New rosy owner - a few questions
Hi everyone! I am a first time snake owner, and purchased an approximately 5 month old rosy at a reptile expo last weekend. My setup is a 10g tank with a screen lid (and lock of course), aspen bedding for substrate (he loves to dig through the substrate), a hide on the cool side and another on the warm side, a water bowl on the cool side, and a fake plant and grapevine stick for decoration.
I am using an UTH for heat, and the warm end is 85-90, with the cool end being room temperature. Humidity is high 50's, is that too high? It is just the ambient humidity of the house I guess. I also have an infrared bulb to help the ambient temperature of the tank.
My problem with my snake is that on Wednesday I found a little black bug on it's back, and the next day when I handled him one of the bugs was on my hand. I have not seen any mites since, but have switched the snake to paper towels and removed all but a hide and water bowl while I sort the problem out and wait for my natural chemistry mite spray to arrive. However, since changing the set up he has been very restless. Moving around the tank non stop, and climbing up onto the lip at the top of the tank and attempting to escape. Also, the last time the snake ate was two weeks ago. Breeder said he was eating live pinkies. I've been trying to switch to f/t pinkies with no luck, snake is not interested in eating at all. Could he be not wanting to eat because of the mites?
Thanks for any input!
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