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Catfish_82 Nathan L Nathan L Littleindiangirl Snakedrake525 Catfish_82 Littleindiangirl Catfish_82 Catfish_82 Littleindiangirl Littleindiangirl Catfish_82 Littleindiangirl Catfish_82 Catfish_82 Littleindiangirl Catfish_82 Catfish_82 Littleindiangirl Catfish_82 Littleindiangirl Catfish_82 Littleindiangirl Python_Pete Littleindiangirl Catfish_82 Littleindiangirl Python_Pete Catfish_82 Snakey68

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#1750616

Catfish_82
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Cold Side Preference?

Hello, I have just recently accquired a female blood python and already I’m starting to notice some behavior that I consider ’weird’ I was wondering if anyone who has a bit more experience with this species wouldn’t mind helping me. First off, on the hot side of the cage, the temp fluctuates between 91-93 F (the vet I talked to said this was correct). The cold side temps are high 70’s low 80’s. The humidity is around 35%. She has hides on both the warm side and the cool side of the tank, but I have noticed her spending the vast majority of her time on the cold side of the tank. Thinking it might be too hot for her on the warm side, I turned the temps down about five degrees, but she still will not come over to the hot side. I even took the cold side hide out to try and force the issue, but nothing, she stays out in the open over on the cold side rather than go over to the warm side. I have put her in the warm side hide a few time, and she’ll stay for a few minutes, then crawl back on over to the cold side. Does anyone know why she might be doing this? Any Help is greatly appreciated.

05/29/08 10:54pm

#1750811

Nathan L
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1750616

Cold Side Preference?

Well, I currently do not own any blood pythons, and have not yet, but I am going to be the new owner of one as of like Tuesday. Anyways, I would try keeping the warm side about 86-88, and the cool side more around 78 degrees. Also, blood pythons need humidity, it is vital for shedding, etc... Try and keep the humidity up around 65%, but no higher than 70% and no less than 60%. If it is too low, they may have problems shedding, and if it is too high, they are very prone to getting respiratory infections. I hope that helped. Correct me if I am wrong guys.

05/30/08 08:06am

#1750814

Nathan L
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1750616

Cold Side Preference?

Sorry, I meant 60%-65%. And, when the blood is shedding, more towards 70%. Like I said earlier they are very susceptible to respiratory infections. Thanks, and I hope it helps.

05/30/08 08:08am

#1751150

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1750616

Cold Side Preference?

Quote:
First off, on the hot side of the cage, the temp fluctuates between 91-93 F (the vet I talked to said this was correct). The cold side temps are high 70’s low 80’s. The humidity is around 35%. She has hides on both the warm side and the cool side of the tank, but I have noticed her spending the vast majority of her time on the cold side of the tank. Thinking it might be too hot for her on the warm side, I turned the temps down about five degrees, but she still will not come over to the hot side. I even took the cold side hide out to try and force the issue, but nothing, she stays out in the open over on the cold side rather than go over to the warm side. I have put her in the warm side hide a few time, and she’ll stay for a few minutes, then crawl back on over to the cold side. Does anyone know why she might be doing this? Any Help is greatly appreciated.

Okay, just as a note, while vets are awesome with medical and anatomy, they are not always up to date or at all practiced in correct husbandry for every species they see.

That being said, your temps were a little warm. Did you leave her to acclimate for 2 weeks? 2 weeks of no touching, holding, peeking, but just leaving her alone? All animals need an acclimation period, even more so snakes, because snakes take so long to calm down.

Here’s some general questions to give us a feel what your set up is like.

What are you housing her in? What size is she and how big is the enclosure?
What are you using for substrate?
What are the hides?
How are you heating her enclosure? (bulbs, flexwatt, UTH?)
What are you measuring the temps and humidity with? (digital or analog?)

Okay, just some general things first.

Your humidity is way too low. You need to have it in the 60’s to avoid respiratory illness, and horrible sheds. You can achieve this different ways depending on what your housing her in.

