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Slateman

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Post from doc after judgement.

All in all, that was a good effort. When you give out the scores could you point out that I rewarded points for picking the differences and for pointing out the exceptions to the rule as well (e.g. snakes have forked tongues and lizards don?t ? except goannas; snakes have no eyelids ? neither do geckoes etc etc).


Results are:-

J&C Reptiles 3 points

Junglemad 3

Olivehydra 2.5

Southy 2

Robbo 2

Soulweaver 1.5

Stuff Rules 1.5

Dicco 1.5

score after 5th round.

steve6610 1
JandC_Reptiles 7 and half
craig.a.c 1
OuZo 3
soulweaver 6 and half
staffsrule 3 and half
Dicco 7 and half
danep 5
munkee 1
newtosnakes 2
jonno 1
southy 7
junglemad 8
westaussie 1
olivehydra 7 and half
BUCK 1
Memphis_Tank 1
robbo4
Kahn_10 3


Here you are people. We have 4 leading man and many people who are not far behind. This are scores after 5 th round. There is another 25 to go.

Feel free to post here any related comments.
 
This comp will run right through holidays, No time off. Just remember, you don't have to end up first in this 30 question maraton.
3 best people from this round will get the oportunity to have a go to win the snakey.
 
Just to reming you again that question 6 is on. Please answer before Monday evening.


question 6

Your snake have to be force fed. Your vet told you to use small rodent. Tel us how you will do this?

Please email your answer to [email protected]

Remember question is how to forcefeed small rodent
not how to f.fed hatchling.
 
I would have thought the first sentence would have provided the answer : "Your snake have to be force fed". If you can't figure out what that means....... :roll: :)
 
I provided 2 answers to the question simply because there was no description of the snakes size, age or weight. I also emailed my answer before Slatemans additional info " that the snake WAS NOT a Hatchling". So can you take that on board when deciding the winners.
 
This are the answers I received for question 6
Competitors please check if Your answers are there.

staffsrule
From: staffsrule To: Slateman Posted: Dec 18, 2005 - 11:00 PM Subject: Southern Cross reptiles comp.
Ok here goes !!
Kill the small rodent, and gently stick the head inside the snakes mouth, using the nose of the rodent (or some other small dull object) to open the snakes mouth. When the small rodents head is inside the snakes jaws, gently apply pressure on the outside of the upper and lower jaws of the snake with fingers, while very gently pulling back on the small rodent. This will stick the rodent in the snakes teeth and make it more difficult to spit out.
Wait till the snake is not struggling and gently put it down in its cage and dont move !!!!!!!! You may have to repeat this several times, but often snakes will accept the rodent.
If this fails after a couple of attempts, start the small rodent down the same way, and GENTLY shove the rodent down the snakes throat using a very dull object. Gently massage the rodent down the snakes throat to about one quater or one third of the snakes length.
Hoping I never have to do this myself lol, if the snake has stopped eating and needs to be force fed WHY ????? A trip to a herp specialist before trying force feeding might be the go, to find out why it has stopped eating.
Force feeding should only ever be done in an attempt to save a snakes life.
Staffsrule.



