talk to ya later!

[evilsinner]

ok so what should i use in place of the ceramic heating bulb? is there any other way to up the humidity? i have been spraying the substrate when it starts looking dry. if you guys would let me know how your tubs are set up ill have my boy in a new home by sunday. sorry so short again am on my 15min break. im so worried about em now im going to go crazy!

[2kdime]

The ticker is going to be what is the temperature of the room hes being kept in? Ill explain in a bit.

For a blood that size a 28 to 32ish quart tub would suit him just fine. The biggest I would go is the 41qt underbed box. What i use is a butane powered soldering iron to melt holes around the tub halfway up. About 1/2 inch holes. Ill put an average of 20 on a tub. Just space em as evenly as you can. What you will use then is a "UTH" type heater that goes under the tub. I use 11" flexwatt from....

www.reptilebasics.com

Rich is a good guy to deal with. This is custom cut to order stuff and i would imagine 1.5 feet would be plenty for your warm side. It needs to be controlled by a thermostat though just as any other heater should be.

And then is tubs like this is use a small crock style water bowl from Walmart in the pet section. Its roughly a 4inch bowl. This is all i need for humidity. You just have to place some painters tape over the holes to up the humidity to the 60 to 70% range.

What are you using to measure your temperatures and humidity?

Ok, the room temps. The uth will give you your hot spot just fine. But will do ZERO for the ambient temps. Your ambient temps will rely on your room temps. So getting the room up to 78 to 80 degrees is best.

I can keep walking you through whatever else you need. It seems like alot to do, and it is. But this is what's best for these animals. And once a perfect environment is setup, you can almost forget about it.

I have my bloods in animal plastics cages setup exactly like ive told you. They eat like clockwork and are as healthy as can be.

Hope this helps.

[evilsinner]

mucho help!! im heading out to buy a tub right now i set em up in my spare room last night and i can keep that room 75-80 degress ill check that website out and see what i can afford as far as heating things up for him to check the temp and humidity in the cage i use a uhmm cant member name off the top of my head its aguage that has humidity and temp on it with a heating pad under the cage the way i was telling how hot it was is by putting my hand on the bottom of the cage if its warm to the touch then its hotter than my body temp right? i just keep the bottom of the cage a tad warm to the touch is that ok to do? im sorry i didnt know these guys werent for beginners the pet shop guy should of told me that he new i was new to all this. i feel bad.

[evilsinner]

ok i went to target bought a tub 32x19x14 that should be good enough right? once i put in the substrate the tub wont be as deep. as for his water bowl its about 4inch deep and 5-6 inches in diamter its big enough for him to get in there and soak,which i havent seen him do in awhile. like i said i use a heating pad on the hot side of his cage im ordering the flexwat as we speak only thing though is the humidity i just dont think that with the substrate and the water bowl itll get the humidity to 70% let me know if this tub will work and what all i can do for the humidity i have a cousin of mine bring a warm humidifier over will that help at all? another quick question if you could tellme exaclty what i need to buy with this flex tape how to install it that would be awesome like i said i am new to all of this but am trying to educate myself as much/fast as possible.