How can a cage be too big???

[bearhart]

To any new posters: please skip the "big-cage" thing. Any sort of idea that I can't be reached and just am going to recklessly throw my BP into a cavernous enclosure whilst he suffers is just not true. Any meaningful discussion on that topic was lost pages ago and I have already said that any steps I make in that direction will be done very carefully. I would also request that, unless you're willing to bite off carefully reading all of the preceding posts, please refrain from injecting what will basically be noise into this already complex discussion.

I did? I told you why the big breeders get cultures done. On the oral baytril front I have had both prescribed over the years and can definately say the injections worked faster but after a second course the oral did seem to clear things up.

I think it does work - eventually. It took an extra course in my experience and, personally, I want to try and cure the infections as quickly as possible if I can. I can also assure you giving oral medication to a ball python is a lot harder than giving it injections - mine was considerably less than co-operative.

I think those are far more likely if the injections are incorrectly administered. As for the pain it is fleeting and I would rather that than double the time of suffering the infection. I admit the above is only my personal feelings on the matter however.

Thanks, that's great to know and its certainly more well-rounded, informative, and appropriately qualified than the first batch of comments I got on this subject.

Having done both the oral and injection route now I would have to disagree with you on which is easier. I have found the oral to be far easier than injections and it is very clear from the amount of resistance that Snakey strong prefers the former.

Could you ask them if it would be ok to share it with us as I'm sure many of our members would like to read it?

I would very much like to contribute to the group knowledge on this issue in an organized fashion. When this is over I can share my experiences. I also agree that, while this printout lacks any definative answers on the subject, it does do a nice job of describing all the issues to consider and has some discussion of real-world experience. It is a paper printout taken from the VIN page. VIN is for professionals and students only so I can't get an electronic form there. Also, the printout page states that copyright is reserved and distribution is not allowed without written consent blah blah... If it wasn't for that I'd even take the time to type it all in. The other thing I could do is summarize the disscussion, basically reducing each post to a bullet list of the points made.

We may have stumbled onto another factor - I didn't know that. I've only ever seen the arguing side and never the post where you said "ok I agree and will do that"

That's not true. In the "burn point" thread (we should change this thread to "flash point" ) we discussed temps, rheostats, and t-stats. I did indeed follow advice echoed several times which was "at the very least go get a rheostat" - and I said multiple times that I did so. I am, indeed, very happy with the rheostat and have had good luck getting stable temperatures. For reasons THAT HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO DO WITH SNAKES I am somewhat leery of using a thermostat. Given that I am having such good luck getting stable temps using a rheostat, I do not feel that a t-stat is justified. I could actually give back to the group by outlining all that I've done but that would just be another freakshow argument.

Now what's the "almost" bit?

LOL!!! You know what I would have been very disappointed if this managed to slide through unnoticed!

So, since the introduction of the rheostat I have also eliminated what was undoubtedly the last major problems with Snakey's cage:
1) Insufficient cool-side heating.
2) Too much ventilation.
Both of which make it impossible to get the actual ambient temperature in the cage up in the 80's. The cage was more like a poorly insulated home in the winter. You're fine if you're by the heater but if you walk over to the corner of the room its cold.

My one deviation at this point is the lack of identical cool/warm hides. However, I have taken the importance of this to heart. I have a much more "organic" cage design that is cluttered with logs and pieces of cork bark. I like it because it looks nice and, in fact, creates more little hiding spots than, say, two planter bottoms. Currently, I don't feel that this is a problem because I have spent alot of time tweaking things (and watching Snakey's reaction) to the point where he does utililize the various hiding spots in order to thermoregulate.

Intresting point - I hadn't really though of the site as divided like that at all.

On the regurgitation of accepted correct advice, yes that's a good starting point and to do anything else would be grossly irresponsible as it could lead to suffering and possible death of another. It's not really a legal thing - more a moral thing for me. I will happily pass on wierd things that have worked for me in the past but only if I know that , even if they don't help, they certainly won't hurt.

Thanks for acknowledging this. The use of the work "regurgitation" was not meant to be negative at all. Perhaps the term "conservatively advise" would sound better. Also, the mention of legal issues was just a part of my medical analogy.

Anwyay, I think it might be kind of cool to have a troubleshooting forum. The site could be designed to funnel newcomers into it and it could say sometihng like:
"Troubleshooting help - get help for your snake from ball-python.net's most experienced keepers".
I think it would be great. I know I would have appreciated something like that when I first came here with my "help my snake is doing XXX" problem. It would also take some of the pressure off the other areas in terms of the aforementioned risk issues.