Possibly serious ETB problem?

[althena]

I caught my emerald on the ground last night. (like 2-3 AM) I thought she was just hunting... But, this afternoon, about 10-12 hours later she was STILL on the ground. In the middle of the day but she was curled up in the spot I thought she was hunting.

I'm really, really, really worried.

She's small (about 3 feet), has a 30 gallon tank that is kept at 80-84 degrees, and has the proper light cycles. I mist her a billion times a day, there are two large waterbowls on the ground filled with water to keep the humidity up, and she has another little one up near her perch.

I also dont know if this could mean anything but she had a seriously hard time shedding a week + ago. (I wrote a post about it.) She did it all herself but it took like 16 hours.

I'm really scared. :confused:

[Zoe]

That doesn't sound good at all, my girl doesn't even touch the ground.

What is the humidity at during the day and at night? How much/how often do you feed her? How often does she defecate? Does she have enough ventilation?

Zoe

[althena]

The humidity is about 60% before I mist then up to 80% when I do mist. (which is a lot.) I also just put a humidifier in the snake room....

She eats one small mouse a week. I feed her one mouse a week for three weeks and then wait for her to defecate. She defecated when she shed a few days ago, was acting normal, spending the evenings in the S shape then all of a sudden she's doing this...

[Zoe]

Oh! How old is she?

[althena]

Very young. 2002.

[althena]

I dunno... May be important to someone - she came from tim ellis.

[Zoe]

The only problems I could see would be with feeding size / frequency. My girl is a 2002 baby as well, and she eats one fuzzy rat every 2 weeks... or perhaps the fact that she is in a tank >> stagnant air and low ventilation.
Your set up sounds fine, though. Have you had a fecal done on her in recent history?

Zoe

[althena]

Hmm. They small mice hardly even leave lumps though.

Oh and maybe this was unclear - she shed a few days ago, and was doing the normal hunting behavior but I never fed her. Today is feeding day but last night/this afternoon she was on the ground.

I haven't gotten a recent fecal done, no. :/ She's been 100% healthy so I haven't thought about it with her. (How "new" does the sample have to be to get accurate results? I could get it out of plastic bag....)

[Zoe]

I'm not sure how new the feces have to be... I always plan them ahead of time so the problen never arrises. Just call the vet and ask, the receptionist will tell you. If it's possible to still have it done, put the stool in a zip lock bag and close it.

I don't really think there are any problems with your feeding except maybe the frequency... my snake is smaller than your's (late 2002) and I only feed her every other week (which coincides perfectly with the defecating schedule, too).

Is she lethargic? If she's normally agro, is she calmer now? If so, that's a bad sign.

I would suggest you just go ahead and do a vet check (actually bring the snake in).

I'm anxious to hear someone else's opinion on this as I'm a novice with ETBs and don't think I'm bringing any new ideas to the table.

[althena]

Honestly I just moved out here and I don't even know a vet that does herps let alone one that I would trust with an ETB. I can only like... find the listings in the phone book and call them one by one. :/

I bought her from a friend who LOVES arboreals, but chondros have absolutely taken over and he decided to not get into emerald tree boas. I was following his advice and the advice of this website that he recommended himself... I wish I could find it. When he gets back online I'll him.

Here is a site: http://www.**************/emeralds/ but I'm just doing something wrong and its killing me. :/ (ks) I'll stop feeding her so often (I'll check my chart to make sure, I think its more like every 10 days) but.... yeah. I don't know what to do.

Why is it doing that to the website?

[Derrick]

Its doing that because for some reason does not allow links to anytning @ "kingsnake dot com" Why Im not sure but thats the way it is

[CraigC]

Althena,
Has she moved back to her perch? How does her belly look? Sometimes if it is too humid with no drying out period they can get a fungus that irritates them making it extremely uncomfortable to perch. Check the perch for evidence of mold, which can develop in a humid environment with out good ventilation.

If there are no "rough" spots for her to snag the shedding skin on it is possible that it took that long.

Have you noticed any "gape" mouth or breathing difficulty? Emeralds are extremely good at hiding problems, that left unchecked can become very serious, very quickly.

Have you checked her good for mites?

CraigC

[CraigC]

Double check your temps as well. If you have an undertank heater, as well as another heat source, the other may have gone out and she is just trying to get warm. Guess Craig forgot we had that happen once or I'm sure he would have mentioned it.

Karen

[althena]

Hi,

Her belly is normal, I'm 99.5% sure she's mite-free but I doubt everything so I will go double check, and no, I haven't noticed any breathing difficulties at all.

She did curl up on a spot that was on the corner of the undertank heater, but that's not the primary source of heat - the heat lamp. Which actually, is still working.

Thank you!

oh- Yesterday after I found her, I moved her near the smaller branch thing that connects up to the bigger perch and she got the clue and went back to sitting on the perch. Last night she was back to hunting and everything as normal. :/

[BoidKeeper]

Personally I think you may be feeding her too often. I used to feed mine only once every three weeks. Has she ever regurged?
Trevor

[althena]

Nope, never.

She's fine now, too.

(Actually according to my records I feed her more like every two weeks.)

[BoidKeeper]

Glad to hear it!
Cheers,
Trevor

[althena]

Thank you! :) I appreciate all the feedback and help.