SQUEAKY BRB

[Gaily]

i recently noticed a squeaking sound coming from my BRB. it almost sounds like a little snake-sized sneeze. humidity in her cage is fine, temperatures are fine, shes been feeding REALLY well (2 mice a week) and she recently shed all in one piece, eyecaps and all. i havent seen any mucous or heard any popping sounds or anything but im worried that shes getting a respiratory infection. i also have a moss box set up in her cage and i noticed that shes been spending a lot of time out of it, more than shes spending in it. im thinking of making the whole cage one big moss box. i hope it helps. any ideas? what can i do if its an RI? [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img]


-gail
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	Respiratory Infection Respiratory Infection

[travis66]

i am not 100 percent positive but i think you bring the humidity down in the tank.wait and i am sure that somebody who knows will be on.
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[morti]

I am not a BRB person, however any noise coming from boas other than the occasional hiss right before they latch onto you should be taken as a sign of problems. I would advise that you take your snake to a qualified reptile vet.

The REAL BRB people will be along shortly to tell me I'm wrong. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

-Morti.
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[JuliusSqueezer]

You say the humidity and temps are fine ...what exactly is the humidity and temps in the cage? Night and day? How old and/or how big is the snake? These are high humidity loving snakes. I keep my neonates in a cage at 80 degrees with no heat lamp...Just a heat pad to warm up on and digest food. Heat lamps tend to dry the cage out too fast and if they ever get over 85 degrees, they can die. I raise the humidity to 90+% every 4-5 days by pouring warm water into the forest floor substrate right ontop of the heatpad area. then misting the rest of the cage down with a spray bottle. All but a couple of inches of the screen top is covered with taped down plastic. When the humidity level drops to 70%, I crank it back up again. Adults do not require as high humidity and can take slightly warmer temps but both neos and adults require a good bit of attention to their needs. Also, it doesn't matter how well the cage is heated and humidified if the snake spends a great deal of time out being handled...he can still get sick from over exposure to cold, heat or dryness.

You will need to take him to a vet, like the others have been saying here. He may need a series of antibiotic shots or you may be able to treat it with dry heat for a little while but the approximate age of the snake is needed to determine the best path to take at this time. Too much heat, dryness and antibiotics can kill a baby so I will refrain from giving any advice right now. Please look for a good herp vet experienced with high humidity species. You may need to call the zoo for help.
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[Gaily]

oops. i guess i did leave out some important information. i keep the humidity at 90% and the temperature is at 80-85 on the hot side and 75-80 on the cool side. my brb is about 10 months old, at about 2'9" long. everything seems to be fine except for the squeaking. i will definitely be calling a vet to get some advice, only problem is there arent too many reliable ones here in san diego. if anyone is in this area and knows of one, please let me know.

thanks,

gail
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