Yawning or Gasping? (Newbie)

[DragonGuru]

Hello All,

First let me say, Great Site! I like all the helpful information and great pics.

We are the proud new parents of a 6mo old red tail and I have a newby question for you. My redtail just completed her blue-phase and for about 24 hours her eyes have been clear so we are expecting a shed really soon and have read that a yawn is a sign that she is getting ready to shed. I have seen her yawn with her mouth wide open and it is clearly a yawn but then my question is sometimes she barely opens her mouth maybe a 1/4 of an inch and it seems more like she is gasping or something, is this normal or is it time to worry? [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img]

Thanks in advance for any help you may be able to provide.

DragonGuru
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[telefrag]

welcome to redtailboa.net

Yawning isnt typically a indicator of shedding,
its used to regulate breathing the same as with people,dogs, etc.

Now if your snake is holding its mouth open for long periods of time it could be an indicator of a problem.
Its hard to say for sure, do you hear any unusual sounds coming from the snake?

What are the cage temps like?

m
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[DragonGuru]

Thanks telefrag,

I must have misread about the yawning somewhere and now I am starting to worry [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_cry.gif[/img] .

Her enclosure is a glass aquarium with a screen top. We have thermometers on both end and on the cool end with her water bowl, it reads about 76 at the current moment it usually fuctuates between 68 and 74 (76 today), and on the other end with the heat lamp during the day and heat pad at night it is usually between 78 and 84 with humidty staying around 55-60%. She has 100% cypress substrate with a small patch of moss for tunneling and such.

As for the sounds, I haven't heard a peep. Just quite jaw movements.

Any suggestions?

Thanks agian,

DG
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[CelticWench]

This is my snake too, so I held her really close to my ear for a while & I heard a few little popping sounds. She was moving around alot, trying to get into my hair, so I couldn't tell if the noise was from her movement or her breathing but I don't want to take any chances on this pretty girl. I think it might be vet time [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]
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[Countryboy]

The popping sounds was her moving around no need to worry about that. I think that telefrag is referring more to a wheezing sound that would be a sign of an RI infection.
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	Respiratory Infection Respiratory Infection

[Constrictor_BO]

In the shedding process, the old skin could be partially blocking the nostrils. Your snake may be breathing (gasping) through it's mouth due to the blockage. Wait until it sheds and see if it is still gasping, then you can start thinking about it being something else like RI.
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[CelticWench]

Okay, well, we feel better I think we still are going to take her to the vet to get a fecal & mite test anyway, Ravenos lives in the same city as us & told me that the pet store I bought her from sells sick pets quite often, so either way our little girl will get checked for everything. Whew! I was already planning an all night snake vigil [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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	Mites Mites, close relatives of fleas and ticks

[Constrictor_BO]

In the shedding process, the old skin could be partially blocking the nostrils. Your snake may be breathing (gasping) through it's mouth due to the blockage. Wait until it sheds and see if it is still gasping, then you can start thinking about it being something else like RI.
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[Constrictor_BO]

In the shedding process, the old skin could be partially blocking the nostrils. Your snake may be breathing (gasping) through it's mouth due to the blockage. Wait until it sheds and see if it is still gasping, then you can start thinking about it being something else like RI.
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[DragonGuru]

Thanks to all of you, we got a good scare but from all of your wonderful advice, we think she is going to be allright. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img] As soon as she finishes her shed we will put up some pics so you can see the little red tail you are so generously helping.

Thanks again,

DG
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[Shadrach]

Yes snake's will sometime's open their mouth's and breath this way when a shed is pending just as Constrictor_BO has said!!! Actually I have a rescue he took in and she went into shed not long after I got her and did the exact same thing that you are explaining!! Her skin had grew over her nostril's right before her shed and she was breathing alot out of her mouth but after the shed she was as good as new!!
[addsig]

I have one boa who does the yawning bit incessantly when trying to get her shed going. Most of my other ones will yawn on occasion. Unless you are noticing other things also like wheezing/popping etc..I wouldn't worry about it too much. Oh yeah..if they do it a lot..also open their mouth and check to make sure they don't have any substrate stuck in there possibly also.
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[DragonGuru]

Thanks once again to all of you, we were quite worried about her. We went ahead and took her to a vet today and they put her on some antibiotics because she did in fact have signs of a minor respiratory infection which was discovered as the popping became louder.

Also, she finally completed her shed and now she came out a boy [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_confused.gif[/img] at least that is what the vet said, so instead of Juliet, it is now Romeo. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]

We'll post pics soon!

Thanks again,

DG
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<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE>on the cool end with her water bowl, it reads about 76 at the current moment it usually fuctuates between 68 and 74 (76 today), and on the other end with the heat lamp during the day and heat pad at night it is usually between 78 and 84 with humidty staying around 55-60%. She has 100% cypress substrate with a small patch of moss for tunneling and such.
</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

No one else has touched on this, but those temps seem a little low, both the cool end and the warm end. 60's are a no no for tropical snakes, and well they may not have caused the RI in this case, they're not helping it.

I'd shoot for daytime temps of 75-80 at the cool end and 82-87 at the warm end. At night, I'd go for about a 3-5 degree drop across the gradient, but not below 70..
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[CelticWench]

Okay, we'll move the heat lamp closer to the cage &amp; make sure she gets relocated to a warmer spot. Just to show how new we are to this, we thought she may be getting too hot. Thanks for telling us [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_smile.gif[/img]
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