Some Health Care Information for Your Pet

Having your exotic pet on a regular check up with a veterinarian is an important part on your exotic pet’s health. There could be important things that you would like to know in order to maintain the quality of health of your exotic pet.

Make sure that you develop good communication with your veterinarian so that it would be easier for you to contact him in case your pet needs a check up or treatment. You may find your exotic pets having problems with their health. The most common illness for most exotic pets like snakes is anorexia. This is caused by factors like the husbandry where low temperature may cause exotic pets to lose their appetite. Snakes have the tendency to lessen metabolism when it is fall.

Anorexia among snakes is also caused by the low quality of food fed to them. Another reason could be the wrong way you present food to the pet. It is important that you should know the right way on how to serve the right food for your pets to make them eat well.

If anorexia isn’t properly treated, this may lead to other diseases for your exotic pet. It is important that you should have knowledge on how to give your pet good health. Here are some tips in order to keep your exotic pet healthy.

1. Make sure that you bring your snake to your community veterinarian if symptoms of lost appetite is seen.

2. Observe the snake whether there are changes in his eating habits and if it can eat the same amount of food that you usually give.

3. Make sure that you supply heat in its cage by setting up a heating system that will provide the needed temperature for its body metabolism. Low temperature is the common reason why snakes lose their appetite. Their body metabolism tends to fall.

4. You should know the proper manner of serving food to your exotic pet. You should also pay attention to the quality of food that you serve.

5. Make sure that your husbandry is properly maintained and you have to keep it clean.

Exotic pets like snakes should be examined if there is no progress in its appetite. Your veterinarian may reevaluate his findings and make new clinical diagnosis to check if there are parasites affecting the health of your exotic pet. If necessary, x-rays and ultrasounds may be conducted to determine the real health problem of your exotic pet.



By: Joshua Simms

About the Author:

Learn about pet lizards and basilisk lizard at the Lizard Care site.

Keeping a Brazilian Rainbow Boa

Keeping a Brazilian Rainbow Boa
By Jessica Spinner

A Brazilian Rainbow Boa will thrive in captivity as long as you keep it clean, safe and well fed. The typical size of an adult on this variety of snake is from four to seven feet although there have been some that grew to a length of twenty feet. For this reason, this snake needs lots of space in which it can move about freely. Along with a large cage, you need to keep the humidity in the cage quite high and always have a bowl of fresh water inside. During the day, these snakes need an average temperature of 26 to 29 and even though you can lower the temperature at night you shouldn’t have it any lower than 24. An aquarium intended to hold 40 – 60 gallons of water should be quite sufficient.

The substrate you use in the cage should be one that holds the humidity quite well. Canadian peat moss is one that most herpers use with this subspecies of rainbow snake. The diet can be entirely made up of mice that are equal to the size of the snake girth. You can also feed your snake small rats. You should never feed live food to the snake because of the possibility of danger to your pet. If you find that you pet seems to be off its food and is not eating as it regularly did, try taking it outdoors. Experts will tell you that the fresh air seems to revive the boa appetite.

If you intend to breed the snake, you do have to make sure it is at least four or five feet long. Both snakes need a slightly lower temperature in the weeks preceding the breeding period, which means you should lower the temperature of the cage to about 20. Then you can introduce the male into the cage of the female. Male boas are very territorial and it is not a good practice to put a female into a male cage because he will see this as an invasion of his territory rather than an opportunity to mate.

You can use newspaper or paper liners are good as coverings for the bottom of the cage. They are easy to remove when wet and you just throw them in the trash. It is important to clean the cage on a regular basis and you should change the bedding at least once a week. Since there is a high level of humidity in the cage, this is the prime breeding grounds for mold. However, if you do not have enough humidity, it could prove fatal for your pet.

Even though rainbow boas do not have a problem living in wet areas, you should have an area of the cage that is always dry for them to use when they choose. These pets are quite active and the babies tend to nip at your fingers if you put them into the cage or when you handle them. With proper handling, they are one of the easiest snakes to train.

For more information on Brazilian Rainbow Boas, pet snakes, Emerald Tree Boass and related topics visit http://www.BoaTips.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Jessica_Spinner
http://EzineArticles.com/?Keeping-a-Brazilian-Rainbow-Boa&id=1630592