Seriously Wondering if I am Cursed

[chairman]

Sounds like you've had some bad luck. Good on you for sticking with it and trying to get it right.

It is possible that your overhead light was dehydrating the snakes. You said the heat pad was on a thermostat but not the light. Maybe more so because I think they recommend only offering rosy boas a water dish once weekly or something like that?

Another similar possibility is that the cage was in direct sunlight and overheated that way?

Chemicals would be the next most logical, though I wouldn't suspect the bird cleanser you used to be the culprit. I use F10 or diluted chlorhexidine to clean my enclosures when more than spot cleaning is needed. Other household chemicals that may cause harm include smoke (tobacco, marijuana, incense, etc), essential oil diffuser, bleach or ammonia used in strong concentrations in the same room.

[ThatOneSpazz2]

Originally Posted by chairman

Sounds like you've had some bad luck. Good on you for sticking with it and trying to get it right.

It is possible that your overhead light was dehydrating the snakes. You said the heat pad was on a thermostat but not the light. Maybe more so because I think they recommend only offering rosy boas a water dish once weekly or something like that?

Another similar possibility is that the cage was in direct sunlight and overheated that way?

Chemicals would be the next most logical, though I wouldn't suspect the bird cleanser you used to be the culprit. I use F10 or diluted chlorhexidine to clean my enclosures when more than spot cleaning is needed. Other household chemicals that may cause harm include smoke (tobacco, marijuana, incense, etc), essential oil diffuser, bleach or ammonia used in strong concentrations in the same room.

Yea. I really want to try again, I am just terrified. X'D

When it comes to the overhead light, I am not so sure on that. It's hard for me to say definitively due to hydrometers, temps and all that, but from my memory I do remember Rosa especially drank a lot from her water bowl. She never appeared to have those "creases/wrinkles" on her that showed she was dehydrated, though. It's so odd!
EDIT: Clarifying that I kept a small water dish in there constantly, after scrutinizing the research. (From what I read, you could keep a water bowl in there if you kept it small and made sure it didn't spill, or that you immediately cleaned up if it ever did.)

The cage itself was against a wall, but out of the way of the window-- I kept her cage on my desk since she was such a tiny bab and I had her in a 10 gallon. She was in the corner away from the window. I would have seen the temps in the cage overly high due to the temp gun I used, but it never appeared to be that way.

The incense/diffuser issue IS something I am more careful of, as I did use such a thing when I had them. It was kept on the far side of the room away from their cages though, and I wouldn't leave it on all day. I didn't use it every day either, only days when there was some horrid smell in the house, or when I needed to calm down a bit. Is it possible that still could have affected them?