First blood~

Amyfhist · 11-10-13, 12:04 PM

Alright, so I got my first blood at an expo yesterday and thought I would share a picture of her as well as some comments as a first time blood owner.

Her name is Kali, and she is somewhere around 2 months old, according to the vendor that she was bought from.

Personality wise, she does seem to be a little frisky, but I wouldnt call her mean or aggressive, as I have often heard this species called. As per the person who sold her to me, she wasn't fed this past week because of the expo, and is in shed (how he can tell I have no clue there are no visible signs on her that I can make out) so her.. slightly stand-offish attitude seems justifiable all considering.

I have read that this is an easily excitable snake and that they tend to look like they are hyper-ventilating when stressed, but I was completely unprepared for just how intense that can be to look at.

She is definitely the most vocal snake I have ever had, and makes a quiet little squeaking noise whenever she sees the other snake we have (They are in separate set ups about a foot away from each other).

The only real concern that I have, doesnt lie so much with her but with the set up of her cage. The heating pad doesnt seem to be working right and the area around it is cool to the touch. Much to my dismay, she didn't even really go to her hide or curl up near the "hot" side of her tank. If any of you have an idea of what I can do about that, please let me know. Funds are a little tapped at the moment, but I am most likely going to end up going out to buy a new UTH.

formica · 11-10-13, 12:19 PM

congrats

thats a chunky snake!

blue eyes is just one stage of shed, the eyes clear for a few days just before the actual shed takes place

have you got the UTH on a thermostat, is the area cool directly above the UTH or just around it? how much substrate is above it? I'd recomend <1inch above the UTH to allow the heat to penetrate properly

kwhitlock · 11-10-13, 12:27 PM

Congrats on your blood!

Seeing that bloods need a pretty warm temperature, I would think maybe the UTH is defective. If that is the case, I would suggest either getting heat tape, or Ultra therm heat pad. They are basically the same thing but the Ulta therm is plug and play while heat tape has a slight amount of putting together. Both are cheap and come in plenty of sizes.

Amyfhist · 11-10-13, 01:00 PM

@Formica,

I thought she seemed a little big, for two months but I am not too expereinced with this species. Are you saying that she looks too chunky, or was that a compliment on her physique? I just want to make sure I understand what you are saying here, lol.
Well, yesterday I had put her on .5" of"eco-earth" coconut husk, but after a few hours I decided that I was uncomfortable with how fine it was and ended up taking that out, and putting down newspaper until I can go get a different substrate that isnt as finely ground as that was. She had kind of burrowed into it, and it was caked all on her face which made me wary of possible inhalation or ingestion. I got a hold of a temp gun, and its running about 85 degrees above the UTH, and upper 70's on the cold end. I guess just couldnt feel that with my hand whenever I was checking for a relative temperature.

@kwhitlock

Once I move her up to a bigger cage I was planning on doing the heat tape for her,but with this enclosure being more or less temporary until she outgrows it I am going to avoid doing anything overly complicated. I will definitely look into that Ultra therm though, thank you.

Thank you both for your feedback!

drumcrush · 11-10-13, 01:03 PM

congrats! nice looking snake!

formica · 11-10-13, 01:09 PM

was a compliment

i've never owned a blood myself, but i now they are big snakes

85 is probably a bit lower than it should be, i'd expect a bit higher required, closer to 88, but that shuld be confirmed by someone who knows these snakes

sharthun · 11-10-13, 01:11 PM

Congrats!!!

Amyfhist · 11-10-13, 01:47 PM

Thanks everybody

Do you guys think that I am just being overly paranoid about the eco-earth or should I go to a different substrate?

marvelfreak · 11-10-13, 01:51 PM

Put a hide over the heat wait a hour and check the temp in the hide. With Blood's you want the warm side around 88 to 90 degrees for babies. This way you can make a hot box to help give it a nice warm hide. What kind of cage do you have it in? You will want to mist at least once a day until it sheds. Babies require high humidity are can be stressed out very easy. So until it sheds and eats a couple time don't' handle it but as needed. Also did the breeder say if it had shed before?

formica · 11-10-13, 02:04 PM

eco-earth aka coir is an excellent substrate, if its very wet then it can get stuck to snakes, so probably just needs to dry out a little, i like to have a layer of moss aswell in my enclosures, this also serves to keep snakes a bit cleaner

impaction shouldnt be an issue as long as temps are correct

that said, newspaper is good for the first few weeks at least, easier to spot mites that way

marvelfreak · 11-10-13, 03:56 PM

Forgot mention I use Reptile Bark mine love to burrow into it. It hold humidity really well.

Amyfhist · 11-10-13, 04:25 PM

Just an update on whats gone on since my last post:
My UTH has definitely started working, and it got up to 105 earlier. I swapped the newspaper back out for the eco-earth, at about .75" deep all around, and then put some shredded newspaper down for her to feel more secure in the cage. The temperature in the hot spot is now fluctuating between 88 and 91, dropping off to 76 down on the cool end.

@ MarvelFreak
The cage itself is just a small 10 gallon, and the vendor said that she was in her first shed. I have misted the cage to help her out.

She definitely seems more irritable today then she had yesterday, and struck out at me earlier when I was moving her into a smaller container to make the changes in her cage.

Thank you everyone for you input, as well as the compliments on Kali. I appreciate it.

marvelfreak · 11-10-13, 04:34 PM

She is a beauty. To help keep the humidity up I would cover about half of the top of the cage. I have found baby Blood s do better in plastic totes or tubs. Just a suggest but it make keeping them a lot easier.

I would get a new UTH if the temp spiked like that sounds defective. Last thing you want to do is have it cook her or star a fire.

formica · 11-10-13, 04:39 PM

you need to get a thermostat in there to avoid 105 spikes, pulse-proportional will keep it nice and steady - a heat mat can reach 105/40C if its not controlled by a thermostat - also do you have an air-gap below it? if not, raise the enclosure up a couple of milimeters, and tape the UTH to the bottom of the enclosure (on the outside)

yeah wouldnt worry to much about strikes, hissing and posturing, she's young and nervous, just needs handling, but give her a little while now, 2-3 weeks, to settle in and get used to her new home

if she is 2 months old, i very much doubt this is her first shed, I would imagine its her 2nd or 3rd at least, including her first which would have occurred within days of hatching

Amyfhist · 11-10-13, 04:41 PM

I have about half of the screen covered with a folded up towel.

If I were to move her to say a shoe box sized plastic tub, would I still use a UTH for warmth? I am just worried that the plastic would get hot and melt, or release fumes into the container.

Also, I am getting new UTH.

@Formica
I ordered a thermostat online, and I am just waiting for it to come in the mail, it should be here on Tuesday. There is a gap under the tank, and nice airflow under there. The vendor probably had meant that it was the first shed that he had her. I am assuming that he hadnt bred the snake himself, but rather bought it from a breeder to sell at the expo.