Whistling.....

I was handling my snake last night and noticed a light whistling sound. I referred to a few of my corn snake books and also did a search on this site, but some direct advice would help a lot. There is no mucus coming from the nose or mouth, no open-mouthed breathing, no gurgling, etc. It sounds like a "dry" whistle. I am leaning towards two possibilities: 1) possible unshed skin in nose/getting ready to shed or 2) maybe some dust from the substrate was inhaled. I have him in a 40 gallon breeder with a screen top, a large water bowl, two hides, a climbing structure, silk plants, and "soft-sorbent" bedding. I don't think the humidity is too high because of the screen top. It is about time to do another cage clean, so I am thinking that I will go back to aspen shavings. This may possibly remove the cause of the whistling. Your thoughts and advice would be greatly appreciated!

As a former user of Kaytee's Soft Sorbent, I would say there's a good chance that is the culprit. That stuff is dusty as heck and didn't do a good job of holding humidity. JMO

So if I simply change the substrate, will the problem go away on its own or will I have to somehow help him clear the dust out of his nose? Thanks for your help!

Based on what you said about no open mouth breathing, gurgling etc. I don't think it's anything too serious. I would change to aspen, newspaper or whatever you want and monitor it. If the whistling persists I would seek professional advice IE: the vet. I started noticing how dusty that stuff is whenever I was sifting through it looking for feces. Man it was like a fine mist settling back down to the bottom of the viv. Since switching BACK to aspen, I have had zero health, shed issues in the past year. Hope this helps :cheers:

Thank you so much for the advice. I'll get him changed back to aspen and hope for the best! Now I just have to figure out what to do with the rest of that expensive soft-sorbent! I've tried a few different substrates, but none seem to do the job like the good old aspen!

Glad you found it helpful. Over the last 20 yrs I've used them all. A note on aspen, there are many brands and you may have to experiment to see what works best for you and your snake. I personally do not care for the Katee brand as it tends to be a little dustier than some of the others. Currently, I am using a product by Sunseed that seems to work rather well. :cheers:

The stuff I have is Kaytee. When I finish it, I may have to experiment around with some other brands. I just don't know if they sell anything else at my local pet shop! Thanks again!

If you can find it, I use a brand called LM and is far and away the best aspen bedding I've ever found. It is more shredded than shaved and has very little dust.

Can you find the LM aspen anywhere other than at a pet store? Do you know if they have a website? Thanks for your reply!

You might also wait until after his shed to take him in to a vet. I've heard some pretty weird sounds from my corns such as clicking and such when they're about to shed. If after your change in substrate, and a shed and still whistling, then try the vet.....by the way, what's he whistling....Dixie?

I have caught both mine whistling...but only when they are board and think no one is watching

Mitch

:rofl: I'm definitely not too worried yet. I am going to change the substrate and just wait and see. I am hoping that that simple change will do the trick! Thanks for your reply!

Oops, I only saw meg's reply! Thanks Meg and Mitch!

Update:

After changing back to aspen and giving him a week to clear everything out, my snake has no sign of whistling! :dancer: Thank you everyone for your help! This is a great example of what good a forum like this can do. If I would have left this problem unfixed, it could have developed into a much bigger deal. Thanks again!