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BPO Off Topic Forum => Anything Non-Dog Related => : schelmischekitty March 28, 2007, 05:51:05 AM
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just thought i'd share a few pics. they're not very good, i had to take them while he was wrapped around my shoulders and neck. i found out this morning why he was huffing and puffing in my face, he has a "cold" from being without heat, etc. today he's a TON better with being handled he's not bowing up at all, but that's prob a lot to do with not feeling good :-\
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i could have done w/out the pics personally lol
at any rate, i'm glad he's feeling better, a sick snake can't be any fun
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Glad he's feeling better. Thanks for the pictures too. So does he have his own enclosure now where he can get back to 100%?
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OMG! That's pure craziness right there! hahahahah Just kiddin'! I'm so sorry he's got a cold, I'm sure you'll get him all healthy and happy in no time! ;D
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he does have his own enclosure now. he's temporarily in a 55 gallon tank decked out for him. this weekend (or next, hubby may have to work now :-\) hopefully we will be able to make him his new enclosure that will be multi layer with a home, "pool" and all. now all i have to do is get hubby off from work!
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he's blowing snot bubbles right now. hasn't gotten into his lungs (pneumonia) so we're going to make sure his temp stays steady, etc. and see what happens then if it shows any signs of getting worst our vet is going to see what he wants to do then. we don't have a name for him yet, i've always kept female red tail boas so they've always had the name sake "cup cake"... i don't think that'll work for a boy though.
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Multi floor snake pad huh.. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. He sure is a lucky dude.. So is there anything special other than keeping his temperature stable that you can do for a respiratory illness for snakes? I've never had one and I have no idea how to care for a sick one at that. I've had a cat and a dog with a cold before and that was actually a big deal. I just wondered if it was similar in severity where the treatment is concerned. I'm really glad that your guy isn't so shy like originally thought too.
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ewww i hate sick snakes. they are the worse to deal with. there was one we had that was sick at the petstore i worked at (with respiratory illness) and a student from the vet college took him and brought him to the big vet in Guelph and they gave her injectable fluids... she had to give him needles daily for like a week or 2 and he did great. he recovered amazingly...
anyways- Steff, your snakie is cute. u should name him... Vincent hahahaha
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unless it gets any worst, besides keeping his temp stable it was suggested we let him take showers with us (not literally, just let him in the bathroom to help him loosen things up) then get him to move "downward" a few times when we hold him, to help him to get all the gunk out of his nose, then wipe his nose off. this is because snakes cannot cough, so it helps get everything out before it runs down and causes it to get worst. if it does get worst, he will get antibiotics and or fluids to help him fight it off.
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That really is interesting. Keep us posted. Sending healthy thoughts his way...
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he's beautiful ;D
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he doesn't have a name yet, we really don't know his personality yet, but he seems to be super sweet *today*.
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looking closer at his pics, he looks like he's bad a BAD shed, many of them. his eye caps arent retained but he is in serious need of a good shed.. after he has one he should feel tons better :)
bob looked real rough when i got him, scales all dry & whatnot , after one shed he was bbbeeaauuttiif fuull and being very loving and calm ;D
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i agree! that would make sense on why his skin is SO dry that it sticks to you. it's kinda nasty, because you can literally hear it pulling off of your skin, not to mention his skin looks "cloudy." hopefully the next one will go without problems and he'll look like a real beauty!
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also have you tried soaking him? lukewarm water and let him soak a few.
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yes, he's been soaking a lot lately. it took him a while to figure out the bowl was a bowl for water and not a nook to hide under! he's been in there just about all day now. he's happy as can be now! no snotty nose today, no weird noises nothing.
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He's gorgeous! He'll be even prettier once he has a nice shed. Sounds like the respiratory infection might be getting better with the heat and nice clean environment. We just got done giving antibiotic injections to our anaconda at work. So not fun! How about the name Rojo?
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thanks for the compliment! i definately know about giving antibiotics to snakes! cupcake (my first ever R.T.B.) got bit by a mouse and was given oral antibiotics. that isn't fun either! (unfortunately the vet was clueless and she died of infection anyways because he didn't know what he was doing!) rojo is cute, but i'm not sure aiden could say it ha ha. like peanut... he doesn't call him peanut b/c he can't say it, so he calls him "no nuts." go figure. this time we're gonna try something super easy to say! he'll eat tomorrow, maybe that'll help jump start a good shed!
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Awwwe, what a cutie he is. I love snakes and am hoping to get a ball python one of these years much to hubby's dismay (he hates snakes........ but knew before we were even dating snakes were in my future).
Luckily I've never had to give injections, but have seen it done. Have had to help force feed a burmese python though. Not too fun, ended up biting a keeper in the process by accident. Poor guy ended up starving himself to death reason unknown.
I wonder if raising the humidity would help with the URI? Since someone said they were suggested to take theirs in the shower, raising the humidity, along with heat can act as a humidifier to help clear things up. Poor guy, it can take some time for snakes to get over these things.
