I’m over the moon, Bones has eaten!!
That was my biggest concern about his recovery but knowing that he’s happily digesting a fat rat makes me feel so much better.
Unfortunately I’ve been away, visiting my family back home. But I’ve left Bones in the care of my boyfriend, who I’ve trained thoroughly in the care he needs.
He’s sent me updates frequently and I must say he’s doing a great job keeping up the care.
These photos are from 22/12/19
Thank you so much, its a massive relief to know that I’m heading in the right direction. I’m expecting him to take a few months to recover, of course, and I’m still waiting on his first shed since the burns.
Are you feeding him frozen thawed or live ? I’d personally wait until more of the severe burns have closed over. Still a good deal of raw flesh exposed. Don’t want a rat biting open all your hard work if it’s a bad hit, but that’s just me. I’m overly cautious. Glad the BF is keeping up with care.
@scosta56 - we only do f/t! It’s illegal to feed live in the UK. But I suppose its a bit hard to tell, but all of his wounds had scabbed over in those pictures. At that point he had no open wounds thankfully!
@thecrawdfather - I’ve changed his substrate from soil & orchid bark to coconut husk only, since I didn’t like how sharp the bark is (and how soil got under his scales). And I’ve entirely refitted a safety cage, with some more secure wood screws so there’s no chance he can damage it again. Aside from that his hides are mostly the same, along with the same logs and decor for enrichment.
My boyfriend has just told me that Bones has started shedding, potentially without going into blue? Anyways he’s looking fresh as all hell and his scabs have mostly come off. What should I do, since theres not much advice that takes u this far? BF is consulting the vet, since I’m out of the country.
It is not uncommon for snakes going through extreme stress or having an injury to shed even if not going through the typical shed cycle. It’s also expected that those type of sheds are not your typical perfect one piece shed.
Providing proper humidity and his regular bath being part of his treatment will help with that.
I use a heat light with my BP but keep it out of reach of her at all times. There’s nothing wrong with using a light if safety measures are taken. And having an accident before doesn’t mean that safety isn’t being followed in the future.
Why use it at all I guess is my question. Anything that’s not “needed” I ask what benefit vs risk does it bring. So what benefit does using a bulb bring when you already have UTH?
And also is using a bulb with a safety cage the correct way to use one of you’re going to? I don’t use them so I know nothing at all except this thread. Which is already enough to make me never want to use one
I saw your original unedited post and yes I agree a heat bulb is not good at all for a BP because they can get extremely hot amd you can’t control the temp like a heat mat and they can also explode. My bearded dragon of 7 years was killed when the heat bulb somehow exploded and it was a brand new bulb. A safety cage is also not a good idea because the safety cage can also get hot. If this person was using a heat bulb then it was more than likely their own fault and it could have been prevented but I dont know the whole story so I won’t point fingers…
As far as I’m aware they’re still considerably better than heat mats, which are the only heating alternative available to me at the moment. What other options are there?
I would completely disagree that they are better than heat mats. Belly heat is what BPs need. They aren’t baskers. As your breeder told you when you first got the snake.
UTH are better for ball pythons, since BPs don’t bask and need belly heat. There are plenty of people that will tell you that heat bulbs are dangerous and not good to use at all. Using one got your snake burned. If you had only used a UTH your snake wouldn’t be in this condition.
I think you’ve done very well in treatment but…I definitely think it could have been avoided and I see the bulb thing from time to time with folks and it confuses me
His injuries are entirely my fault, I should have fixed his cage with more secure wood screws (and checked it more frequently).
I have heard however that some ceramic bulbs do explode when they’re new due to cracks while in transit. Which is why they recommend leaving the bulb on to test without there being a reptile in the viv yet.
Also @thecrawdfather my breeder didn’t say anything about the bulb, and approved it when I showed him my setup…
Anyways his current RUB uses a UTH, as its just a temporary setup. I’ll use it instead of the bulb as soon as he’s well enough to go back into his naturalistic enclosure.
I’m gonna have to chime in again and say that this all could have been avoided had a bulb not been used. @thecrawdfather said that you wanted to add a bulb despite what the breeder said. If a bulb is so much better than why do I have snakes and leopard geckos that are 12 plus years old when no bulb was introduced and only a heat mat was used? Food for thought. And hey I’ve only been keeping for 12 years so what do I know? And I mean none of this to make you feel bad so dont take it that way. i just want to re educate you on the whole bulb vs heat mat debate.
I’m really not too sure where @thecrawdfather got that from, seeing as my only post (I think) mentioning a heat mat is where I’m unsure if I should begin using one (due to mixed advice from many people).
Note that this post came after the breeder had approved my “current” setup.
^^^
This is the original post I was referring to I may have misinterpreted?
Like I said I don’t know anything about bulbs. It seems like the vast majority of info on here and by doing a google search on BP husbandry would recommend UTH, you of course are responsible for your own animal and make your own decisions…it seems like from the info available you should consider making a switch. That’s all I’m saying, I don’t want this to turn into anyone attacking you or being rude.
