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 #1970339


Demon_driven
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 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

A bit unexpectedly, I came into possession of a BRB a few days ago. She was being given away (I was told it was a she, no proof though) and when I saw the conditions she was in I had to take her. She was in a 40 gal breeder with a screen top, a basking light, a tiny water bowl and no hides. She was absolutely swarming with mites, one tick on her (that I’ve found), really thin, dehydrated, stuck shed EVERYWHERE, and weezing every few breaths. I immediately took her.
I started treating the mites as soon as I got her back to my brother’s house. It will be awhile before I bring her home to the rest of my collection. The vast majority of the mites died from the first treatment, and the next one is due tomorrow. I have set up a 48qt tub for her with 90 to 100% humidity and temps from 75 to 83 degrees. Here’s what she looked like the next day after I picked a lot of the stuck shed off.





She’s around 5.5 feet long and I have no idea on the age. To the best of my knowledge, these are the best conditions I can be providing for the snake right now. She’s going to the vet on Friday, and I’m really hoping she makes it that long. The weazing has gotten better, I’m not hearing it near as often. She was also super weak and inactive when I got her, but she seems to have a gotten a bit of life back, even exploring around her cage a bit. Is there anything else I can be doing to help her? Are my temps and humidity right? Any help is greatly appreciated.
03/17/09  09:46pm

 #1970510


Fairy Frog Mother
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   Message To: Demon_driven   In reference to Message Id: 1970339


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

100% humidity might be a little high, but after the drought that poor thing has gone through...a little rain like conditions sounds like its easing her breathing.
Sounds like you’re doing great temp wise from everything Ive read.
Thank goodness you rescued her. Even if she does not make it, her last days will have been much better for it. And if she does make it, it will be due to your intervention here.
Very wise not bringing her home to your collection til the mites clear and you get her to a vet.
03/18/09  09:04am

 #1970605


Demon_driven
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   Message To: Fairy Frog Mother   In reference to Message Id: 1970510


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

Thank you for the reply and the kind words. I plan on keeping the humidity up high for a few more days and then slowly bringing it down to the 70-90% range (unless the vet recommends otherwise). I also have offered a F/T rat every day I’ve had her, but she hasn’t eaten. I have no idea when the last time she ate was. I know its normal for a snake not to eat after going through the stress of moving to a new location, mite treatments, etc, but it would make me feel better if she would get a meal in. Is this the wrong approach? Should I not be offering food yet? Like I said before, this is my first rainbow, but I’ve kept corns, rat snakes, king snakes, ball pythons, RTB’s, and other snakes for years, so I appreciate any advice anyone can give me regarding BRB’s.
03/18/09  11:59am

 #1970669


Fairy Frog Mother
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   Message To: Demon_driven   In reference to Message Id: 1970605


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

As stressed out as she is, feeding right now is probably unlikely, and a waste of the food. Takes a week for most healthy snakes to begin to feed. Brbs are even more shy about eating. Give her a few days where you just peek in on her- then try once a week. I would even leave it either right next to, or inside her hide. You can try making an inscision in the head of the rat to stimulate feeding- but definately wait until shes had time to destress a bit. With her condition, if she doesnt eat, she might need to be force fed.(Talk to the vet for his/her advice on that) Trying every day may stress her out more. As skinny as she is I totally understand wanting to try to get her to eat.

Im still learning about RTBs myself as Im taking in one soon. Her pictures there make me want to cry.



03/18/09  02:21pm

 #1970671


Fairy Frog Mother
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   Message To: Fairy Frog Mother   In reference to Message Id: 1970669


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

Oh oh! I nearly forgot! Clear pedialite bath- 50/50 water/Pedialite! Help get her electrolites back up. If she drinks it, even better.
03/18/09  02:23pm

 #1970774


Demon_driven
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   Message To: Fairy Frog Mother   In reference to Message Id: 1970671


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

Thank you! That’s a good idea and I will give it a shot tonight. Also found another tick earlier very close to one of her eyes, hiding under some stuck shed. I’d really like to go ahead and remove them, but they seem to be buried in pretty deep, so I may wait and let the vet do it. Any ideas or experience with ticks on snakes?
03/18/09  05:08pm

 #1971379


Fairy Frog Mother
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   Message To: Demon_driven   In reference to Message Id: 1970774


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

For humans and dogs you can put Petrolium Jelly (Vasaline) thickly over the tick to coat it so it has to back out to breathe. Not sure if its 100% safe for Snakes, but as Ive used antibiotic ointment for a wound with my last snake, I think it would be- since its the same base.Wouldnt hurt to try. Worst that happens is it doesnt come out and the vet gives it a go.

I think touching it with rubbing alcohol at the end of a Q tip works too, but if its really that close to the eye, I wouldnt risk it with the alcohol.



03/19/09  06:22pm

 #1971402


Demon_driven
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   Message To: Fairy Frog Mother   In reference to Message Id: 1971379


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

I’ve decided to just wait on the tick. We go to the vet at 9am tomorrow. A little update...I’ve gotten more of the stuck shed off and her colors are really showing now. The high humidity is obviously helping alot. I can see the stripes on her head now. Also, she at a small adult mouse two hours ago! I can’t tell you how happy that made me.
03/19/09  06:42pm

 #1971638


Fairy Frog Mother
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   Message To: Demon_driven   In reference to Message Id: 1971402


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

HURRAY!!! That in and of itself is a terrific sign! *keeps fingers crossed*

Im going to be getting one within a month or two which has shedding issues on its head. It soaks in its water dish, but cant submerge its head...and its owner is allergic to mildew and mold so hasn’t kept a moss box for it, and its humidity is too low. *Gonna smack him (the owner not the snake) upside the head when I see him before he moves off to Holland* Otherwise though, its in good health, eats well, has a huge enclosure its coming with etc. The snake itself is around 10 years old.