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yes, we've already raised the humidity, as well as letting him stay in the bathroom while we take showers. he seems to really like it like this! he sure does LOVE attention! last night i found that he loves to watch tv and he will sit and watch it till he falls asleep (i guess, his breathing slows and he sits still for over an hour ha ha). if you move, he'll turn his head towards the tv again real fast, too. tomorrow is our feeding, the previous owner said he'd feed live food and just hold the tail outside the box where it couldn't run around and let the boy get it. i really don't like feeding live though, hopefully he'll take pre killed?? we'll see!
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do you have tongs??? hold it by its tail with tongs and move it around in front of him , bob wont take them if im dragging it but if i hold it up a little and do it he will.. he should take prekilled just fine if he thinks its alive ;)
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thanks! i'm going to try that. hubby doesn't have a problem pre-killing it, so that it's "fresh" (sorry i know that sounds cruel), i just don't want to risk him getting bit, esp since he may not be smelling quite right yet.
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no prob , bob was a live feeder so we have to make him think his food is alive, tongs have yet to fail me
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i've heard they also make a "wrap" type food that's like a pellet of meat. have you seen them? do you know how good they are, or if snakes will eat them easily?
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He's absolutely gorgeous!! I love the pictures. I absolutely love snakes.
Thanks for sharing.
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I've never tried the pellet diet so not sure how well it works. My snake here at the house eats frozen thawed so that makes life a little easier than having to go buy live and prekill. If you want to try the frozen thawed ones a trick to getting snakes to eat them is to microwave the mouse a little to where it warms up or stick the head in boiling water to heat it up.
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i think we'll stick to fresh lmao. something about microwaving a mouse :o do you use a separate microwave for that?
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i do frozen thawed also, never heard of the wrape type food???? i thaw mine out in hot water then blow dry em to add a lil extra heat...
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Oh yeah! Definitely need a separate microwave. ;) Here's a tip: always stay and watch the microwave and go in small time increments. Singed mouse fur stinks but it's really bad if you are heating up a rat. Cori's right the hair dryer would add extra heat also.
I have also heard that for a neonate snake that is hard to start feeding you can use hamster pinks in place of mouse. Kind of the red meat versus white meat theory. Might also work with adults.
I've also heard that they make a vegetarian pellet food for snakes. Carnivores are just not supposed to be forced to be an herbivore. JMO
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thanks! we're going to the store today to pick up his food. wish us luck! i think he's about to shed, he's looking a little cloudy all over. hope we can get one meal in first! i agree on the veg. pellets. i thought they were meat ones, kinda odd that they're gonna make them out of veggies. just had to ask about the microwave ha ha. when cupcake got sick the vet recommended that we get a blender and blend a rat so we could "force feed" easier... i couldn't do that! feeding, no problem. microwaving, i'd burn them, and blow drying them... cori if i ever start feeding f/t i'll move closer to you or kathryn!
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I've had to do the blending thing before for some baby turtles that we got in at work. We couldn't get them to eat anything and the vet recommeded pinky parts. So we blended them up and named it "Meeses Pieces" and the turtles started eating right away.
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"meeses pieces" lol that's so wrong. well, hubby has decided that we're gonna be tight on time this weekend and asked me to look around and see if i can find a pre made cage that i like. do you know any chain stores, or websites even that sell bigger cages? all the ones i can find are itty bitty :-\ the thought of the small animal cages came up (like the big multi level ferret condos) but i don't think the draftiness would work.
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I can't think of any place that would have some relatively inexpensive ones. But I did thing of using like an old wardrobe or armoire. Target has the relatively cheap furniture and if you find one that has the glass doors or you can pop out part of the door panel and replace with a wire mesh for good airflow. The varnish on the inside should make the wood water resistant. You can also leave some of the shelves for elevated resting spots and attach a light on the inside of the enclosure. That's all I can think of right now but I'll keep thinking.
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thanks! we thought of that also, but couldn't find any armoires with doors we could easily change to fit the needs. i didn't think of target though! thanks!
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Girls,
I just have to tell you that I have a wicked, wicked hangover today and I was reading these posts first thing in the morning and almost hurled. But I couldn't stop looking...like a bad accident.
I'm feeling better now, so I can read BPO more. :D
Julie
I'm right there with you (on hurling-not the hangover) but the frozen mice reminded me of my high school job. I worked at a tropical and saltwater fish and aquarium store. We use to also sell crickets and other live feeders as well as frozen mice. The frozen mice were soooo funny. They were called mice on ice and the packaging looked like ice trays. Though they were mice trays. Yeah, and the packaging also had illustrations of mice ICE SKATING. Totally weird...
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lmao how lucky. last time i bought frozen mice to try out, it was a thing like a butter bucket, and had the mice frozen in little baggies...
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HA HA!!! Check this out..
http://www.miceonice.com/homepage.html
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mmmmmmmmmmmmmm mm rat-cicle's... so refreshing and easy to catch.... But seriously. Is it just me or is it weird that the mouse is on ice skates and wearing a scarf? I mean really!
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[/quote]
OMG. Are those mice really on sticks? They don't really come on sticks do they!? Mice on sticks!?[/quote]
Jenn,
Everything tastes better when it's on a stick!
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im bad with frozen mice and gerbils... when im getting them out ill hold them by their tail and make then stick out like a gun or sword n point em at someone n say "prepare for battle" :-\