All,
I have had my corn snake for a few years now, and he has been very happy and healthy. I've never had any scary instances where I was worried because he was behaving very strangely or seemed sick.
About 30 minutes ago, as I was getting ready to head to bed, I saw him holding his mouth wide open with the glottis projected and open. He hasn't eaten in three weeks, though the last time I tried he was about to shed and wasn't having any of that. A quick google search revealed that this was not necessarily good behavior.
(I bought a new bulb for him today and haven't switched it in yet. It's gotten chilly the last week, and I was worried that my suspicions were right and he may not be as warm as the thermometers are suggesting.)
I panicked and was thinking that maybe he really needed to warm up, so I gently picked him up and moved him over to the warm side of the tank, where he began to act very erratically. He put his head under the water but didn't drink, he started moving along like he wasn't seeing things, and was spinning his head into the ground like he wasn't sure what was going on.
Then it clicked with me. I just started making soap as a hobby, and had a batch on the kitchen table not too far from his tank. I had thought the smell was a bit strong on my hands, and I had actually just finished washing them really well with water before I saw him initially. The soaps have since been moved far away.
I let him be for a bit, and started frantically looking up information online. It's been about 10 minutes and he is now acting perfectly normal and coherent. He's moving about like usual, responding to hearing my voice and seeing me move, etc. I just checked the temps again and they're low. It's 70 on the cool side and 80 on the warm, although he's been staying on the cool side rather than the warm.
Any thoughts on what was going on here? This just seemed very sudden. I want to change out his light if it sounds like he's too cool, but I don't want to disturb him if he is vulnerable or needs to be left alone. He's usually been very robust and non-problematic, and seeing him like this has really scared me. I know there's a lot of variables, but I want to make sure I'm coming to people who will know, and not just blindly trusting google with my little guy's life.
Thank you for any thoughts or feedback,
I have had my corn snake for a few years now, and he has been very happy and healthy. I've never had any scary instances where I was worried because he was behaving very strangely or seemed sick.
About 30 minutes ago, as I was getting ready to head to bed, I saw him holding his mouth wide open with the glottis projected and open. He hasn't eaten in three weeks, though the last time I tried he was about to shed and wasn't having any of that. A quick google search revealed that this was not necessarily good behavior.
(I bought a new bulb for him today and haven't switched it in yet. It's gotten chilly the last week, and I was worried that my suspicions were right and he may not be as warm as the thermometers are suggesting.)
I panicked and was thinking that maybe he really needed to warm up, so I gently picked him up and moved him over to the warm side of the tank, where he began to act very erratically. He put his head under the water but didn't drink, he started moving along like he wasn't seeing things, and was spinning his head into the ground like he wasn't sure what was going on.
Then it clicked with me. I just started making soap as a hobby, and had a batch on the kitchen table not too far from his tank. I had thought the smell was a bit strong on my hands, and I had actually just finished washing them really well with water before I saw him initially. The soaps have since been moved far away.
I let him be for a bit, and started frantically looking up information online. It's been about 10 minutes and he is now acting perfectly normal and coherent. He's moving about like usual, responding to hearing my voice and seeing me move, etc. I just checked the temps again and they're low. It's 70 on the cool side and 80 on the warm, although he's been staying on the cool side rather than the warm.
Any thoughts on what was going on here? This just seemed very sudden. I want to change out his light if it sounds like he's too cool, but I don't want to disturb him if he is vulnerable or needs to be left alone. He's usually been very robust and non-problematic, and seeing him like this has really scared me. I know there's a lot of variables, but I want to make sure I'm coming to people who will know, and not just blindly trusting google with my little guy's life.
Thank you for any thoughts or feedback,