Sick Stimson

[glacey]

with that size enclosure (IMO too large for that breed) you can afford to have a warmer high end temp - I'd go 31-32 degrees

[stencorp69]

with that size enclosure (IMO too large for that breed) you can afford to have a warmer high end temp - I'd go 31-32 degrees

I had thought of housing in smaller individual enclosures when I get some Carpet Pythons - so I might fast track that.

[africancichlidau]

I had thought of housing in smaller individual enclosures when I get some Carpet Pythons - so I might fast track that.

I think that would be a good move

[glacey]

My Stimsons are in only 300 x 300 x 200

Building an olive enclosure now that is closer to your size

[africancichlidau]

Aww, poor cramped Olive Hey, hang on, 300 is only one foot in old money?

[glacey]

Yeah sorry meant 2ft x 2ft x 2.5ft

Their only juveniles

[TrueBlue]

Id keep them all seperate for a start and get rid off that breeders choice rubbish as they can inhale dust and this can cause probs and give them scale rot as they pee and create a mess you cant see underneath the horrible stuff.
If they are wild caught they will all need to be flagyled and wormed.
Seperate them and use some safe substate like news paper, it may not look the best but works the best. Or butchers paper as it looks a might better.

[serpenttongue]

I definately agree with what Afro has said about the overcrowding. Stimpsons are okay in pairs but never 5 together.

I also agree with TrueBlue about the cat litter. The dust from that stuff is BAD. Their crap always gets hidden underneath and their urine stains it, and this WILL lead to scale rot when temps are low. And with 5 snakes crapping, and the snakes being exposed to each others crap isnt good, even though you are cleaning them out regularly.

Another concern is that you say there's 2 vents with the thermostat between them. Why do you need 2? I think you may be losing too much heat because of it and perhaps the thermostat isnt working the way it should because it's between 2 air vents.

Also, your cage is 1m high, right? Where are the snakes spending most of their time? If its on the ground then i would expect them to get scale rot and a respiratory infection. I cant imagine the heat getting all the way down to the cage floor.

Also, be aware that hot rocks can cause burns, especially during their opaque stage of shedding.

[stencorp69]

He shed his skin yesterday and the wheezing/thoat bulging has stopped and any evidence on the skin has disappeared. So its looking good - thanks for all the advice.

Sten

[Rennie]

Lucky man, giving snakes shots is not fun, I did it when my first childreni got a respiratory infection. When it happened to another one I did like you, just cranked up the heat and avoided a trip to the vet, I don't know who it hurts more!