wheezing?

eddyTheFlow · #1 (**permalink**) 04-14-2005, 09:35 PM

so i've just recently gotten a male ball python, Toby, whos been really great so far in eating and all.
recently his eating habits have slowed down to about a mouse every week and a half to two weeks (hes about 2 or so feet).
the other night i heard some weird noise coming from him--i really thought it was my roommate farting at first because it sounded like a really loud juicy fart (sorry for the detail in that)...
it ended up being Toby..
when i looked at him his jaw was open wide i think unhinged. so i dont think it was a snake fart..
is this a sign of a parasite? or do snakes do that..?
thanks for any input

pathfinder36 · #2 (**permalink**) 04-14-2005, 09:46 PM

Snakes do that when they have a repritory infection. What are your temps and humidity... are you using digital or analog equipment to measure these? I can pretty well tell you that your snake has a RI, but we need to address the husbandry issues to prevent future occurances as well as treat the issue.

pathfinder36 · #3 (**permalink**) 04-14-2005, 10:14 PM

Well, since you seemed to ask and vanish, here is a quote from our BP caresheet:
"temps on the warm side should be 90-95° Fahrenheit with 80-85° Fahrenheit on the cool side. Temps should drop around 10-15° F at night. However, the temp in the cage should drop no lower than 73-75° F. Humidity should remain at approximately 60-65%."

This states 90-95 warm side, but it has been a long standing belief around here that BPs prefer a cooler warm side then that. More like a 88-92 deg warm side. Other then that, you should go see a QUALIFIED reptile vet asap. they may perscribe some meds to rid the RI if it's bad enough, or they may have you just change some temps and humidity to help correct the problem Either way, you should get a qualified opinion on it's severity and remedy quickly... before it gets worse.

JuliusSqueezer · #4 (**permalink**) 04-14-2005, 10:26 PM

I keep mine with an 82-83 warm side and they still avoid the heat.

RI is a possibility but there are other causes of weezing.

Check for mites. Look close for crawling little black dots. They will get in the nostrils and clog things up and cause symptoms very similar to RI.

Is he about to shed? If so, sometimes they weeze because the skin inside the nostrils has come loose and has the nostrils clogged.

Do you smoke in the house?

Is the cage near a vent or drafty window? constant sudden drastic temp changes will make anything sick.

How exactly is your cage set up? How is it heated? How do you keep the humidity regulated? What type cage do you have and what substrate do you use?

eddyTheFlow · #5 (**permalink**) 04-14-2005, 11:12 PM

sorry for the delay, this is my first post and i didnt expect a reply so quicky..

well here we go

i started out with a huge cage which was very hard to keep the humidity and the temp at a good level. the temp seemed to be pretty normal with 75 lows upto around 80-90 at a high..
i replaced the cage beecause it was so hard to clean and fungus and grass started growing in it (used aspen wood bedding).
so now i have a 30gal glass aquarium with a fogger, a log surrounded by fake plants, a hiding rock, a good sized water dish, and one heat lamp up top.. i might have to get another lamp, but right now since i havent seen how the cage will work out im just going to observe..
right now the humid is 60, and the temp is about 79.. (5:00pm)..

and about the parasites.. i think its a good possibility now. yesterday after i tried to forcefeed Betty, (female BP) i noticed a tick-like insect. i cleaned the snakes off before i transferred them to the new cage.

i also think the snakes were under a lot of stress living in the previous cage.. might have contributed to something.. im not sure.

im hoping that this new cleaner environment will helps things out.
is a RI something that will pass? or will i def need to goto a herp vet?

JuliusSqueezer · #6 (**permalink**) 04-14-2005, 11:19 PM

Was the tick like thing about the size of a pin head? If so, you have mites and they are still there. You can't just wash them off. Check out the caresheet section for ways to get rid of mites.

About Betty...Why are you forcefeeding her? How long since she has eaten on her own?

pathfinder36 · #7 (**permalink**) 04-14-2005, 11:20 PM

Well, it could pass by raising the temps slightly and droping the humidity a bit. I would still see the vet though. Like Brett said, it could be mites. To rid mites, get a can of Repel .05% permetherin from Wal-mart in the camping section. Take snake and water bowl out, give a light to medium fog in the cage, clsoe the cage up for 1-1.5 hours, open cage up to dry and venhilate for 2-3 hours, replace snake and water bowl. Repeat process in ten days. You should also bake (250 for 15-20 min) or freeze (2-3 days) any loose substrate before using it in the future to avoid another infestation. You'll fequently find mites in the snake's water bowl and around the snake's eyes, so check these places frequently in the future.

As far as the RI, I've seen snakes weeze from having mites in the nostrils, but they generally don't open their mouth as far as what he described, so I'd venture to say it's a RI. I could be totally off base though.

eddyTheFlow · #8 (**permalink**) 04-14-2005, 11:25 PM

i also forgot to mention ..

i almost thought she had scale rot for a while.
some of Betty's scales seem to be a little dry (possibly due to the other cages hugeness which may have decreased humidity).. some of them are just a little cracked up and i was a little worried...

i was thinking about rubbing some neosporin on them to help them heal up.
any suggestions?

eddyTheFlow · #9 (**permalink**) 04-14-2005, 11:28 PM

Betty has not eaten since i purchased her about a month ago. i thought it was possibly due to stress in the other cage

the mite was about the size of a pinhead. what should i do about the new cage environment
use the repel like u said?

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