Second, the temps need to be pretty steady. 88-90 (never over 90 while digesting, especially for young ones) and the cool side should be around 78-80.

Bump her humidity, and give her back her hides, give her lots of spaces to hide in to promote thermoregulation. Bloods are shy animals as well, and like to be hiding most, if not all, of the time.

Once you give us either pics or a detailed description of your set up, we can help you figure some things out.

05/30/08 03:34pm

#1751721

Snakedrake525
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1751150

Cold Side Preference?

Yeah what she said! ha! little Indian girl your a little smarty pants. I found the hard way the only way to keep bloods temps and humidity right is a perforated Rubbermaid with a uth on one side I tried everything with my other Borneo’s set up and just couldn’t keep the humidity stable. Simple is better! Just listen to what Little Indian girl tells you.

05/31/08 12:19am

#1752547

Catfish_82
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1751150

Cold Side Preference?

Thank you to all who replied. In the interim I have messed around with her setup a bit more, and am very pleased to report that things are much better. She went from a ten gallon glass aquarium to a sterilite tub (I forget size, but good for her). I Have an under the tank heater making it 87.3 degrees in her hot side hide. Ambient air temp is about 85-86 Degrees. temperature in her cold side hide is 85. Humidity is now around 45-50%, I’m working on getting that higher. I know she needs an acclimation period, but right now the only time I’m bothering her is when I open up the tub to change her water...also take a peek every now and then. Can’t help it, she’ such a beautiful snake :)

littleindiangirl:

To answer your specific questions, She is being housed in a sterilite tub 21Quarts (I think?) She is young, a little under a foot long. For substrate, I have newspaper. Her two hides are hard plastic molds in the shape of rocks, one on hot side, one on cold side. I have an UTH for her, and I measure temps with digital instruments, both with probes.

I will try and get some pics up tomorrow.

Again, thank you all for you advice. God Bless.

06/02/08 07:53pm

#1752600

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1752547

Cold Side Preference?

I would try and get her ambient air temps down to the 80-82. Bloods so young don’t really need a hot spot, so any variance towards the cool end will be beneficial. If you feel the need to offer a hot spot, shoot for 86-88. I would try to keep it around that and not over.

Her set up sounds great, you can even give her a cup to soak in. It really does help for when she’s getting ready to shed.

Hope this helps ya!

06/02/08 09:02pm

#1752638

Catfish_82
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1752600

Cold Side Preference?

littleindiangirl,

You have been an enormous help, thank you so much. I’m going to tweak some more, and will report back on how it is. She does have a water bowl big enough to soak in. I think that’s what’s helping generate the lions share of the humidity. Anyways, have a great day. -ML

06/05/08 02:21pm

#1755883

Catfish_82
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1752638

Cold Side Preference?

here is a photo of her setup. Please let me know what you think.

Also, can anyone give me some pointers on feeding, She hasn’t eaten for two weeks, I’ve been leaving her alone so she can acclimate. Im getting really frustrated at this point.

06/09/08 12:00pm

#1756069

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1755883

Cold Side Preference?

I can’t really tell, but do you have her on a hot spot at all?

I’ll just write what worked for me.

I got a 12 qt sterilite tub, I used the top half of those rock hides (looks about the same size as your yellow hide) because it was a nice snug fit.

I ran some flexwatt the length of the tub, and I taped the probe to the flexwatt with some aluminum tape because it’s extra sticky. The flexwatt was not taped to the bottom of the tub, but to a shelf. There was air space for the probe and to let the flexwatt breathe.

He had a lot of ventilation holes melted into the tub for fresh air and humidity. The accurite was positioned at the front of the tub for me to see, and the probe was placed into his hide underneath a sheet of newspaper.

The hide held some heat in, but I set everything for 83. The thermostat was the turn on/off kind (Ranco) and it had a variability of 1 degree. It kept the temps very steady. It got him off the hot spot and having given him a full length of tape set at 83F, it held toward the cool end in his tub, and ambient is at 80-82, with the back end belly temps (hide) towards the 83-84 mark.