Soulweaver
Force feeding is something that I would first get shown by someone experienced. It is not the easiest thing to do, and can put a lot of stress on yourself and the animal. After being shown how do to do it, this is how I would go about it.
First of cut off a tail from a rat or mouse, The si z e of the tail you want is dependant on the si z e of the animal you are try to feed. In this case we will assume it is a hatchling snake that hasnt fed since being hatched from the egg.
The si z e of that tail I would use would be around the 3cm mark. The hairs on the tail will help keep the tail down the snakes throat if you put in backwards. Meaning that the mouse tail needs to go into the mouth starting from the base of the tail where is would have been cut off the rodent. The hairs are reversed if you do this, and if the snake tries to push the tail out, it will work against them and slowly work itself down the snakes mouth.
Once the tail is almost down, I would grab a pinkie mouse and try and get it to follow the mouse tail down the throat. Once the initiation of feeding as started, the snake may continue to eat the pinkie if it has gone into feeding mode.
If this fails and a pinkie mouse needs to be fed, the best way to do this is to put ky jelly on the pinkie first (lubricate) using a small pair of feeding twee z ers grab the mouse directly behind the neck, if you are lucky the snake will strike out and hit the mouse on the nose, if done correctly this causes the snake to continue feeding, similar to the mouse tail, as it has hit the snakes feeding reflex.
During all of these procedures, the snakes mouth may need to be opened. I have found that if the snake was an adult python, then using a pen which has a soft rubber grip is a great idea, but since I have talking about a hatchling snake then the item used needs to be smaller, a small probe works well for this. The idea is not to break any teeth if it can be helped, although this may almost be impossible. You need not worry if you do break teeth as snakes shed teeth, but if bleeding occurs you may need to check the snake over the next few weeks to make sure that infection hasnt set in.
Before the mouth can be opened the snakes head needs to be grabbed. To do this you need to place your thumb under the snakes chin, index finger then sits on top of the snakes head, and your middle finger down along side the snakes head just to stop it from pulling out. I have only ever seen one snake that didnt mind this happening to it, so you have to be prepared for a struggle. The grip that needs to be held has to be firm enough to hold the snake still, but not so tight as to harm the snake from squee z ing.
You must remember that force feeding a snake would be like someone ramming a hotdog down your throat with a fist. It is defiantly not a pleasant experience, and should only be tried as a last resort.
The last and final way to force feed a snake is the most unpleasant of the lot. Basically you have to do what the question describes, and that is force the pinkie down. After opening the mouth you can either use our hand or a small pair of twee z ers, I have found a decent pair of twee z ers to be the best way to do this. You then force the head of the rodent down the snakes throat. And basically continue to stuff it down the snakes throat. If the prey item you chose should be small, so that the snake has no problems getting this down, I have seen ppl use large prey items when doing this, and it hasnt been a pleasant experience, far worse then using a small prey item. Once the prey item is inside the throat a little ways, you need to continue to force the rodent down the throat, whilst massaging the snakes throat and assisting the mouse down. The massage should continue until the mouse is in the snakes stomach.
All attempts to feed listed above are a lot easier done with two ppl helping. Some smaller snakes i.e hatchling childrens pythons may be too small to do this. Especially as a first attempt, and experienced person is recommended to do this, to limit stress to the animal.
Last of all, if the vet has recommended you do this, then the vet should show you how it is down. Technically this is a surgical procedure that should be done with someone with this medical knowledge. By no means try this on your own for the first time, if the snake is in that much trouble the vet should be able to help you. The use of pinkie pumps maybe another way you can force some food into the snakes mouth, but make sure you know how the pump works. David and Tracy barker have done research and offer a care sheet on how to use the pinkie pump, get in touch with them and they are happy to help you by sending the information via email. Not many ppl in Australia are experienced enough to use the pinkie pump, and animals have died as a result. Defiantly dont take any information off the net on how to use this, as most of it is wrong, and the ppl offering the information on how to use it, have animals die as a result.
Last of all.good luck!
Soulweaver

southy
i hope i make enough sense from this

force feeding a baby snake can be stressful for both the owner and the snake if incorrectly done, i must say from my personal experience force feeding, it is much easier with the assistance of another person. firstly the rodent should be as small as possible so it will be easier to force into the snakes mouth.it is much better to feed 2 or 3 smaller items rather than 1 large item as stress to snake may occur and with be more dangerous to the snake due to the size. gently but firmly having a grip hold the snakes head . using a very small amount of vegetable oil and rub it over the pinky mouse to make it lubricated to help it slide into and down the snakes throat easier. using a blunt, rounded side not tip of a teaspoon, gently open the snakes mouth by nudging the lips of the snake and then using a rounded blunt pair of tweezers, grab the pinky behind the head as shown in picture added, and slowly place the pinky head first in the snakes mouth carefully pushing further down taking care not to put the pinky in the snakes trachea (larynx). if a some time durnig the feeding the pinky gets caught or is harder to push down, check to see you haven't got the pinky caught on anything and remove the pinky and try again, or if the tweezers slips of during pushing the pinky down the oesophagus, reposition them. when the pinky is far enough in to remove the tweezers from the snakes mouth, do so carefully, then by squeezing the end of the tweezers together, push genlty on the pinkys butt to push it further down until its about 10-15mm behind the back of the snakes head or out of sight and using your thumb, gently massaging down the ventral surface with your forefinger on the dorsum to help stop reguritation, massage the pinky down to about 1/3 of the way down the snakes body into the stomach. then gently place the snake down and slowly release your grip on the snakes head and watch closely, if it doesn't attempt to reguritate straight away and starts moving around, place the snake back into its cage.

