| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| n/a |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 01:26:35
Hi,
I have a black and white corn snake his about 3 months old and have had him for 9 weeks and all has been well until tonight i noticed him moving around his viv then he went still and opened his mouth wide like he does when feeding and he vomited white bile he was last feed on saturday and when i had him out yesterday he pooped on me so know he aint constipated am wondering if this is normal as have never seen him do it before. |
| 16 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First) |
| mikerichards |
Posted - 23/07/2010 : 18:19:20
Don't be fooled into thinking everything is ok cos the vet said so, everything in my post, and everyone elses is entirely valid, and should be noted. |
| n/a |
Posted - 23/07/2010 : 18:11:22
Thanks every1 for all your help took him to vets today as was worried vet seems to think he is fine and was told not to feed him this week |
| mikerichards |
Posted - 23/07/2010 : 02:37:52
I have a few ideas that you really need to do, firstly and most importantly is a thermostat, although not cheap, they are vital to maintain a stable heat source, and maintain a constand healthy temp, sadly, this fact is largely overlooked by most petshop staff.
Secondly, to monitor your temps, strip thermometers are about as useful as a chocolate teapot, they are designed for fish tanks, not vivs, and as such will not tell you how hot your hot end is, ant at a guess, if its showing 29, its most likely much hotter. Is the viv wooden or plastic?
That is important as to the placement of your heatmat, putting it under a wooden viv can suffocate it, and cause massive temp spikes, small heatmats have been proven to reach in excess of 200 degrees c.
Thirdly, for the size of snake I would recomend a tub, approx 10 inches by 6 inches, or thereabouts, large spaces can cause huge amounts of stress and this can cause a snake to regurgitate its food, as in your situation.
For now, do not handle the snake, do not feed it, just let it settle.
Feeding wise, don't attemp to feed for 14 days, regurging loses a lot of stomach juices as they cannot control what comes up!
Don't be worried that I have mentioned a container so small, they are not overly active animals, their natural states are eating sleeping drinking and fornicating (when of age).
Most snakes much prefer to be in a reletively small space, that way they know they are secure, and are much less likely to get stressed.
Just because a snake is active and charging about, doesn't mean it needs vast spaces to explore, 9 times out of 10 they are exploring to find somewhere safe to sleep, the rest of the time its to find food or water.
So, importantly, buy a thermostat, you have 3 choices, mat stat, which just turns on and off at the desired temp, a dimmer that dims to maintain a temp, and a pulse which pulses to maintain temp, ideally, I would use a dimmer, much less temp fluctuations, your hot end should be 27 to 28 degrees, ideally, and with a stat, that is easily acheivable, without, its nigh on impossible.
Digi thermometers are another vital, a couple of quid on ebay and your away, bind it to the stat probe with an elastic band, NEVER use selotape or any other sticky tape in the viv, it can be dangerous, even fatal.
You can get tubs from tesco is need be, something small, as above, just make some airholes and your away.
Everything I suggested should be available for about 50 quid, which sounds a lot, but in reality, it could not only save and give a comfortable life for your snake, but also it could prevent a fire caused by the heatmat, again, it wouldn't be the first time.
Good luck with it, its an easy fix, and your snake will be feeding with no problems very soon. |
| gmac |
Posted - 23/07/2010 : 00:09:49
Digi thermometers are the best option foryour viv.
the wood bark is fine so long as you dry it out in the oven, the bark will hold moisture really well so may be increasing the humidity in your viv, corn snakes dont need high humidity and the higher humidity may also cause some health issues with your corn particularly respitory infections.
Switching the substrate to something a bit more suitable wont stress your snake. |
| HannahB |
Posted - 23/07/2010 : 00:06:24
is your heatmat statted?
digital thermometers are the most accurate ones - you can get them on ebay for less than a £5er including postage and packaging  |
| n/a |
Posted - 23/07/2010 : 00:01:56
 |
| n/a |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 23:49:03
oh ok well i have wood bark on bottom of viv its what was in the viv in the pet shop i tried to keep his set-up as much the same as in shop so as not to disturb him too much and is a digital therometer the best then? |
| gmac |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 23:37:56
quote:
Originally posted by Monteysmum
sticky strips why are they bad???? and whats substrate?
substrate is the stuff on the base of the viv.
strip thermometers arent accurate for measuring temps in the viv, ideally you want to know the temps above the mat and the strips attach to the walls, and just generaly not that accurate. |
| n/a |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 23:30:30
sticky strips why are they bad???? and whats substrate? |
| Kehhlyr |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 22:38:42
Are the thermometers the useless round exo style ones, the sticky strip ones, or digital ones?
Also what type of substrate do you use?? |
| n/a |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 18:00:22
its 29 in hot end and 22 in cold side his still active enough although have not got him out today but checked on him earlier and he on his wood which is situated in middle of viv and seemed intrested to see me with his tounge popping out to see me |
| DannyBrown91 |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 17:38:15
Do you have the thermometer probe placed on the bottom of the viv? Ideally your mat should be statted, then it can be put inside the viv.
Also, exactly what is the temp in the warm end? |
| n/a |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 17:11:35
Hi Thanks for help
His roughly about 13 inches long although hard to get him to stay still lol his viv is 18in x 14inc x 16inc and is headted with a heat mat which is placed underneath the viv as it gets to hot for him inside it i have a themometer on viv and temp is fine although he seems to like the cold side of viv during the day moving over to warm side in evening his bedding is word bark and he last eat a small pinkie on saturday sick was white and runny(ish) |
| princessbroxy |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 11:51:18
Aww thats a we shame  hope it get better soon. |
| Kehhlyr |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 02:25:44
It's not normal, no.
As Jennet said, a partial regurge of digestive fluids or part digested foods could possible be a cause.
if you could give us some info about your husbandry we might be able to offer reasons why.
So if you could tell us:
The rough size of the snake,
The rough size of the enclosure (inches please)
the substrate (bedding)
how it's heated
how the heat is controlled
how you measure the heat
what it's last food item(s) were (pinks,fuzzys/fluffs etc)
What the substance was like in consistency (porridgy, watery with hard bits etc)
And as your description, it sounds like possibly an Anery type cornsnake although this wont be able to confirm without a pic or 2.
You may well want to check out a reptile vet as well, there's a couple near to you HERE the little + icons are where the vets are on that map. |
| Jennet |
Posted - 22/07/2010 : 02:02:14
Have you checked your temps in your viv... if it's too cool s/he may not have digested the food very well, and therefore may have regurged following you handling?... just a thought... J |
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