Agathos has a cold :-(

Well, I think my son has given Agathos a cold. Actually, it is a combination of 2 things. The ceramic undertank heater is not working. I am not sure it has ever worked since we installed it 2 weeks ago, to be honest. Never thought to check it...sigh. And my son, darling polar bear that he is, has been sneaking the thermostat down at night to something akin to "serve well chilled" so that I awaken with the covers pulled to my chin and my teeth chattering. Well, ball pythons are terperate snakes, preferring temps of 80-95`F. Went to pick Agathos up last night upon my late arrival (moved boxes over to the new house) and found him tightly curled in a ball under heat lamp and when I reached for him he flinched & sneezed at me. NOT GOOD. SO I called and spoke with the exotics vet today... he thinks Agathos may have a respiratory issue. 1st thing I did was turn off house AC. Son can go sleep somewhere else. 2nd thing is to replace damaged ceramic undertank heating pad (Spirit is doing that straightaway after work today). 3rd thing is to up the wattage on the heat lamp from 50W to 75W. Then see if I hear any wheezing, see any bubbles from his nostrils, in his mouth, etc. If so, he'll have to do antibiotic shots. Hopefully we've caught it early enough to avoid that. Poor baby.