southy


APS comp #6 by JandC_Reptiles
There is 2 ways of force feeding a snake. Which 1 you will use depends on the size & weight of the animal.
For small animals 8-20g the use of a pinkie pump is in-valuable. For larger animals the only option is manually force feeding tham.


THE PROCESS OF FORCE FEEDING WHOLE PREY ANIMALS:
Firstly I would use a fresh killed rodent of the size needed over thawed/frozen as the later may become a mushy mess. I would dip the head of the rodent into water for lubrication. If the snake has gone some time with out feeding I would use mutton oil.
Secure the snake behind the head, making certain it has no way of turning its head and sticking its teeth into you. Now carefully introduce the prey item head first to the mouth of the snake. Sometimes, the snake may be reluctant to open its mouth, in which case gently inserting a sterile metal probe will usually do the trick. At this point, some speciemens will decide to swallow the prey without any further help. I would insert the prey item into the snakes mouth & allow the snake to close its jaws. This way the snakes teeth will grab hold of the prey item & make it harder for the snake to spit it back up. I would continue trying this method inserting the rodent deeper & deeper each time untill the snake decides to consume the prey item of its own accord.However, this is not always the case, and you may have to actually have to push the prey item into the throat of the snake.Be very careful and gentle when doing this, as the risk of injury to both the snake and the keeper i!
s not insignificant. Once the prey item is half way into the throat of the snake, use a steril metal metal probe or similar tool to carefully push the prey item all the way in. It is advantageous to push it a bit past the throat towards the stomach, as this makes it less likely that the snake will immediately regurgitate the prey in defiance and discomfort. You may also massage the ventrals of the snake, which will encourage transport to the stomach. With some few specimens, you may be forced to push the prey item all the way into the stomach, as the snake will otherwise regurgitate the prey item right away. By the way, one way of keeping a snake from regurgitating is to place it into a tub with water immediately afterwards. It seems that the snakes tend to become more occupied with searching for a way out of the water than regurgitating the prey, thereby essentially retaining it. This does not always work, but it has proven to be quite effective.

THE PROCESS OF FORCE FEEDING USING A PINKIE PUMP: (snakes 8-20g)
Load the pumps barrel with the amount of pinkies you wish to feed (2-3max) of 1-4 day old hairless pinkies. It is best if you use frozen/thawed prey items for this method as it will pass easier. Once the pinkies are loaded, fasten the inner cap on the plunger into the cap of the barrel assembly before placing any pressure on the plunger. Failure to do so will provide the plunger with too much side-side movement which will break the glass barrel. Once the inner cap is secured into the cap squeeze the plunger untill you start to see pink coming from the tip. This will remove all air out of the tip before proceeding with force feeding. Just like a syringe the pump has markings along the side of the plunger that measure CC units of volume. Set the volume that is to be fed to the snake.
Again secure the snakes head. Pry open the snakes mouth using the tip of the pump and insert the tip into the snakes throat untill the mouth of the snake is against the bevel of the tip. Gently put pressure on the plunger to insert the food.
NOTE: It is important that the fore finger & thumb are used to seal off the throat of the snake while the tip is withdrawn due to vaccume. Again manipulate the food down the esophagus & stomache. A few strokes should be enough to get the food right down.

Olivehydra
G'day Slatey,

Question 6 How to force feed......

