New Black Tailed Cribo! Questions

So I got my new Black tailed Cribo yesterday! YAY I am so excited! But I think he has an RI. He is making a fairly audible wheeze sound. I want to know if just raising his temp like with boa's is the best way to get rid of it. Also he has problems with rubbing his nose on his cage. He has made it very raw and I need to fix it and I hope to further prevent it any suggestions?

So I took him in and found that he does not have an RI. Just that because of his previous owner keeping him in a WIRE CAGE! he has rubbed his nose raw and it is swollen so he has breathing problems. of all things a wire cage? and they said "We know how to keep snakes." My A**! Some people!. Oh well he is in a good home now and will be well cared for. He ate 3 mice today it was so good to see him eat. I will post pics of him soon. i love this snake so much! I want to get some easterns soon too. That's it for now.

because they are at least partially arboreal. I have a pair of yearling BTs which I keep just like this. The thermostat is set at 76 degrees, with heat tape under the front part of the cage. I think this helps keep them from spending a lot of time there, because it's where the heat is, and they do not like heat, and thus reduces the temptation for nose rubbing. They seem very content to spend all their time hiding in their tree houses, and they never refuse a meal. The hide boxes are just disposable plastic ziploc brand boxes, painted black, and secured to the ceiling of the cage with a bungy cord. The ladder is just some old plastic conduit. If you provide them with two hide boxes, one up high, and one down low, you will see that they prefer the high one, and never use the low one, if they have a choice. So my advice is to get creative like this, and feed twice a week,...Monday and Friday, and keep them at 76 degrees. Also, put some antibacterial ointment, such as bacitracin on that nose rub to prevent infection, and aid in healing. Don't be surprised to see the animal go into repeated, and frequent shed cycles in an effort to repair the damage. If you do these things, the nose rub should disappear, and they will grow like weeds! of course you will periodically have to make larger tree houses as they outgrow them. Remember, if you give them what they want, they will not rub. Good luck,
T.

After I posted that, I saw the screen in the back, and thought I'd add this,...

The manufacturer made these cages with 1/4" wire screen covering the ventilation holes. Effective, but dangerous for cribos. So I took some fiberglass bugscreen, like the kind on your windows, and cut some round patches, and covered the wire, on the inside with that, then glued it in place around the edge. Now there is virtually no chance of nose rub.

A word about nose rub, and cribos. I once saw a beautiful yellow tail who had NO nose left at all. She had rubbed her nose completely OFF! She rubbed it clear back behind where the nostrils used to be. So her lower jaw stuck out about a half inch beyond the top jaw. Poor thing!!! My two uniclor cribos will rub their noses to the point of injury in about 30 seconds if they get hungry, thirsty, horny, or hot. You MUST keep a close eye on them, and be prepared to take them out whenever they want. They don't even have screen upon which to rub, and they still find a way to hurt themselves from time to time.

If a cribo does not have what it needs, it will rub it's nose very quickly! Don't let them get too hot, give them a great place to hide, and make sure they have plenty of fresh water, and FEED THEM TWICE WEEKLY AT A MINIMUM! Most of the time they are content to just hide. But when they want or need something, they will hurt themselves very quickly! Vigilance is key!
T.

Thank you Tony I had already started using Bactarin on his nose when i read this. Although I did not know that they were arborreal. that is news to me. I do feed him twice weekly. He is a voracious eater. I will have to find a good hide type box. I have one for him on the ground that he spends most his time in. Everything I had read about them said they were terrestial. However I am far more inclined to believe someone who has them and knows there behavior patterns.

Right now mine is around a 7 foot monster of a snake. I am so excited to have him. I absolutely adore the Dry's. I find myself to be a very lucky person to have him in my home. I think he is finding himself lucky as well as he is in a good keeper's hands now. So what do you feed your large Dry's? I have been feeding mine 3-5 large adult mice. as he doesn't seem to have a taste for small rat.

So I suppose that I will begin construction on a new hide box for him one that I think he will enjoy. Thank you for the advice. I have done alot of research but info on them is scarce at best. This is my first time keeping them so I may be coming here for alot of help. Again thank you for the help and I will probably be talking to you often.

Jason,
Sounds like he is in a better place already. I get so sick of people who claim to know how to keep snakes, when they really don't know JACK. But then again, drys are not quite the same as any other snake. They require attention to detail.

