Shipped snake sneezing...........

[Clint Boyer]

Hi guys.........

I shipped two near adult snakes to Oklahoma from Oregon, departed Mon arrived Tues. I used a heavily insulated box but used no heat pads. One of the two snakes is sneezing and crackling when breathing. There was no sign of respritory problem before shipping. I am assuming it is the result of cool temps during shipping. I've never dealt with a respritory problem but I advised my customer to keep her warm and I'd find more info.
Does anyone have some suggestions to help out here?

Thanks!

[MegF.]

Vet? Higher temps is good, but I wouldn't mess around with RI. I know someone else on here will be able to give more advice. It might need antibiotics too.

[corn_snake_love]

my snake has white eyes!

[Skye]

hi corn-snake-love and welcome to the board.
I suspect your snake is going into shed and the eyes have entered what is generally known as the "blue" phase where they are clouded over as the snake prepares to shed it's old skin. Your snake should shed within the next few days.

Clint: what's the update? Cooler conditions coupled with the stress of shipping could have brought on the RI (which is what the symptoms appear to be describing). Temperature is certainly a key player so you told the customer the right thing, but antibiotics are the next step if it doesn't clear up with environmental conditions alone. I hope things are working out ok?

Skye

[Clint Boyer]

Well, it seems the situation has been resolved.

My customers checked around and got some advice that she might be in shed. I then remembered that was the case. She is a Blizzard so it is rather hard to tell. She has since shed and shows no sign of respritory distress.
It must have been a combination of being in shed and shipping stress. I've never noticed anything like that here in my collection. It's something to keep in mind.

Thanks for the help everyone!

[MegF.]

Glad everyone is fine!!

[Skye]

Clint - thanks for the update.
I am glad all was well. I have an older female who wheezes every time she goes into shed and for a couple of weeks before hand - very worrying. I have heard this has been observed before in older snakes, although I had never seen it before her.
Anyway, glad all is well,
Skye

[Tim Madsen]

Something that might help in the future. If you catch an RI early and raise the cage temp. to a steady 95 degrees it will often clear up on its own. It's also a good idea to put them on a paper substrate.