Firstly I would make sure the vet is correct in his suggestion. Force feeding should be a last resort as it is very stressful to the snake. If force feeding is required I would start by getting some help to restrain the body of the snake as spinal injury could result if the snake is writhing in its attempt to escape from this invasive procedure. When the snake is properly restrained, open its mouth by pulling down on the skin of its lower jaw.This may be assisted by introducing a blunt object across the mouth such as a pen or "paddle pop" stick (make sure it is clean and avoid damaging the teeth). Introduce the small rodent head first and gently push it beyond the rear line of the jaw. The snake has a swallowing reflex which should begin when the food item is at this point. If the snake begins swallowing, gently release the snake and allow it to finish. Lubricating the food item may help and this can be done by wetting the rodent with water or vegetable oil. If the snake doesnt begin swallowing on its own, the prey item can be pushed further down the gullet (gently) using a lubricated blunt "probe". Further manual massaging of the food item down the gullet can be done in extremely difficult cases.
Liquid food sources can also be administered, but as the question states a "small rodent" so I will end here.

Cheers,
Olivehydra

robbo
hi slateman

my answer to question 6 is


firstly if i had no experience with force feeding ( which i don't ) , i would be asking for a demonstration from the vet of how to do it and would not attempt to do it myself till i was confident that i would not harm the snake.
but a way to force feed a non eating snake is to hold their body under an arm or have someone else hold it for you
holding it behind the head gently open its mouth and put the head of the rodent in its mouth , gently pushing it in.
hook the rodent onto the snakes top teeth and see if it will continue to swallow. if not gently push the rodent down with a blunt object till it is all the way in . then hold the snakes mouth shut and gently massage the rodent down to the snakes stomach


junglemad
HI Slatey.

I find it a little odd that the vet wouldn't attempt to force feed the snake with a tube and some sort of protein. I would probably lose faith in the vet if they wanted me to do their job for them and try another with more experience. But if the vet told me to force-feed a rodent then this is how I would do it.

If the snake is large, and the hint was that the snake was large and not a haytchling then i would get an assistant to hold the snake with me, in particular the tail because it is easier to force-feed if the snake is stretched out straight rather than colied around your arm.

Firstly i would soak the rodent in water, this will allow it to slide down the snake's throat easier.Holding the snake firmly behind the head as though it was a lizard or a poisonous snake and holding the rodent with some blunt forceps use the rodent's head to open the mouth of the snake wide enough for the head of the rodent to enter the mouth hopefully in as far as the teeth so the snake's teeth . If the snake won't open its mouth using the rodent i would use a chopstick or a kebab skewer and roll it up the snake's chin until the snake opened its mouth. I would then roll the stick along the inside of the mouth until it is holding the mouth open. Then i would jam the rodent's head into the mouth and have my assisitant slide the stick out.

Then i would push the rodent further into the snake's mouth tucking each of the front legs into the snake's mouth one at a time pressing my index finger on the top of the snake's head to stop it spitting the rodent out. With my free had i would continue to push gently on the forceps to slide more of the rodent into the mouth.

If the snake's swallowing response doesn't kick in i would tickle it under the chin to stimulate the response. It is important to keep pressure on the mouth to keep it from opening up and spitting out the prey.The rodent may have to be pushed down the throat manually if the tickle doesn't work properly. This should be done very carefully so as to not damage the mouth and throat with the rodent and/or the forceps.Once the rodent is past the back teeth hold the mouth shut and rub under the chin to again help it to swallow
Do not relax until the rodent is at least 5 inches past the snake's mouth otherwise the snake may regurgitate the rodent and you will have to start all over again.


dicco
Ok, it's good to have another person present when force feeding a snake, one person to restrain the snake(taking care not to harm the animal) and the other to do the actual force feeding, it makes it more practical than one person holding the snake whilst forcing a rodent down it's throat.
Prior to the feed the rodent the rodent should be wet/moistened so make it go down better, some like to use oil, some dip them in eggs and others just use water. Oil is not that good due to the fats, water is effective.
The snakes mouth should be opened sometimes it just needs to be coaxed a bit but otherwise it will need to be opened using flat blunt object and then place the head of the rodent in the snakes mouth.
What to do next can vary, sometimes if left the snake will consume the rodent on it's own from there, otherwise you can use a blunt soft object to push it down. The instrument should be smaller than the snakes throat and very blunt and soft incase it slips off the rodent and scrapes the throat. Forceps can also be used but they can tear the throat if the scrape against it and if they have soft rubber grips they can come off.
 