I controlled the humidity in the tub my taping over the extra holes during shed to get it in the 70% range. It worked very well.

He was given a cup of water large enough for him to soak in and he did very well in this set up, never refused unless he was in shed.

That’s all he had, one hide, one water bowl and newspaper as substrate.

06/09/08 03:58pm

#1756072

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1756069

Cold Side Preference?

As to her not eating, what exactly are you offering and at what time?

Like is it live or FT?
How do you heat it up and offer it?
What time do you offer?

Bloods are nocturnal and see their prey with their heat pits. The prey should be warm, and offered in a dark quiet room.

I prescent for an hour as the rat thaws on top or near the enclosure at about 10:00 at night. I warm it up in a ziplock baggie in hot water for 10 minutes, squeezing the stomach to make sure it is thawed completely. I warm the head next to a light bulb for a minute and offer to the snake.

My bloods are monsters when it comes to feeding and hardly give me a chance to open the tub before they come lunging out at me. They know what day it is and are ready to rock and roll when saturday comes around. :)

06/09/08 04:04pm

#1758206

Catfish_82
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1756072

Cold Side Preference?

Sorry for the delay in my reply.

I have been thawing a fuzzy mouse by leaving it in hot water for about fifteen minutes. When it gets out, it’s nice and warm, but not hot to the touch. The guy I bought her from said he took tongs and bonked her on the nose with it, and she took it. I tried that the first time, and she bit it, made a half-assed attempt to constrict it, then let it go and refused to touch it again. Afterwards I left the mouse in her warm side hide over night. Again she refused. On the next attempt, I just put the mouse in her hide rather than assaulting her with it, and she still refused it. I may try a live fuzzy just to test out if the body heat thing is the issue.

06/11/08 07:36pm

#1758250

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1758206

Cold Side Preference?

Try prescenting next time. Get some soiled bedding and leave it near or in her cage for a half an hour before you feed her. Make the head of the prey really warm, and offer to her on tongs, jiggle like it’s alive. She should take it.

Also, she could probably be taking bigger than a fuzzy mouse, since BP’s are started on hoppers. She could probably be taking a fuzzy rat instead.

06/11/08 08:20pm

#1758848

Catfish_82
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1758250

Cold Side Preference?

I’m feeding the snakes again tomorrow and I will definitely try that. Thanks, and I’ll let you know how it turns out.

06/12/08 01:37pm

#1761600

Catfish_82
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1758848

Cold Side Preference?

Success!!!

I think prescenting did the trick. Thanks littleindiangirl.

06/15/08 11:59am

#1762832

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1761600

Cold Side Preference?

Awesome! Very glad to hear! :)

~Connie

06/16/08 03:47pm

#1766295

Catfish_82
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1762832

Cold Side Preference?

Here are some photos of my baby. And I only got bit three times taking these.

06/19/08 02:21pm

#1769188

Catfish_82
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1766295

Cold Side Preference?

Alright, 6/21/08, my second successful feeding. I’m not out of the woods yet, but I’m getting there. Thank you so much to all who have offered your support and advice. -ML

06/22/08 12:01am

#1769940

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1769188

Cold Side Preference?

A fantastic looking blood, glad to hear things are well on their way!!! :)

C

06/22/08 07:32pm

#1788001

Catfish_82
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1769940

New Issues

Hello,

I was hoping someone might have some advice for me on this. Now I am having humidity issues in my cage. My bloods UTH is flexwatt and is keeping the entire enclosure at 82.7 degrees. In the pic I’ve enclosed, you’ll see two water bowls, her yellow hide, and a white tub, which is a cool-whip container with a hole cut in the side. I’ve got damp spaghnum moss in there as a humidity hide. Not to mention that I’ve got all but about three of her air holes taped off. All this nets me a grand humidity total of 41%.

Any thoughts?

