Jungles too cranky

[mysnakesau]

My pair of jungles have refused their last couple of feeds. I have put it down to the cold weather, or should I say the nights have been freezing, 4c or less. I have also moved all my snakes from the loungeroom to a special small room where they seem to be keeping warmer. Its only been a couple of days but while everyone else has taken food and seems not bothered, the two jungles are incredibly stressed and cranky. They have been terrific feeders since the day I got them home (from SXR) but when snakes like that suddenly turn, I can't help but worry about their welfare. The female has always been a bugger and will drop a feed to attack me so I have to be very still and not let her detect my movement when I want to back away. The boy has always been great but now, he too is too busy striking and seems scared of the food item, too busy striking defensively to worry about food. I have left the mice in their tanks to see if they'll eat it later. But turning the attention to my female, I got some photos of her with her mouth open today (will get them up when I get my computer back, someone else is using it). There seems to be an odd lump in her mouth, but when I picked her up I carefully opened up her mouth using a probe and could not see anything like the photo is showing. But she does seem to be a bit more salivery than I think is normal. I am not sure if its because of her constantly striking, hitting the glass everytime someone looks at her or if she is harbouring a problem. I have to wait till Monday to get her to the vet, in the meantime I re-arranged her furniture trying to add some confinery around her heating that will help her keep warm. I rarely see her in her warm end so her favourite hiding place is now one-third of the way over her heat panel so hopefully it will throw some warmth her way. I am so worried about her now I can't wait for Monday to call the vet and get her in, but I have to.

I know the reputation of the jungles to be cranky but I've never seen my male look so frightened to a point of refusing foo before, and her constant head banging is bothering me to a point I want to cover her tank whenever I am in the room. She will sit there reared up with the mouth open waiting for the next movement to strike.

I can't help thinking I am worrying for nothing, but that brownish/greenish lump did not stand out when I checked her mouth, as it appears in this photo. All the same, we are travelling to Camden Haven on Monday anyway, to be sure.

 

[Fantazmic]

if you are worried about temps get a temp gun...you can buy them at bunnings or the herp shop.

this way you can check the temps really accurately in their enclosures.....at least 30 at the warm end and about 26 at the cool end and the ability to thermoregulate themselves by moving around the enclosure.

I dont give my babies hides i use handy ultra paper towel it is really soft...fold it on the perforations and place in the bootom of the click clack...if your baby is cold they will get inbetween the paper towel and get lovely and warm and they have the knack of picking the spot where their temp will be just right...and they seem to love it....

if the temps are not right you will have probs with feeding

temperature is everything and you need to provide them with the capacity to regulate it

 

[mysnakesau]

I have an infrared thermometer but it only measures surface temperature so I have started buying ordinary thermometers from the camping shop to mount in the tanks so I can have an idea of air temperature as well. My boy is back in his warm spot this morning but the heat has only just turned on so will check it later on when its heated up properly. I have been re-arranging their furniture to try and maximise their warmth, he looks settled so I won't disturb him now. Give the feeding another go next weekend.

 

[Torah]

id invest in some one way glass for your nerves sake..... I have a bredli that was the same , as soon as i dropt the rat in shed start striking the glass (ditsy as) ....hurt herself bad one time and culdnt get her jaw back in line properly (shes fine now).... but I got oneway glass and now shes not bothered at all

 

[r3ptilian]

Definitely take it to the vet, that infection could turn pretty nasty real quick. No wonder she's upset.

 

[mysnakesau]

I have good news all round for Miss Jane. Got her straight in to see Dr Gavin this morning. That lump in her mouth was a piece of Breeders Choice bedding that had gotten wedged into the roof of her mouth, blocking her nose. It was soggy and obviously been there for a while. She has been refusing her food most likely due to the fact that it effected her sense of smell. More good news, it has not caused any infections or anything. Dr Gav. checked her all out and gave her a clean bill of health. So out comes the breeders choice, and back onto newspaper. For the winter I might even go back to using carpet just to help keep her enclosure that little bit warmer.

 

[longqi]

Great news
But I would be tempted to improve the temps a bit at night
Jungles simply dont like getting down to anywhere near 4c

 

[BurtonReptiles]

great news

 

[Fantazmic]

I use paper towel.....it is just that bit more absorbent and they have a towel on their shelves so they can cuddle up on the habistat reptiradiator and get right under the towel if it is cold.