Thank you all for participating. This scoring was done by peterrescue. I am trying to get scoring done by different people to keep it as fair as possible.

Score for question 6.
hi Jan, this was hard. they are all deserving.
but here goes
Staffsrule 1.5.
Soulweaver 3
Southy 2.5
JandC 3
Olivehydra 2.5
Robbo 1.5
Junglemad 3
Dicco 2

score after 6th round.

steve6610 1
JandC_Reptiles 10 and half
craig.a.c 1
OuZo 3
soulweaver 9 and half
staffsrule 5
Dicco 9 and half
danep 5
munkee 1
newtosnakes 2
jonno 1
southy 9 and half
junglemad 11
westaussie 1
olivehydra 10
BUCK 1
Memphis_Tank 1
robbo 5 and half
Kahn_10 3
 
any chance of putting up this weeks question earlier? just cos of xmas day and everything?
 
Just reminder that question 7 is on for some time.

this 7th question is easy becaose christmas holidays.
this time we are erly for question during the holiday season.

Question 7.

Your snakes was infestated by mites. Snake just shed his skin. What you should check after shed in this situation.



Please answer by Monday evening to email [email protected]
 
This is the answer i Was looking for


Ensure that the snake had a complete full shed. Mites attack skin and some parts can retain on snake.
Check the snakes underside, tail and head for any skin remaining.To many animals get shed skin still left on their tails and end up with amputation and stumpy tails.
check headpeice of shed and look for both eye caps (brille) are there.



This are your posted answers.
staffsrule
I think what you should check for when snake has shed after having mites is that it is a complete shed. Cause mites cause damage to the snakes scales it may cause problems in shedding. Mite infestation can also cause shedding as well.
I guess another thing to check for would be the presence of mites still on the snake as well. Particuarly in under the chin and around the mouth, under the anal plate etc. Mites have cycles and often one treatment is not enough to completley rid the snake of mites. There still my be mite eggs in the enclosure etc, that can hatch and re infest the snake.
infestations of mites are known as acariasis and can be one of the gretest killers of captive snakes.
Staffsrule.