So, soon as its with me the humidity is getting cranked, he is getting coconut substrate and a very large, happily damp mossy hide. ( he is full grown and 5 feet, and well handled I’m told. His owner is quadriplegic, but has some use of his arms, and takes him out all the time to be handled)

Best of luck at the vet!



03/20/09  03:03am

 #1971874


Demon_driven
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   Message To: Fairy Frog Mother   In reference to Message Id: 1971638


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

The vet trip went well. Got the ticks off her, gave her some dewormer, and an antibiotic for the RI. My vet also said my husbandry was perfect and to keep doing more of the same. She did say to perhaps raise the ambient air temperature since snakes do not metabolize antibiotics as well at lower temperatures. That was the first time I had heard this...anyone else ever hear that?

So it appears that she’s on the road to recovery, and I am quite relieved. I can’t wait to bring her home and get her set up in a nice viv, but she’ll stay away until we go back to the vet again in two weeks. Updated pics coming tonight.

FFM, it sounds like you’re getting a BRB with a good tempermant, which is what I lucked into it seems. And 10 years old? That’s getting up there. How long do they typically live in captivity? What do you think about the substrate for these guys? I’ve been reading different caresheets, and I think I’m gonna go with sphagnum moss over a piece of repti-carpet. Good? Bad?

Best of luck when you get him, and give the owner a smack for me too!



03/20/09  05:24pm

 #1971958


Fairy Frog Mother
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   Message To: Demon_driven   In reference to Message Id: 1971874


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

Sounds good and easily cleaned. I was going to go with coconut substrate stuff that comes in the blocks since I use that for my BCIs and so far they are doing very well with it.
Im going to make a large moss box for Terramin though. His origional owner was my husbands roommate, but when he moved, he couldn’t keep it so he gave it to the current owner- who is highly allergic to mold and took the box out because it triggered his allergies. Luckily the snake is smart enough to spend most of its time in its huge water dish. I plan to make it a giant hide ( its used to a very large cage with no hide) so I think he will be in snakey heaven. Im just hoping he isnt completely blind. If he is, Ill love em just the same.



03/20/09  09:45pm

 #1972310


Demon_driven
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   Message To: Fairy Frog Mother   In reference to Message Id: 1971958


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

Yeah, my girl may be blind too, but that doesn’t change anything. She seems to respond to light and dark, so there may be hope once those eye caps come off. She also took a small rat yesterday...took her around 6 hours to eat. It was so slow it was almost painful to watch, but it made a huge difference today. Full of energy and life, and all the stuck shed has come off except for around the head. Here’s pics from this morning.





03/21/09  04:27pm

 #1972335


Sra
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   Message To: Demon_driven   In reference to Message Id: 1972310


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

You shouldn’t be handling her if she just ate. Wait at least two days.
03/21/09  04:52pm

 #1972352


Demon_driven
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   Message To: Sra   In reference to Message Id: 1972335


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

Normally I wouldn’t be handling a day after feeding, but given these circumstances, the snake has to be handled every day while I completely sterilize her tub. Don’t worry though, I kept it to no more then 10 minutes and took these pics during that time. And I didn’t stretch her out against her will, she was crawling along my arms and I told my g/f to hurry and take a pic so I could show off her length.
03/21/09  05:14pm

 #1972786


Addicted.
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   Message To: Demon_driven   In reference to Message Id: 1972352


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

Sounds like your doing a great job!

Be carefull how much you raise the temps,you should not go much higher than 85,is at all.They can not tolerate high temps well.

Jason.
03/22/09  02:53pm

 #1972822


Fairy Frog Mother
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   Message To: Addicted.   In reference to Message Id: 1972786


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

She already looks sooo much better than those first pictures. It’ll be nice to see that backbone disappear over time! Hope her eyes clear up.
03/22/09  04:11pm

 #1973086


Demon_driven
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   Message To: Fairy Frog Mother   In reference to Message Id: 1972822


 New to Rainbow Boas, gonna need some help

Well, I’ve had her for one week today. We’ve named her Athena (alot of our snakes have greek names). No handling at all today except to give her a shot of antibiotic. She hissed at me when I took her out of her hide, which was kind of surprising. I also haven’t seen any mites on her or in her tub, even dead ones, in two days.

Thanks for the heads up Jason, just about everything I’ve read has told me that same thing. I wasn’t really planning on raising the temps. My vet just suggested taking away the lower end of the temp gradient so she stays warm enough to properly metabolize the antibiotics. I’m worried about this affecting her ability to thermoregulate though. Any thoughts?

FFM, I think your pedialite idea worked great. I added a teaspoon of Malaseb to the bath as well and I think it really helped her skin. It just feels so much better to the touch. I started working on the eyes a couple of days ago before she had the rat. I sprayed some shed-aid on cheese cloth and ran it over her face. She seemed to enjoy it, and was pressing into the cloth when I would brush her. I got alot of shed off her nostrils, and one of the eye caps started to flake off too.

If anyone has any advice regarding BRB care, I’m all ears. Thanks!

~Jared



03/22/09  10:31pm


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