Lil Al Capone - Page 2

Albert Clark · 03-26-16, 01:21 PM

I believe sometimes the dry air can cause a clicking or a wheeze to start up in some reptiles. I had it happen when I was only using small amounts of cypress mulch with my ball pythons. I know rat snakes are not tropical species but yours coming from the Everglades probably can use a higher humidity percentage. What do you think? Maybe like 50/ 60%. I don't know for sure though. Was he cbb or wc?

Albert Clark · 03-26-16, 01:31 PM

Oh, thought he was a Everglades rat snake. My mistake. Not sure of the bairds rat snake distribution and taxa. The percentage on the humidity may vary then.

Tiny Boidae · 03-26-16, 01:39 PM

IUCN redlist puts their range in southwest Texas and a small bit of Mexico, which is pretty arid, although they don't come from the deserts.

But he is CB so I wouldn't think he'd come in with any underlying problems or predisposition towards stress. I'll set up a makeshift humid hide for today though if that might be the problem. I don't have cypress mulch on me, but I have plenty of sphagnum moss which will have to do.

Albert Clark · 03-26-16, 01:42 PM

Gotcha! Sounds even better then! That humid hide is great.

Tiny Boidae · 03-26-16, 08:03 PM

He's already torn into the humid hide I made him (just a paper towel roll with spagnum moss thrown in). The clicking still hasn't stopped, but I still don't see any mucus, gaping, or anything that would normally point to an RI. If it hasn't gotten better by Friday or if it gets worse, I'll make a vet appointment just to be safe. Fingers crossed that the clicking goes away soon and he's a-okay!

Tiny Boidae · 03-28-16, 03:35 PM

Quick little update: he's still clicking a little but it has gotten a lot better (thanks Albert for the help!). He's also still eating and this time I managed to catch a low quality photo of him taking a fuzzy.

He about spat it out when I took the picture so I didn't get closer or put the camera in the enclosure to keep from freaking him out. On another note, he was so calm about taking his mouse. He just took a minute to find the head and slowly opened wide! Definitely not the typical food reaction I'm used to, and anyone with a sand boa can attest to that lol

Albert Clark · 03-28-16, 07:28 PM

Great news TB! Yeah , that's understandable about the exotic vet. Good move. I hope it's just something that the bumped up temps and a little extra humidity can help. It's definitely good that he's still taking food though. Fingers crossed. YW. Glad to offer a bit of help.

Tiny Boidae · 03-29-16, 04:05 PM

It probably is. I haven't seen much of him today but it's understandable why. I'm certain he's fighting it off now, if there was any infection in the first place. I'd taken him out Thursday and he was making loud clicks so I was a little freaked out. When I messed with him a little yesterday I had to bring him to my ears to be able to hear any clicking, and even then it might've been my imagination getting the better of me.

A little mini-update: the lights I ordered off E-bay came in yesterday but they sent me the wrong ones! Gah! Another week of using a desk lamp to give him a proper day/night cycle.

On a more positive note, I've already started the process of trying to make a clay rock wall for him. I'll be making a separate thread about it when I'm finished. Really excited about it.

**Andy_G** · 03-29-16, 04:32 PM

Since these guys are in texas/northern mexico as you mentioned, a gradient of 78-95 is ideal. I wouldn't let the temps drop under 74 ideally. The humid hide was a good move as bairdi can dehydrate easily as young ones but the species doesn't do well with humidity besides that. As long as your temps are good and you have humidity covered with the hide AND he's eating, I would say this is a case where "less is more". I'm thinking that you may have just been over-thinking things and that's ok. Yours looks to be the texas locality, as the north mexican bairdi tend to have a hint of red on their heads.

Tiny Boidae · 03-29-16, 05:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy_G

Since these guys are in texas/northern mexico as you mentioned, a gradient of 78-95 is ideal. I wouldn't let the temps drop under 74 ideally. The humid hide was a good move as bairdi can dehydrate easily as young ones but the species doesn't do well with humidity besides that. As long as your temps are good and you have humidity covered with the hide AND he's eating, I would say this is a case where "less is more". I'm thinking that you may have just been over-thinking things and that's ok. Yours looks to be the texas locality, as the north mexican bairdi tend to have a hint of red on their heads.

Oh wow thanks! I'm going to be doing some heavy modifications to the enclosure within the next couple of weeks so I'll mess with the ventilation a bit. I'll be covering the top completely in favor of side ventilation so the gradient should be easier to control then. For now I'll mess around a bit to try and see if I can get the ambient temperature up.

But you hit the nail on the head in regards to locality goes. I initially wanted the Mexican locality although I saw this guy on Kingsnake and snatched him up. To be really specific, he's a Loma Alta locale. Sorry if it sounded like I didn't know what locality he was! I was implying that the species seems to have a lot of variety in it as far as color goes, so I'm just excited to see the final product if that makes sense?

Thanks again Andy! Your post really helped clear things up for me.

Tiny Boidae · 03-30-16, 05:44 PM

Checked him out again today and I can discern that, without a doubt, it's RI. The popping was noticably louder and the lips of his mouth didn't close quite right, not to mention he'd open them slightly when he flicked his tongue sometimes. I already made an appointment with the vet to try and get him checked out, and his appointment is Saturday. I covered the top and went ahead and drilled holes in the side, so his temps are in the low 70's now which I'll take as a victory for now.

**Andy_G** · 03-30-16, 08:13 PM

Oh no! I'm surr the vet appointment is a step in the right direction. Do your best to get that ambient temp up to the high 70's in the meanwhile.

Tiny Boidae · 03-30-16, 08:42 PM

His appointment is tomorrow is what I meant to say... I'm frazzled about this and I must've gotten mixed up.

I'm fairly hopeful that since I've caught it relatively early that he'll have an easy recovery. I haven't noticed any mucus or bubbles, or any odd funky positions, or any abnormal behaviors at all really. He hasn't regurged the mouse from Monday either. I'm just hoping to get him in, get a culture, and get him on the proper medication as quickly as I can. Really like this little spunk and it'd be a shame if I lost him.

But I'll be heading to the petstore after his vet appointment and picking up a ceramic heat emitter, which will replace the heat pad. I'm sure that will do the trick as far as ambient temperature goes.

Tiny Boidae · 03-31-16, 03:40 PM

We took him to the vet but today was a bad day for anything. We had a nasty storm system move in and the veterinarian couldn't get into work... So we left him with the vet and they said they'll call me when they get to him. He does have a mild RI and they've prescribed some Baytril. He'll have to stay overnight unfortunately because it's normally an hour to get there and back, but with the storm system and bad weather it'll probably take twice as long. I'll be heading back first thing in the morning to get him though.

I've also gotten a ceramic heat emitter and his cold side is now 80-ish*, so we won't have a repeat of what happened. Hoping Al has a speedy recovery!

Albert Clark · 03-31-16, 03:56 PM

Wow! Ok. I guess its always the right move to consult the higher minds of science. Glad to hear he will be getting back on track soon. Did you request a culture or are they treating him symptomatically?