Junglemad

First thing i would do is wrap the shed skin up and burn it or put it in the garbage bin after spraying it with insecticide.
http://www.vpi.com/9VPITipsAndTechs/thewaragainstsnakemites/Mites-TheBattlePlan.htm
here is where i found my answer.
Mites were around before the invention of these chemicals and they will be around for years to come. In the old days mites were controlled with water. It still works today. Mites drown in water so soak the snake until all the mites drown in soapy water. The soap is the key, it reduces the surface tension of the water and makes the water and the snake wetter so the mites drown quicker.
Place the snake in a container with water just deep enough that the snake can barely submerge when resting on the bottom. An inexpensive five or ten gallon aquarium will work great for most snakes. A plastic 30 or 39 gallon trash can is good for fairly big snakes. RubberMaid makes a great inexpensive 50 gallon plastic storage box thats adequate for snakes up to 14-17 feet in length. Remember, were not talking very much water for a small snake. When soaking snakes, dont make the water so deep that the snakes have to swim to be able to breathe; they may become exhausted and drown. Its important to regulate the temperature of the bath of the snake so that it does not chill below the normal temperature to which the snake is accustomed. For most snakes, water temperature of 80-84 0F is a good range. Dont guess the temperature, measure it.
After the period of soaking, we check around the eyes of snakes to see if there are any mites surviving there--they may have been high and dry throughout the soak if the snake has kept his head out of the water. If we feel there may be mites high and dry around the eyes of a snake that is soaking, we will wipe some dilute soap around the margin of the snake's eyes. With a cotton swab, one also can wipe a little Vaseline into the space around the margin of the eyes of a snake; the "grease" of Vaseline will asphyxiate any mites present or that wander in later.
Soaking may not be possible if the snake is ill or uncoordinated, or for any reason seems at risk for drowning. Soaking may not be a good idea if the snakes are in their wintering period and are at cool ambient temperatures when the mite are discovered.
Treating a Snake Cage for Mites
Getting mites off a snake is easy. But it requires some effort to exterminate the mites in the cage of the snake. It is necessary to consider two points to successfully get rid of mites from an infested cage. First, all five life-stages of mites are probably in the snake cage, while only two of the life-stages are on the snake. Mites take nourishment from snakes in the form of blood meals. But then mites usually drop off a snake and go walking around to find a mate or some suitable other place to lay eggs. Often mites climb up the cage sides, stopping at the first corner, knothole, or seam to deposit eggs.
The second point to consider is that mite eggs may be more difficult to find and kill than the mites. In fact, when battling mites it's best to assume that some eggs will survive all your efforts and hatch out. Its no big deal as long as you realize the eggs usually hatch in 1-4 days and you take appropriate measures to be ready for them.
Now put on your latex gloves and get to work while the snake is soaking. Use a 1.5% Neguvon spray to wet the area around the infested cage, where you are about to work. Clean every thing out of the cage. If youve been using aspen bedding, bark chips, mulch or some similar substrate, dump it or carefully scoop it into a trash can, making as little dust as possible. [Any dust you create will possibly carry with it nymphal mitesdont spread your problem.] Put a moth ball in the trash can, tie the trash bag shut and get it as far from your snake collection as you can. Throw away everything thats not plastic, glass, metal or ceramic. Take everything that you are saving to reuse in the cage, such as the water bowl and hide box, and soak it in a strong disinfectant solution. We use Basic G as our disinfectant. A 10% bleach solution will work just fine.
Wash out the cage with a strong disinfectant solution, scrub it thoroughly top and bottom, every corner and nook. Most good disinfectants regularly used in cage maintenance will kill mites of any age on contact. We use Basic G (from Shaklee) mixed at oz per gallon. A 10% bleach solution can be used. Then, while the cage is still wet, take a soft bristled brush and scrub the inside and the outside of the cage. Carefully scrub the corners and seams and other possible egg laying sites. On a light-colored surface, the eggs of one female mite will appear as a tiny, tan smudge, almost invisible to the unaided eye. Often many female mites will lay their eggs in the same location. The first wash may not dislodge the eggs and the disinfectant may not kill the eggs, but the eggs are easily scrubbed free with some elbow grease and a brush. They can then be washed out of the cage.
Rinse and dry the cage. No mites should be present in your cage or on your snake at this point in your treatment. When the snake has completed his soak, put him back in his scrubbed cage. But, making the conservative assumption that, no matter what, a few mite eggs may remain behind, place the appropriate amount of pest strip in the cage for at least a week. In actual practice, we keep pest strips in the cage for three weeks. At this time, according to the battle plan, there are no mites on the snake or inside the cage--what were trying to do is block the return of any mites that may return from outside the cage. It only takes a single virgin female mite to start another infestation.
REMEMBER, snakes exposed to too high concentrations of fumes from pest strips will suffer a variety of problems, including anorexia, convulsions and death.
Treating the Snake Room for Mites
There is that last set of mites that you must consider to effect the total eradication of mites from your collection. If your snake has mites, then your snake room likely has mites. Mites, even pregnant female mites, sometimes leave your snake cage and walk around. A pregnant mite can travel dozens of feet in an hour. At that rate a mite can probably walk several times around your snake room in one night. They're certainly capable of changing cages on their own power.
When mites travel, they tend to avoid light, climb upwards, and move toward the scent of snakes. They have an amazing chemosensory ability to detect the odors of snakes. If they have gotten out of the cage with a known infestation, they likely are headed toward another one of your snake cages like tiny little black vampire bloodhounds.
Here are some suggestions for treating a mite problem in your snake room: First, protect any non-snake animals that may be sensitive to some of the chemicals youve used. Take out of the room any tarantulas, scorpions, hissing roaches, food crickets, birds, fish, small frogs, or small lizards. Remain vigilant and be on the lookout for the mites to crop up in other cages. Carefully check your other snakes' water bowls, looking for that single little fleck of black pepper that tells you the enemy is there. You will almost always find a soggy mite or two drowned in a water bowl before you see them on a snake.
After you have cleaned your infested ages, bring in your vacuum cleaner or wet/dry vacuum, first suck up a couple of moth balls into the dust bag, and then carefully vacuum the entire snake room. Carefully vacuum around each snake cage. This is especially important if you have a carpeted snake room (better known as a spare bedroom.) Vacuum the room every day for a week.
After the first vacuuming session, spray a fine mist of 1.5% Neguvon all around your room, around the infested cage(s), the baseboards, the tops of cages and racks, the undersides of shelves, all over any carpet, and especially around other snake cages. We use a 1-gallon or 2-gallon garden sprayer. Just the lightest spray will do, you don't have to soak the carpet. Neguvon smells like pesticide and I don't know that I would use it in a bedroom/snake room--but it works. Repeat the spraying in three days, and then again in a week. Put one moth ball in your snake room trash container, take out the trash in sealed garbage bags every day.
You can spray 1.5% Neguvon in the snake cages nearest to the infested cages, even spraying the snakes in their cages. However, be careful, some snakes may react badly to Neguvon; don't get carried away. Put appropriate-sized pieces of pest strips in those cages, and keep them fresh for three weeks.
We have heard from friends and read on the forums that some of the new commercially-available mite sprays and treatments are effective. We have experience with only a few and found them to be ineffective. Some are very dangerous to snakes when used inappropriately.
There's nothing particularly difficult about getting rid of mites, which is not to say that it's fun or quick. Snake mites are well-designed to thrive in captive snake collections, so it takes a good battle plan, some work, and some disciplined follow-through to eradicate them. Anyone who's had mites in their collection has learned the value of proactively treating new snakes for mites and then quarantining them for at least a couple of weeks.


