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 #1799408


Drepop
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 How did she catch RI

I have my boa and my burmese in seperate tubs both connected to a thermostat. Their heated with zoomed heat pads 10-20gal size. The boas tub is like 30-32in. long. The thermostat is set at 92-94deg. and the digital thermometer says the same. My burm is warm to the touch and behaves normally but my boa (which I believe caught respitory infection) is not warm to the touch at all and her heat pad does work cuz its warm. She spends all her time on the hot side. Today I took her out she was slithering all over me then she wrapped around my neck and rested her head on my shoulder and I heard that wheezing noise. How did she catch RI. This sucks. One of my other snakes had RI 3months ago and the trip to the vet was expensive. I no its contagious so he’s on the top floor away from all the other snakes and he and my boa never met, touched, or lived next to each other. So I no she didnt catch it from him.

Here she is as pretty as ever




07/17/08  02:48pm

 #1800201


Jwsurfergirl
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   Message To: Drepop   In reference to Message Id: 1799408


 How did she catch RI

too hot, too cold, too humid, too dry, stress...etc
07/18/08  12:39am

 #1800297


Bazzer
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   Message To: Jwsurfergirl   In reference to Message Id: 1800201


 How did she catch RI

I see you have mentioned the warm end temperature, but what is your ambient temperature of the enclosure? IMO, if the snake is spending all of it’s time in the warm end, then it seems it’s not thermoregulating it’s temperature properly and is too cold. If there is too much humidity and not enough heat, that can create RI’s. Basically everything that jwsurfergirl mentioned and mites too.

Is the wheezing noise you hear constant with every breath and do you see a build up of mucus coming from the mouth and also blocked nostrils?
07/18/08  05:26am

 #1800396


Drepop
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   Message To: Bazzer   In reference to Message Id: 1800297


 How did she catch RI

Quote:

too hot, too cold, too humid, too dry, stress...etc



Ok none of that helped. I already know all that. Why is my burm ok but not her? Well I did forget to mention that the basement is like 68-71deg. Which is what I think is making her cold but how do I get a proper ambient temp. Somebody told me I could place a heat pad on the side of the enclosure to create backround temp. I just dont trust belly heat I rather use heat from above like lamps or radiant heat panels. I have to wait til she gets bigger to buy her enclosure.
07/18/08  09:41am

 #1800731


Bazzer
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   Message To: Drepop   In reference to Message Id: 1800396


 How did she catch RI

Quote:

68-71deg



This may very well be the cause of your problems, because these temperatures are far too low. Even in the breeding season, the temps aren’t that low.

There are several ways to create ambient air temperatures:

a. You can heat the whole room with a thermostatically controlled room heater. I do this in my spare room and it works very well.

b. Either that, or you can keep the snake in a vivarium and control ambient air temperatures using overhead heating such as ceramics, but what ever you use, make sure it is controlled with a thermostat and guarded.

UTH/ heatmats are better as they provide a nice warm basking spot for the snakes belly, which aids digestion better, but make sure there is no direct contact between snake and heat source and naturally, a thermostat is used to control temps.

Quote:

Somebody told me I could place a heat pad on the side of the enclosure to create backround temp



Not really enough for a background temp. Remember this will be in the warm end of the enclosure. You can’t have heat sources all around the cage in case they fail. The snake needs somewhere to escape from the heat.
07/18/08  04:22pm

 #1801371


Drepop
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   Message To: Bazzer   In reference to Message Id: 1800731


 How did she catch RI

Quote:

This may very well be the cause of your problems, because these temperatures are far too low. Even in the breeding season, the temps aren’t that low.


Yes I no that for boas cold side shouldnt go below 78. But with heat lamps or ceramic heaters, they heat the whole cage. It makes the hot side the hottest obviously but it also heats just a little the whole cage which is why none of my snakes ever got sick in the winter. I just started using tubs this summer and I figured uth would give off heat throughout the whole enclosure but ofcourse mostly the hot side but it didnt. It only gives the exact area.

Quote:

. You can heat the whole room with a thermostatically controlled room heater


Do you know where I can get one?
By the way I do have a thermostat and its pretty good. when my snakes get bigger and get custom cages Ill invest in a helix or spider robotics.
Thanks for all the info.
07/18/08  11:44pm

 #1802890


Bazzer
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   Message To: Drepop   In reference to Message Id: 1801371


 How did she catch RI

I’m not too sure about all the equipment you have because i’m in the UK.

With regards to the room heater, I suppose any store which sells heaters. I don’t know what Walmart is like or what they sell, but it seems they have most things. Try them I would.
07/20/08  10:02am

 #1803423


Drepop
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   Message To: Bazzer   In reference to Message Id: 1802890


 How did she catch RI

Target’s website says they have them but I went there and they didnt have anything, I guess you have to order them. Walmart didnt have anything close to that but ppl tell me that room heaters or space heaters catch fire and I dont wanna take that risk. So Ill just buy her a cage and the burm on aug. 2 the next reptile expo.
07/20/08  07:58pm

 #1804136


Bazzer
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   Message To: Drepop   In reference to Message Id: 1803423


 How did she catch RI

Quote:

ppl tell me that room heaters or space heaters catch fire



Any heating device has the potential to catch fire, but as long as you manage it correctly and in accordance with manufacteurers guidelines, as well as making sure there is no material laying around to catch fire, it’ll be fine.

I have an oil filled Delonghi room heater, which has a built in themostat. It simply takes any chill out of the air, which maintains perfect ambient temperatures. If you think about it logically, there are breeders and large collection hobbiests out there, who keep hundreds of snakes and can you honestly expect each of them to have each snake housed in an individual enclosure with its own basking spot and air temperature heat source. Most will have each snake housed in an individual tub, will use heatmats for basking spots and room heaters. This is what I have:

http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/0520449/Trail/searchtext>DELONGHI.htm



07/21/08  03:46pm

 #1804701


Drepop
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   Message To: Bazzer   In reference to Message Id: 1804136


 How did she catch RI

Thanks alot for the website I was hoping someone would help me. But on sunday I put my thermometer probe on the cool side of the tub and it went down to 79deg. within 20-28min. and I let it sit for a couple of hours so I was convinced that the ambient temp. is much warmer than I thought. But I still dont trust it because this weather keeps changing so Im definately going to look into that delonghi. Thanks again for the website I appreciate it.
07/22/08  12:02am


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