Striations and New Behavior

[jagodzinski]

Hello - I was not home for a couple days, and when I got home, my snake was not in her warm side and I noticed the temp got to 91* on the warm side (I usually keep it at 86*). So I lowered the thermostat it and I found her laying on poop in the cool side.

So I took her out, cleaned out the viv and replaced the bedding. We were playing for a little and then she got away from me and slithered under my door. She is a pretty big girl, at her widest probably a 1.8 inch diameter while the distance from my floor to door bottom is about 1 inch. But she squished herself flat and managed to squeeze under the door. I went and got her from the other side and she was acting normal, but has some minor striations across some of the scales where she is really wide. I am pretty sure they are from scratching herself squeezing under the door. She has had similar striations from bad sheds before, so I am not too worried about that - but do you think she could have gotten hurt being "squished?"

So after that, I finished cleaning up her viv, and I put a new cool side hide box in (tissue box) and moved some things around so everything would fit better. I put her in and she started exploring right away. However 10 minutes later, she is still going around the viv propping her resting her head on different surfaces. Am I being paranoid or should I worry about an RI? She has no other symptoms, no bubbling, discharge or anything and her humidity is never too high....


I am a little concerned and I would appreciate any advice about what to do with striations (super super minor scratches) and new head resting breaks from exploring behavior.

Thanks!

[jagodzinski]

UPDATE: I tried looking in her mouth using a Q-Tip but both she and I freaked out as I realized that was probably a very bad idea since I am not a vet and I was worried I could hurt her. I did move her lip a little and she has no bubbles by her gum though.

Just to be safe should I take her to the vet to have someone look in her mouth?

[jagodzinski]

She ran away from me into her warm hide when I put her back into her viv. When I was trying to look into her mouth - she became very agitated and tried to flail away from me.

[jagodzinski]

UPDATE #2: She is now in her warm hide, with her head out elevated about 45* resting on a branch. I am getting very concerned this is an RI. It is weird though because it seems like it came on all of the sudden.

[DollysMom]

I'm so sorry. For now just keep a careful watch. I hope someone who has experience with RIs weighs in. Keep the vets number handy just in case.

Of course she was agitated when you tried to open her mouth with a q-tip! That sounds normal to me.

FYI, My snake will stick his head out, raised at an angle sometimes. Is her mouth open? Any bubbling, dripping, noisy breathing?

Best wishes.

[mishima25]

My snake also peeks out with head elevated, that's normal I guess.

Look for gaping or sneezing sounds, also open mouth or breathing with open mouth as DollysMom says. I have read somewhere they hang their head DOWN, not up, when they might have RI.

I also don't think there's a relation with the temp, unless your cool side has been under 70ºF for a really long time.

[jagodzinski]

Thanks everyone! I checked on Jag just now and I took her out and she seemed very active and was not wheezing really - although when I brought her up to my ear I heard a very quiet breath but I have heard that before and the vet told me not to worry.

For now I will just keep a very close eye on her and hope last night's behavior was just the silly antics of a snake exploring a rearranged viv.

Thanks :)