I was doing my regular weekly checks on my snakes and doing a clean up of the cages, but then my pastel I produced myself and raised started snorting up balls of snot after a short warm bath. He'd eaten 2 weeks ago, so I was freaked out because I checked in on him last week and there was no issue. And the previous week he'd eaten. (I usually also check in their mouths once in a while, especially if they aren't eating). I always look for respiratory issues etc every week. (bubbles, etc and he had none of those things. Also listen to breathing.)
So I checked in his mouth and the top of his mouth was bleeding. I freaked out. (The rest of his mouth is fine--even the vet said so. No mouth rot.).
I've never had a single issue with my snakes being this bad. The last snake I added to my collection was over 5 years ago.
I called around, found a vet willing to see him on short notice.
She suspected as I did a respiratory infection and said I should raise the temps on all the cages to 95 degrees from 90. (I have UTH and a temperature gauge.) I also live in a warmer climate, though it's been getting cooler lately.
Also said aspen isn't really good for snakes, though I haven't had an issue before. Said to use Eco Earth or the carpets or paper towels (I've always had issues with paper towels and carpets since they tend to burrow underneath the carpets and paper towels. One of my ball pythons seriously got burnt after she burrowed underneath a carpet--I had to work hard to heal her and I no longer attach the UTH to the glass, even with a gauge. She's still alive BTW and still doing well.) He also has this habit of burrowing like his mother. Pushes aside all the aspen to one end.
I clean his cage with the FC-10 stuff, do spot checks, and fill his water bowl like the other snakes. I clean the waterbowl once a week and disinfect it.
TT I feel like I did wrong by him somehow. I want to do better.
I own 7 snakes total. Owned snakes since I was 13, but ball pythons since about 2005? (Would have to look it up). Still wracking my brain on what I did wrong and if eco earth is a good option or not.
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