Rocky Seems Sick

Good news! He seems more active since I lowered the temps, and moved him into the 10 gallon. He is even crawling up the plant that I put in there for him!

I bought a thermometer, and the heated side is about 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Is that an OK temp?

And no, I don't have the UTH on any kind of thermostat or rheostat.

I will be going to the pet store tomorrow, and I will buy a bag of aspen bedding, but I won't put it in there yet, I'll stay with the paper towels.

From what I have read on some quick caresheets (remember, I am NOT an experienced Rosy owner, but there seems to be some really good info available) an 85 degree "hot spot" should be about right, BUT....where exactly did you measure the temp? The hot spot temp needs to be taken not in the air or on the side of his tank, but directly on the spot where your snake will be laying on the floor. If you are not using any kind of control on your UTH, many of them can reach temps themselves of over 100 degrees. A UTH should ALWAYS be used on a thermostat or rheostat.

It sounds like you are making good progress if he's becoming more active.....that's great to hear. Now you just need to make sure his UTH is properly controlled, and you should have most of your trouble licked. I'd be willing to bet you won't have any trouble getting him to eat then!

The temp on the ground is 91.3 on the 'hot spot'. (I bought a digital thermometer at Petsmart).
When I put the aspen bedding in, won't it be cooler than that? Because right now I just have 1 layer of paper towels down.

He is more active. He's crawling around, and climbing. And he doesn't look as skinny as before, even though I have not fed him yet. When should I try to feed him? I was thinking Tuesday?

Usually, they smoosh themselves around in the aspen bedding, and will end up laying right on the floor of the tank anyway. 91.3 is still somewhat high for a Rosy I believe, it should be mid-80s. Did you put your UTH on some sort of control?

I would guess he looks less skinny because he was dehydrated from the heat, hopefully he has been drinking plenty of water and getting back to normal.

GREAT NEWS!!

He is eating right now as I type this!

I thawed out a pinkie, wiggeled it around, abd he attacked it! I'm so happy!

I forgot to say that he is also drinking quite a bit of water, and he looks healthy again! He is getting more & more active as the days go on. I think he is going to be OK!

I also haven't seen any mites at all. So do you think it would be OK to put the aspen bedding in there soon? The paper towels aren't very attractive! Lol.

Great to hear he's doing so well.....and EATING!!!!!

Thank you! You have helped us a lot!

90 is not too hot for a rosy and is actually on the low end, anywhere between 90 - 95 is fine for the hot side. I would do a few more tank cleanings / wait a couple more weeks before you put in the aspen. If his mites did manage to reproduce the nymphs would be too tiny to see right now and you want to make sure they're really gone before you add the apsen since that will make the frequent cage cleanings more complicated and increase the chances of an infestation going undetected.

If the mites do recur, I've had good luck using vegtable oil in conjunction with cage cleanings. What you do is put some on a cloth or paper towel and coat / rub it on the animal, it's best not to do the head to prevent it from getting in the nose etc. This will smother any mites under the scales. I would only do this in your case if you actually see more mites.

The skinny appearence may have been due to dehydration brought on by the high temperatures. I'm glad to hear that he's eating and drinking for you now.

I was at our local Petsmart last week. They have those interconnected banks of caging. The ball pythons they had in were crawling with mites and I could see them under most of the scales. These guys are probably the source of the mites in cb stock like your rosy.

-Alice

Thanks for your input Alice....as I said, I am by no means a rosy expert, I was just going from the online caresheets I found, which on average gave a hot spot temp of about 85.....but not all online caresheets are accurate, I'm glad someone with more knowledge than I corrected me.