In my click clacks I use paper towel and my babies love it they snuggle right underneath it and make their own hide and it is lovely and warm.....

I like the paper towel it isnt as messy as newspaper and its a bit more absorbent for clean up.

 

[mysnakesau]

Is that paper towel you have near their heater or an ordinary towel? That sounds like a good idea. Going out tomorrow to buy some Thanks for the idea.

 

[AM Pythons]

wow.. good outcome.. just use no-name paper towel you use in the kitchen..

 

[bluey87]

where do u live for the temps to be droppin that low at this time of the yr its not that cold yet is it? my frog tank i accidently left the heat light off last night and it only dropped to 14.5 degrees, i keep my hatchy on top of the bluey enclosure above the heat light half over the warm section so she has two sides one warm one cooler

i do know its winter i live in qld but as i said i didnt think it was gettin that cold yet

do u guys feed your snakes in their enclosures?

 

[mysnakesau]

I don't know if my enclosures are getting that cold but watching the forecast for Kempsey, its f-f-f-freezing. We've only had a couple that low, its mostly been sitting around 7c. Tonight is expected to only reach 9c.

Yes I feed my snakes in their enclosures.

 

[LizardLady]

Oh Kathy, that is such a relief for you! Excellent outcome, you must be stoked!

I have to admit, I've been keeping an eye on this thread the last few days, to find out how she got on - I'm SO glad for you, that it's been such a simple "recovery" for her, considering it could have been much worse with infections etc.

Good on you for trusting your gut!

Hopefully now, she'll return to her previous behaviour and be the gorgeous young lady she was!

All the best,
Carolyn

 

[Carnelian]

Glad it was an easy fix with no ill side effects.

I keep thinking about trying some kind of substrate but this is exactly why I haven't done it. If anything happened our reptile vet is 1400km away so I don't want anything to happen that could be avoided.

We are in central QLD & our temps are already going down to 3c, bloody horrible too, just further south in Blackall they had 0.4 on Thursday morning, . Very strange though for this time of yr.

 

[Blondie84]

I love reading discussions about temps... I'm so glad I changed my girls light over to a 150W when I did... we have already had night time temps well below zero! Not that it gets that cold inside, especially not with my ducted gas heating (that I run more for my animals than for myself) but we are certainly heading into that time of year where refused feeds are always a possibility!

 

[mysnakesau]

Thank you Carolyn. It's always lovely to see your delightful replies. I was very worried when I first spotted a problem, I even couldn't sleep that night, busting for the clock to tick over so I could ring the vet and thankfully got her in that morning. The drooling has stopped. I let her out to get some morning sun yesterday. If she appreciated it she didn't show it :lol: but that's Miss Jane. The day she doesn't strike will be another worrying day.

 

[mysnakesau]

Finally! After months of food refusal, both my jungles have eaten tonight I fed him last night and offered him another tonight as advised by reputable jungle breeder - THANK YOU COLIN - and she took two mice tonight. I hope this means they are getting back on track now. Thankyou Jane and Zan, please keep it up

 

[Allan]

Good to hear they're well. This is the breeding season though and they do get off their food, males in particular will get pretty cranky.
If you keep feeding at low temps, make sure it is digested. A lot easier to give them a rest over winter.

 

[mysnakesau]

Thanks Allan My two are only youngsters - 2yrs old so I have their heat on 24/7. I did start turning it off overnight but after talking to Colin I think my fellas are rather small for their age. So he said to turn their heat back on 24/7. They did go off their food for about 2 or 3 months - she had breeders choice stuck in her mouth blocking her jacobs organ and his heat mat burnt out and I did not notice. And neither issues I picked up on straight away and I'm not 100% sure if these caused their fasting but both of them stopped feeding while all my other snakes were still taking food. He had an attitude change and will no longer take food from the tongs, but now waits till he thinks I'm not looking. And her I had her to the vet who found the breeders choice, soggy and moulded to the roof of her mouth.

Do you think, at 2yr old, their breeding instincts might start kicking in? I have no intentions to attempt breeding them until they are a decent size - maybe next year or the year after, but that won't stop their hormones even if I do keep them on heat. So long as they eat when they are suppose to I won't feel so worried when they stop over the cooler months.