New ball python and have some health questions?

[readdit]

Hello!

I am new to this forum as well as a new snake owner. This past Saturday I adopted a 10 year old male ball python from a local. They had had him in the family for most of his life and took awesome care of him from what I could tell. They gave me his entire set-up- 20 gallon tank, under tank heater, two hides, large ceramic water bowl, new cypress substrate, thermometer reader, and day and night lights (60 watts).

He ate fine the day I brought him home- 1 medium rat before I picked him up and then 2 more when I got home. I let him be over the past few days so he could adjust to his new surroundings. His cage has been kept at around 74-78 F, which I know is low for BP's. When I tried to bump it up (put blankets on the lid, and around the cage) to around 79-80, he almost immediately went to the cooler side of tank. I've been keeping his red light on most of the time to keep the temperature up, but it's rarely above 80. I've turned it off the past two nights since I read they like 12/12 hours light and dark, and then I checked during the night to make sure it wasn't too cold. The lowest it's gotten was 72, and that was earlier this afternoon (his under tank heater is on all the time).

He started to shed two days ago, but it's been pretty patchy. His former owners said he's had no shedding issues or former health problems, so I thought maybe the humidity was low. I got a humidity reader and moistened the hides and substrate with water, and it's up to 80-82 now. What's concerning me is that all afternoon he has been holding his head up with no support. It's the first time I've noticed it and has been going on for more than five hours. I have also noticed that periodically he opens his mouth to breathe, not all the time, and it's not super often I read that this could be due to RI infection or IBD? I was curious to get other people's opinions to see if one of these options was more likely the other with his current set up?

My other concern is that one side of his mouth sticks out from underneath the lip a little bit, and I didn't know if this should be a concern as well?

I asked his previous owners if these were normal things for him (the head lifting and shedding). They suggested I wait to bathe him until the weekend and that he was probably exploring? I am also really worried about animal health and want as many opinions as possible, so please let me know whatever you are thinking! I want to do provide the best care that I can for this guy. I just called the on call staff a few minutes ago and am waiting to hear back from them as well. Thanks so much and sorry for the extensive post, I wanted to provide as many details as possible!

[Bcycling]

Can u post pictures? Sounds like it could be something IMO, but hard to tell. From the brief discription sounds like possible RI or mouth rot. Not sure though. Just my initial thoughts.

[Sauzo]

You need to get him a hot spot of around 90F or at least get the ambient up to around 86F. Anything below 75F with no access to a warm 86F+ spot is going to give you problems. As for his open mouth breathing and misaligned jaw, I would guess probably either RI or mouth rot. It probably isn't IBD as IBD is quickly fatal in pythons so if he had it, he would be dead in a couple days. Best advice I can give is get your temps and humidity squared away and take him to the vet. Best of luck.

[readdit]

I ended up having to take him to the emergency vet last night and then again this morning. Around 12 am he was vomiting and open mouth breathing more frequently. I took him in right away, but thankfully he was stable enough to wait until morning. Went back at 8:30 am to meet with the exotic vet, and they got the rest of his shed off and didn't seem super concerned (yet) with the breathing since he was back to normal by then. Since he's not open mouth breathing or has any bubbles or mucus, they didn't think it was a full RI yet. The jaw ended up being the start of an abscess, so they gave me a round of antibiotics to give him over the next 30 days. Overall a good prognosis, and his breathing seems a lot better after the shed was fully off around his head and face.

[readdit]

As for the heat, I'm still having trouble. He has a medium sized under tank heater and then a 100W heat lamp (brand new bulb) on during the day and 100W red light for night. He also has a pretty thick layer of forest floor substrate that I just put in today after cleaning absolutely everything from the vomit. Even with blankets over the tank lid (but away from the lights), it's still barely above 80. I'm taking any and all suggestions as to how to bump up the heat. Could the lower temps have also caused the poor digestion that led to the vomiting?

[Jeanne]

What are you using to read temps and humidity? Is the heat pad on a thermostat?

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[Jeanne]

Its likely that low temps caused his mouth rot. In order for us to help,you need to tell us what equipment you use also.

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[Jeanne]

And... How many rats does he usually eat? I ask bc originally U said he ate at orig owners, then you brought him home and fed immediately 2 more rats. What size rodents are being given? 3 seems a bit much IMO. Most adult male bps eat 1 small rat a feeding. Perhaps he was also over fed. Why did you feed so many?

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[Jeanne]

Furthermore... You need a kitchen scale. You need to have ability to weigh him to decide if you are feeding 15 to 20% of his total weight.

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[Natashaw123]

I just saw an episode of snake bytes about this.... the open mouth could mean he is too hot or that he has upper resp. infection or rot from not having enough or too much humidity to begin with... does he have any bubbles or leakage around his mouth? Here is a video that helped me..... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJCnPfuqaBM