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Posted by Firebringer on April 07, 2003 at 21:24:29:
In Reply to: Re: Serious Mystery Illness - With or Without Pine! posted by oldherper on April 07, 2003 at 14:02:22:
Thanks again! I guess I'll certainly try changing beddings again, for lack of a better idea. As I said, though, between the aspen and Carefresh bedding, she was off of pine shavings for almost all of 2002. I purchased the blacklight night-light specifically to keep her extra warm 24/7, since my vet reccomended the same thing, and I use it religiously...That and the lack of any discharge - no bubbles from her nose, no gunk in her mouth, etc - are what make me call it a mystery illness! One thing about live with Prozac - there's never a dull moment...
Oh, and I have no idea if this is related, but her tongue pigment has been changing in the last few months. It's hard to tell, since she flicks her tongue so quickly, but her previously all-red tongue is now almost all brownish-black in pigment. I don't know if it's linked to any disease, since there's no gunk and some of external pigment has changed over the years naturally, but I suppose every bit of info helps...
-Firebringer-
:Not Carefresh. If you want to use shavings, use aspen. If you want to use something else, either use newspaper or paper towels. Pine shavings WILL cause problems. It may take more than a month for the snake to clear up. Snakes are relatively slow-healing animals. Even if this isn't your whole problem, it's certainly probably compounding it. As for the full-spectrum lighting, I don't think it's going to buy you anything except maybe a heat source if it's incandescant, but it ain't gonna hurt anything either. The snake definitely needs to be kept warm during it's recuperation, or at least provided with an option for a warm place it it's cage. If the vet did a stool exam and didn't find anything then there probably aren't any intestinal bugs at work here. Normally if there is a viral or bacterial respiritory problem there will be some mucousy nasal discharge also (also present sometimes with chemical irritants such as pine shavings). It really sounds to me like your problem is caused by the substrate and it may take some time to correct itself after you get the snake off the pine shavings.
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::Woops, forgot to mention that I had her on aspen for a month during her illness as well, before going back to pine. Again, I didn't notice a difference. :: :
::On a side note, has anyone else found Carefresh bedding to smell funny? Not only did the bedding smell strange, it seemed to lend that strange smell to my snake!
:: -Firebringer-
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