Joined
·
22,890 Posts
I've got a question for those of you who have had corns or other temperate snake species that have been subjected to too-hot cage temps for too long. If the animal survived... did its behaviour change - and how? Was this change permanent?
I'm asking because we have a giant European glass lizard (Pseudopus/Ophisaurus apodus) - a "room temperature" species with similar temperature requirements to a corn snake (hence askiing here rather than in lizards, when most common pet lizards are tropical or desert species) - who had a problem with an infection and necrosis at the tip of his tail due to an (ex)cagemate biting it. We took him to the vet last week to have the necrotic part of his tail removed, and we were assured by the vet that he was familiar with legless lizards, wouldn't stop to listen to any of our care instructions, just reassured us that he knew what he was doing.
The vet had Chumley for over 24 hours in his care - from 2:30 PM on a Wednesday to 6:30PM Thursday. The operation to remove the bad part of his tail was done around 10:30 AM. I had to arrange a ride to the vet's surgery to pick him up (we don't own a car) and when I got there, the vet wasn't present - only one of the nurses, who brought Chum to me.
When I reached in to touch him, he was VERY warm to the touch - easily warmer than I keep my rainbow boas and more like 'live baby mice' warm - and I have no idea how long he had been kept at that temperature.
Since then, I have noticed dramatic changes in his attitude - he's gone from being a mostly-placid animal who huffed or swung gently at you if you startled him to being very fast and jerky moving, very aggressive and VERY prone to trying to bite. He's also started peculiar behaviours - nose-rubbing, stretching up to press up against the top of his tub, doing a lot of thumping about... quite a lot more activity and more notably he is really swinging to bite when he's handled and lunging at the tub walls when he sees movement near them. Conversely, his tail does not seem particularly sensitive or tender - he reacts much LESS to being touched on the tail.
The other glass lizard we have is NOT exhibiting these behaviours - she's always been stroppy, but she's not showing the idiopathic behaviour.
I'm really concerned because Chumley used to be an animal we could take 'round classes and let little kids pet him - but at the moment we can barely handle him without him striking out at us.
If being kept too warm for too long has caused him some sort of damage, is there any way to lessen the behavioural effects?
I'm worried that he's going to rub the scales on his face off or hurt himself when he strikes at the walls of the tub (and putting him into a tinted translucent tub instead of the clear one hasn't helped) and if I didn't know it was him I'd say they've given us a totally different animal back from the one we took to the vet's.
Lastly... what would you do in terms of talking to the 'exotics' vet in question if it IS heat-related behaviour problems?
I'm asking because we have a giant European glass lizard (Pseudopus/Ophisaurus apodus) - a "room temperature" species with similar temperature requirements to a corn snake (hence askiing here rather than in lizards, when most common pet lizards are tropical or desert species) - who had a problem with an infection and necrosis at the tip of his tail due to an (ex)cagemate biting it. We took him to the vet last week to have the necrotic part of his tail removed, and we were assured by the vet that he was familiar with legless lizards, wouldn't stop to listen to any of our care instructions, just reassured us that he knew what he was doing.
The vet had Chumley for over 24 hours in his care - from 2:30 PM on a Wednesday to 6:30PM Thursday. The operation to remove the bad part of his tail was done around 10:30 AM. I had to arrange a ride to the vet's surgery to pick him up (we don't own a car) and when I got there, the vet wasn't present - only one of the nurses, who brought Chum to me.
When I reached in to touch him, he was VERY warm to the touch - easily warmer than I keep my rainbow boas and more like 'live baby mice' warm - and I have no idea how long he had been kept at that temperature.
Since then, I have noticed dramatic changes in his attitude - he's gone from being a mostly-placid animal who huffed or swung gently at you if you startled him to being very fast and jerky moving, very aggressive and VERY prone to trying to bite. He's also started peculiar behaviours - nose-rubbing, stretching up to press up against the top of his tub, doing a lot of thumping about... quite a lot more activity and more notably he is really swinging to bite when he's handled and lunging at the tub walls when he sees movement near them. Conversely, his tail does not seem particularly sensitive or tender - he reacts much LESS to being touched on the tail.
The other glass lizard we have is NOT exhibiting these behaviours - she's always been stroppy, but she's not showing the idiopathic behaviour.
I'm really concerned because Chumley used to be an animal we could take 'round classes and let little kids pet him - but at the moment we can barely handle him without him striking out at us.
If being kept too warm for too long has caused him some sort of damage, is there any way to lessen the behavioural effects?
I'm worried that he's going to rub the scales on his face off or hurt himself when he strikes at the walls of the tub (and putting him into a tinted translucent tub instead of the clear one hasn't helped) and if I didn't know it was him I'd say they've given us a totally different animal back from the one we took to the vet's.
Lastly... what would you do in terms of talking to the 'exotics' vet in question if it IS heat-related behaviour problems?