Hasn't moved in days and won't eat.

[8Ball]

I have only had my ball for three weeks and so far he has had a respiratory infection; that has been treated and cleared up thankfully. He's had a bad shed, won't eat and now he's hidden himself behind a couple of logs and hasn't hardly moved an inch in two days and I don't think he's even come out for a drink of water in that time. He is obviously stressed from all that has been going on but I don't know what to do besides give him peace and quiet. I was taking him out and holding him every day or two for maybe 15 or 20 minutes but he seemed ok with that. Now I'm leaving him be. The temps in the tank are approx. 80f on one side and 90f on the other and humidity is at about 55%. When he was fighting off his infection I had a red light and white light both turned on at one end of the tank all the time to give the tank extra warmth and to keep the humidity a little lower. Once he got better I turned the white light off and he started to go over to that side of the tank more often but then all of a sudden he just hid himself. Now I turn the red light off at night to give him total darkness but in the morning he is still in the same spot. I feel like a very bad owner. Please give me some suggestions. Thank you.

[dr del]

Hi,

Just to double check before we start looking for options - what happens to the temps when you turn those lights off?

What hides does he have at the moment at each end?

Can you give us some details on the setup? Maybe we can suggest things to increase his feeling of security and help him settle down a little quicker.

It certainly sounds as though he might have had a stressfull time so you were right to cut back on the handeling sessions till you see if that helps.


dr del

[Kesslers Kreatures]

Hi,

Just to double check before we start looking for options - what happens to the temps when you turn those lights off?

What hides does he have at the moment at each end?

Can you give us some details on the setup? Maybe we can suggest things to increase his feeling of security and help him settle down a little quicker.

It certainly sounds as though he might have had a stressfull time so you were right to cut back on the handeling sessions till you see if that helps.


dr del

Pictures of his setup might even help better than just descriptions of what you have.

[8Ball]

Sorry it took so long to reply. I took a picture of the tank but I can't figure out what the URL of the picture is. I'll describe the tank. I have one hide on the side of the heat mat. It is a terracotta pot that I broke open a good size opening for an entrance and thoroughly sanded down any sharp edges. That side of the tank stays at about 90f. The other side has the red light and that side gos from between 80 and 85 degrees depending on whether the light is turned on or off. In the middle back part of the tank there is sort of a half log hide and another piece of wood beside it. He is using those pieces of wood for a hide right now. He used to favor the terracotta pot but for some unknown reason doesn't hang out in there much any more. He has a large fake stone water dish that I change every other day. There is a big fake vine for him to use and a bunch of fake leaves draping down over things for extra privacy. I've been using coconut husk substrate. He is an adult weighing just over 1700 grams. Also the tank is in an open faced closet with dark curtains that I can close to give him even more darkness.

[Kesslers Kreatures]

Well first things first, i recommend getting identical hides for him. He shouldnt have to choose security over temp.


It sounds like hes getting used to his surroundings and it also sounds like hes been through alot in the past 3 weeks. Its also that time of year where some have the tendancey to go off feed. Just keep offering once a week as usual

[8Ball]

Done. I just put a clay pot in that I had prepared earlier because I was thinking about putting in a second hide. I never mentioned that I have a PVC snake enclosure coming in the mail that opens and closes from the front which should make it much easier for changing water and cleaning and has opaque sides for more privacy . Also I should mention the he has only pooped once and I have never seen anything that looks like pee to clean up. What does it even look like?

[dr del]

Hi,

Popcorn.

The colour is generally white/ yellow but there can be traces of green too.

And of course there is usually a liquid component that can be hard to see on your bedding.


dr del

[8Ball]

I have seen nothing like that. Is it dangerous for him if there is uncleaned urine in his tank? Also he has still not come out. How long can he go without water? I am tempted to take him out Because this is now his third day of hardly moving an inch. I'm not sure what the right thing to do is.

[8Ball]

Well I finally decided to move the log and see what was going on. He's all balled up and his eyes are totally clouded over. This I don't understand at all because he just went through a shed. It was a bad shed mind you but still his eye caps were the first to go. Could anything else cause his eyes to cloud over? At least I know why he was hiding out.

[Kesslers Kreatures]

when was his last shed? It sounds like hes going through another shed..