Southy
ensure that the snake had a complete full shed, check the snakes underside, tail and head for any skin remaining, if not complete shed, soak the animal in water, not enough for the snake to accidently drown in and snake should be watched as too much water could lead to skin rot down the track, then genly peel excess skin off, to many animals get shed skin still left on their tails and end up with amputation and stumpy tails. also check headpeice of shed and look for both eye caps (brille) are there, if not, remove most of the stickiness from a piece of tape by pressing and removing it from a clean surface,then lightly touch the snake's eye with the tape, trying to grab the brille cap and remove it,moistening the eyecap with water or mineral oil first may help. if the eye piece is left, blindness and infections could become of this.
southy


robbo
my answer to qustion 7 is
once the snake has shed you should check the shed skin for any mites than check the snake especially around the eyes and anal scale for them
then i would carry on with the treatmet i am using to get rid of the mites til their breeding cycal has been broken
robbo


Soulweaver
Your snakes was infestated by mites. Snake just shed his skin. What you should check after shed in this situation.
After your snake has shed, you should check to see the eyes have shed as well. Mites burrow into the cavities around the eyes, causing the eye skin not to shed with the rest of the body.
Also check the cage for mites that maybe still alive and can jump back on the snake. They often hide in small dark places within the cage make-up.



JandC_Reptiles

QUESTION: Your snakes was infestated by mites. Snake just shed his skin. What you should check after shed in this situation.
ANSWER: I presume the entire collection, enclosures & the Herp room itself have already been treated than? We will assume that the above have in-deed been treated using EG: Top Of Descent or Orange medic & the animals have been quaruntined:
After an animal has shed (in this case 1 snake) I would be looking for signs of any straggling mites that may have been retained or new mites that may have hatched from their eggs that were not removed earlier. Majority of the the harder to get mites or freshly hatched mites may well of been sluffed off along with the shed skin, However it is better to be safe than sorry so I would do this treatment regardless. A final inspection is well worth the effort also. If there is any retained mites they will be at the surface of the new skin in easy to get spots & may be seen. A liberal rub down of the animal with a towel moistened with mineral oil should eradicate them. Once finished rubbing the snake down I would return it to its enclosure in the Quaruntine room (disinfected & sterile condition) After another 10 days in the quaruntine enclosure I would rub down the above mentioned snake once again, completely disinfect its vivariums (collection & quaruntine) then repeat the origin!
al treatment for mite removal (whether you used Top of Descent - Orange medic etc on the animal, & its quarters) Once this has been completed & assuming you have treated the enclosures in both the Herp collection room & the Herp quaruntine room whilst treating the infected snake, it will now be safe to return the animal back to the Herp room.