07/09/08 01:33am

#1788204

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1788001

New Issues

I’d buy a different hygrometer.... I have a feeling that one is wrong

07/09/08 09:50am

#1788913

Catfish_82
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1788204

New Issues

Haha...the thought of a decfective unit crossed my mind, but the thing is brand-spanking-new. Oh well, anyone have a brand of hydrometer that they consider reliable? At this point I’ve had my fill of exo-terra.

Side note, Marle (my blood) is in shed and was looking all wrinkled. So gave her a nice long soak....she smoothed out, and as a bonus, passed some urates for me. Never a dull moment with that one.

07/09/08 07:38pm

#1788931

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1788913

New Issues

Just a little fun fact, giving them a soak while in blue is actually worse for their shedding by (totally unscientific part coming up) leeching out the fluid that builds up between the two layers of skin, making them have a tough shed.

I use the Accurite brand thermometer/hygrometer w/ the probe for all my enclosures. 12$, works great!

07/09/08 07:52pm

#1789159

Python_Pete
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1788931

New Issues

littleindiangirl:

Allowing a snake to soak in the days prior to a shed is bad? Crunch soaks in his water dish for two or three days before shedding, even though the humidity in his tank is around 65 (my hygrometer is from Flukers). Should I not be letting him soak "while in blue"?

BTW: My wife got a good laugh when she read your response in my earlier post where you said you would be pissed if I didn’t support you with both hands while holding you... LOL. Of course, I told her you are 68 years old and have 11 grandchildren...

07/09/08 10:40pm

#1790348

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Python_Pete In reference to Message Id: 1789159

New Issues

LOL I know... like my disclaimer I had up, I have no proof of that being the case in bloods, it’s just what I’ve heard from many Ball keepers, seemed like a good response at the time. lmao

I’m not entirely sure if the same is true for bloods, because they love to soak all the time anyways. Mine do it alot, especially while in shed, and also have perfect sheds...

So who knows? I could just be talking about my 68 year old hiney. ;)

07/10/08 08:08pm

#1790349

Catfish_82
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1788931

New Issues

I would not have figured that. However, I may keep doing it during this shed, at least until I get my humidity issues resolved.

An interesting side note; I peeked in on her last night and it appears that her old layer of skin is probably 80% detached and she’s wearing it as you or I might wear a tube sock.

I’ll be at the store tomorrow and will give that accurite a try. Anyways, you all have a good one.

07/10/08 08:08pm

#1790363

Littleindiangirl
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1790349

New Issues

I would remove all the shed that encircles her body tonight... It’s very important that you do so soon.

07/10/08 08:12pm

#1790582

Python_Pete
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Message To: Littleindiangirl In reference to Message Id: 1790363

New Issues

Does anybody else keep a rock or log in their enclosure as a rubbing post? Crunch’s water bowl is the XXL fake stone dish, but I don’t know if he actually rubs against it.

BTW: I am holding Crunch on my lap as I type this, and so far nothing bitten off.

07/10/08 10:26pm

#1791112

Catfish_82
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Message To: Python_Pete In reference to Message Id: 1790582

New Issues

I have several rocks that I let my snakes rub against. Admittedly I’ve never personally witnessed them rubbing up against the stones, but bits of old skin test to the fact that they do use them.

Connie, I’ve removed all the shed I can, she’s completely clean except for a bit on her head and neck, which she will not let me touch. I’m going to give that a day or two and then see what happens.

Accurite works good so far.

07/11/08 11:42am

#1791256

Snakey68
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Message To: Catfish_82 In reference to Message Id: 1791112

New Issues

I wouldn’t wait a day or so just put the snake in a tub with a very damp towel for a few hours not cold damp but warm. make sure there are breather holes in the tub as well and let him move around under and over , through the towel etc you should find that it will come off very easily.

On the rare occasion that any of my snakes do have a problem shed I always remove ASAP whether by simply soaking or the above method with some help from myself.

You can use the wet towel to hold her or him and get the remainder off as the snake naturally moves around.

I would not leave for longer than a day, the sooner you deal with after a shed the better and easier it will be , not to mention the snake will feel better as well.

07/11/08 01:28pm

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