My word is far from gospel though! And I would say that they are not totally arboreal, but equally at home in the trees. I base my opinions on what I observe. And I have not observed BTs in the wild. But one other indicator of their arboreal preferences is the fact that all my indigos, when picked up, always try to go in a downward direction, and they always look downward. With cribos it is the exact opposite. They always try to look, and go up, and will readily climb on branches or anything else. And they are quite good at it. Also, another hint is body structure. Indigos tend to be not quite as long as cribos, and much thicker. Where as Cribos, when compared to indigos, are built for climbing, long and slender.

I feed all my drys anything they will eat,...{{within reason}}. And everything must be pre-killed, and frozen for at least a couple weeks to kill any possible parasites. Todays menu began with a few minnows, which I trapped in a local creek. Then they got some chicken gizzards, followed by a couple mice. If your cribo refuses rats, he's not hungry enough. Let him get hungry. If he still refuses, rinse all the rat smell off, and rub mice on it. And/or give him a mouse, and then sneak in a rat. You may need to do these tricks a few times before he looses his repulsion for rats. Here is the short list of my dry menu; chicken wing segments, hearts, and gizzards, quail, fish such as minnows, trout, catfish, salmon etc., rats, mice, baby bunnies so far. But drys will eat just about anything they can swallow, including other snakes frogs, lizards, bats, and who knows what all. My advice is to try new things, and see what turns him on. After a while, he won't care what you toss in there. He'll nail anything that you offer! Including you, if you're not careful!! Right now, he just doesn't know anything but mice, because no one has ever given him anything else. He'll learn if you work with him. I promise. Use his hunger, and excitement as a tool to get him to try new things.
T.

Tony - I like that set-up.

Looks like it would be ideal for other arboreal serpents as well. I may try that for my Black Rat!

About the YT w/no nose - did she recover?

The BT w/the bad nose rub I posted about is still alive over in Knoxville. They moved him to a larger enclosure, but he doesn't look real happy. Jeff was gonna try to rescue him but it apparently fell-through. Any thoughts?

Regards,

John D

John,
What is the secret to acclimating a W/C black rat to captivity? Each year I find one or two which appear to be good candidates, but I can't get them to feed consistently. This year I had one which never offered to bite, and he fed right away for me, but then after about a month, he stopped eating.

As for that YT, she was all healed up when I saw her. But I think she is gone now. Maybe Jeff knows. Dr. G had her.

Tell me more about this BT in Knoxville. Who has him, what kind of set-up, hide box, etc.? Can I contact the owners and talk to them about his care? Would they let me come and get him? What happened to Jeff getting him? And where is that rascal these days??? You are a helluva lot closer to Knoxville than I, but I'll do whatever I can.
T.

Tony,

The BT is at the local herp shop in Knoxville, TN. They've had him for quite a while. He was kept in a smallish display cage where he had recurring nose rubs.

I stopped by to pick up some frozen food and looked in on him about 2 months ago. I was horrified to see that he had rubbed his nose almost back to the nostrils.

I posted on KS (and I think here) about him. Jeff S. contacted me and was interested in trying to acquire him as a rescue. Apparently, he either he couldn't make contact with the store, or something else happened, because the BT is still there, and Jeff hasn't contacted me about him for several weeks.

As of 2 weeks ago, they had moved him to a large aquarium. I tried to see if he was healing but couldn't really tell. I feel sorry for him - he didn't look happy. He had no hide box, no light, and a screen top.

I don't want to give you the wrong idea about the shop, they are usually OK about caring for their herps. Most of what they sell is their own CB stock. I've known the owner for almost 20 years and he's not a bad guy. I think that they just weren't able to care properly for this particular snake.

I'm not sure what Jeff's up to - far as I know he's still posting over at KS. I'll keep a eye out for him.

John D.

So is this animal for sale,...or just display? If it's for sale,...how much? Why not just buy it? Perhaps Don Bordner would like to have a BT? He lives in N.C. Right now I have two yearling BTs that I'm not going to keep, and I would not keep this one if I acquired him. I'm just not all that into BTs. How old/big is this BT? If they would just give the animal a {{{DECENT HIDE BOX}}} he would probably settle down. And the nose rub would work itself out. As far as the basking light goes, I don't think cribos really need it, if kept within normal human comfort temps, or room temp. But a warm spot is nice. If he gets too warm he'll rub very quickly. And he should have stuff to climb on too. And don't forget to put some anti-biotic ointment on that nose, after they clean it with hydrogen peroxide and a cotton swab.

If you know these folks, and you are so close, how bout you pass along my advice to them in a friendly kind of way. Also explain that if they do these things, the snake will look better, his reputation will also look better, and the animal will be worth more money. Heck,...just print this out and go give it to him, or e-mail it to him via paste/copy etc. He can e-mail me back at; thesnakeman@centurytel.net

I'll do whatever I can to help.
T.