Score for question 7

Staffsrule 2 and 1/2
Junglemad 1
Southy 3
robbo 1/2
soulweaver 2 and 1/2
JandC_Reptiles 1/2


score after 7th round.

steve6610 1
JandC_Reptiles 11 and half
craig.a.c 1
OuZo 3
soulweaver 12
staffsrule 7 and half
Dicco 9 and half
danep 5
munkee 1
newtosnakes 2
jonno 1
southy 12 and half
junglemad 12
westaussie 1
olivehydra 10
BUCK 1
Memphis_Tank 1
robbo 6
Kahn_10 3
 
Question n.7

The tips of snakes ribs can separate widely to alow a large prey item to move down into the body.

Tel me why is this possible, is there something different in snake bone structure to allowe that happen?




Please answer by Monday evening to email [email protected]
 
Just reminding to people that this question should be answered tonight. I think that we should keep it till tuesday evening during new year celebrations.

Finilize your answer by tomorrow.
 
Question 8
The tips of snake?s ribs can separate widely to allow a large prey item to move down into the body.

Tell me why is this possible, is there something different in snake bone structure to allow that happen?


Right answer for this question was:

Snakes do not have a sternum, the ribs are hinged at their base and joined at the tips by ligaments, allowing the passage of very large prey into the gut.

Your posted answers:
The reason a snakes ribs can *stretch* so far is because snakes dont have a sternum, the ribs are hinged at their base and joined at the tips by ligaments, allowing very large prey to be swallowed.
To allow the snake to breathe when swallowing large prey the reinforced windpipe is pushed forward to the front of the lower jaw while they are feeding.
Staffsrule


quite simply the snakes atonomy is missing a sternum, which in turn gives the snake the ability to swallow large prey items and allows the ribs to expand to accomodate the meal. if snakes had a sternum, their prey size would have to be much more precise because if the meal was to big, the ribs wont expand and the snake would go hungry until it found something that is suitable. evolution has showed that snakes adapted better to the environment without a sternum so it can swallow larger prey items and the ribs can seperate to accomodate any meal swallowed.
southy



Snakes do not have a sternum, the ribs are hinged at their base and joined at the tips by ligaments, allowing the passage of very large prey into the gut. There are tremendous advantages in being able to consume large meals as snakes can (and do) go for many months without feeding.
By JandC_Reptiles


Snake bone structure is different in that snake ribs are not connected to a sternum bone like us for example so the tips can spread widely. The ribs are joined in pairs to the backbone by ligaments which allow the ribs to pivot further than many animals allowing them to swallow large prey items and also to coil tightly.
Junglemad


Yes. Snakes have backbones, they are classified in the same group (vertebrates) as fish, mammals, birds, and people. The snake?s skeletal system is unique. Snake bones are very light and highly movable. The lower jaws and skull are connected by a piece of stretchy material (ligament). This allows the snake to open its mouth very wide and move each jaw independently. Thus, a snake can swallow prey much larger than its head by ?walking? its mouth around the food from side to side in a forward movement.
Soulweawer

Points for this question;

Staffsrule 3
southy 2
JandC_Reptiles 3
Junglemad 3
Soulweawer 1



score after 8th round.

steve6610 1
JandC_Reptiles 14 and half
craig.a.c 1
OuZo 3
soulweaver 13
staffsrule 10 and half
Dicco 9 and half
danep 5
munkee 1
newtosnakes 2
jonno 1
southy 14 and half
junglemad 15
westaussie 1
olivehydra 10
BUCK 1
Memphis_Tank 1
robbo 6
Kahn_10 3
 
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