help! my boas seeping clear liquid out of it's nostrils and mouth

[olivetaffy]

my boa had been burrowed under the substrate below her water dish for almost a day, odd i thought, but perhaps she was kinda sorta hibernating. so, i look in the cage last night and notice he's just popped his head out from under the substrate next to the water dish, i take him out, do my usual check for mites, and notice water bubbles forming at his nostrils (or was it saliva or mucus? im not sure) i wipe away the liquid and notice his throat looks bloated. as i press against the bulge more of the liquid came pouring out from his mouth and a little from his nostrils. this continued to go on for about five minutes until it appeared that all the liquid had been expelled. all of the liquid that did come out was completely clear aside from a few bubbles and a slightly slimy sheen when it had dried onto the towel. could this be some kind of respiratory problem or did he merely chug down some needed water only to have it come down the wrong pipe and back out again?

	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[herpkid14]

that sounds to me like respirtory infection i would rasie the cage temps and lower humdty and if that doesnt work take him to a reptile vet

[olivetaffy]

the humidity is already really low, its at about 40 and im using a 60 watt bulb and an under tank heating pad, will a higher wattage bulb help?

[herpkid14]

what r the temps at right now cause all bulbs are diffrent my boa is in a 20 gallon long and he has a 100 watt bulb hios basking spot is 92 warm side 85 cool side78

[olivetaffy]

the warm side's 82 degrees, and the cool side's around 74 degrees

[olivetaffy]

no one else has any advice to help me with this odd occurrence?

[CC]

Take the snake to a herp vet. Then you will know what the right treatment is. You may be making the situation worse. Take him to a vet so you can be sure that you are doing the right treatment.

[olivetaffy]

well, after that little spell, the snake seems fine and is acting normal. last night while it was happening it moved and acted normal also. he just seemed a little perturbed that he was on the ground

[NicoleRussell]

you canPM julius squeezer and he will most likely have the best advice for outside a doc's office. He's and admin on this site...good luck.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Be sure you are taking a temp reading down near the floor of the cage. People tend to stick thermometers way high on the glass and then wonder why their snake is sick. If your temp readings are correct, your cage is too cool. Hotside should be as close to 88f that you can get without going over more than a degree. If your day time temp is only 82, I'm scared to ask what it drops to when the light goes out at night.

Herpkid...your hotside temp is too hot. Snakes are cold blooded animals. The ambient temp of their environment is their body temp. If a boas ideal body temp is 88 and you are pushing it to 92...this is the same thing as you running a fever of 102.6

When a snake drinks water, it doesn't go down the wrong pipe. the glottis involuntarily slams shut while they are drinking. But sometimes they do overdrink themselves and some comes back out when you pick them up....or it could be an oncoming RI. The main thing now is to get the heat right and if in a couple of days symtoms persist, you need to find a GOOD herp vet. They are few and far between so you should probably round up some fellow californians from this site and request a referal.

	Respiratory Infection Respiratory Infection

[olivetaffy]

thank you so much. i feel slightly better knowing he may have overdrank. what do u suggest to heat my tank up? higher wattage bulb? rock heater?