hey, odd behaviour (i guess) and related questions.

[Razzed]

Hey all.
My little buddy, bredli python, is about 4-5 months old, had him for about a month n a half ( ish ).
Last week, he spent a good 3 days sitting in his water bowl, and the following 3 days wedged into the furthest cold spot in the enclosure. The enclosure is 4 foot long. The warmest part, top left, is 34 degrees, on average, with a max of about 40 through the day, the bottom left is 22, max of about 30 I guess, enclosure about 2 foot tall, with heaps to climb on, just to give you some idea as to living conditions.
I got him out and was cold to the touch. He has fed once a week with vigor for me until this week.

Anything i should be worried about, or wary of? I haven't seen any shed or droppings the whole time he's been in there ( has managed to escape twice now :? turns out he can wedge himself through the two sliding pieces of glass wouldnt have believed it if i hadn't of seen it myself

Any tips or advice appreciated Hope he's doing ok in there

Cheers,
Scott

 

[Serpentess]

Set up a click clack so he doesn't escape. There's a thread on here with instructions and pictures to show you how to do it properly.
Just until he gets big enough to not escape.

Could be mites with the soaking? Or coming up to a shed?

 

[Razzed]

have the gap sorted out now, hopefully last time he gets out. Just pulled him out now to have a look. loose scales found on underside of head and neck. occasional one here and there. when do they begin to shed?
symptoms/effects of mites?

 

[Dipcdame]

Could be your temps are a bit high and he's just hot and trying to cool down a bit.... try dropping them to about 32 in the hot spot

 

[Serpentess]

Hmm. All snakes shed at different times... is he lighter/duller than usual? Eyes starting to go a milky blue?

Anyway, the "loose scales" may need to be elaborated upon... do you mean like they're lifting? Because mites can do that.
You will notice mites as little black-ish dots on the snake (under scales, mostly near the softer head area). You may also see them in the enclosure...
Any black dots floating in the water bowl?

 

[Serpentess]

Could be your temps are a bit high and he's just hot and trying to cool down a bit.... try dropping them to about 32 in the hot spot

Oh, and yes. Dicdame has a good point. I just read you said a max of 40. Bit too hot.

 

[syeph8]

Could be your temps are a bit high and he's just hot and trying to cool down a bit.... try dropping them to about 32 in the hot spot

+1 could be a bit hot. drop the temps to max 32 and see what happens, can always raise it to 35 or something if he seems to cold but it does sound like hes trying to cool

 

[Razzed]

could be a bit, down that end that he wedges in sits at about 15 c at best during the day. during the colder months ( night temp gets to 15 in the warm end at night) how often would be normal or expected for the snake to pass wastes? He's finished off 5 mice while I've had him, and unless hes digging a little hole somewhere and burying it , I can't see any??

I'll lower temp a tad, see if I can get some improvement out of him.

after a bit of an imspection (hes getting impatient with me now ) looks like a grains of dirt under a couple of scales here and there. trying to look closer but hes not impressed with the idea. should i be leaning towards mites?

 

[Owzi]

Sounds like mites to me Razzed. I would be doing what others have said, set your animal up in a click clack for a while, then you will easily see if its deficating. Im sure a luke warm bath would be apreciated by your snake & get yourself some "top of decent" asap to get on top of those mites (if you soak him in a white container, or even if you look in his water bowl, you may see little specks of dirt that are actually mites).

 

[Razzed]

hmmmm... mites it is..... about this bath idea, how do i go about this smoothly? i can just imagine trying to get him to settle down into a tub of water for some time. How long should he be in there for? what happens if, on the way in,the head dips underwater? just trying to cover any event the more info i grab, the better Whats this "top of decent" product?

 

[J-A-X]

I'd drop the temps and put a white / light coloured water dish in there, i'd say hes ready to shed, and they can hold onto their 'waste' until after they shed. the 'loose scales' you describe might just be where he is ready to shed, but because the temps are high certain spots may have already lifted and dried, I'm betting when he does shed it will be in pieces instead of one piece, (sometimes with tears in it, but it still holds together) Top of descent is a spray for mites, and its not cheap, and if you don't need it you will have wasted money,

change the bowl so you can see the mites (look for tiny specks a bit like ground pepper) if they exist.

what do you have on the floor of the enclosure,

i've just re read your post and i see 'He has fed once a week with vigor for me until this week' a lot of snakes go off their food just before shedding..... give it another week, i'll bet he's shedding

 

[Razzed]

well, it's confirmed, mites it is. Took him in just to confirm suspicions, and was handed a can of T.O.D to fix the problem. A good spraying once a week for three weeks ( sans the water bowl for the night of spraying) should see my little buddy back to full health. The lack of feeding, I am told, is the snake staying too cool while he was washing them off for the three days prior, so now the bugs are being dealt with, he can spend more time in the sun, and less in the pool
Thanks everyone for your help, glad I got on top of this before any major health issues arose.
Just a last quick question. Once this spray does its thing and the bugs are deceased, do they fall out from between the scales by themselves, or is some assistance needed? there are a few wedged in here and there, and they look uncomfortable!

Cheers,
Scott

 

[driftoz]

night temp gets to 15 in the warm end at night

for hatchies till they are a year old or so should be kept at avg 32*c on the warm end 24/7 day and night.