Frustrated beyond relief!

Lily now has a respiratory problem. I checked her today because she seemed really low on energy. I know I was not supposed to hold her until she pooped (ate five days ago) but I noticed that something was wrong. She sneezed twice while I was holding her and I immediately checked her mouth. It was open slightly.

I am very upset. She means so much to me and I have been trying my hardest to keep her healthy. Is it possible I bought a snake that just isn't healthy? She looked alert when I bought her...but then again, the petstore and breeder didn't really help me out alot. Gave me alot of bad advice and omitted information that would have been useful to me when I got her.

She is not blowing bubbles and her nostrils well....I honestly cannot tell what sick ones look like. Crusty or mucous-y I guess. My other corn Dez is kept in the same conditions as her but he is having no troubles. None at all. I really hope she pulls though. I am going to try to find a vet for her but I don't get paid till Friday. I have to do something! I have not found a vet yet who will see her. The one that works with reptiles and for the store I work in went on maternity leave!

I guess my main question is; How would I check her mouth for anything. How do I go about to open it?

(I missed info in the post above)

I want to check her mouth because maybe something else is wrong.

I also failed to mention that I keep her tank between 73ish to 80F. She has a basking spot of 90F. Her hunidity is between 30-40%...I think thats too low for right now, I am trying to keep them up. About two weeks ago there was a heat wave and it took three days to convinvce my mother to let me keep them at my house. Perhaps the RI is because of the heat?

(I usually keep them at my friends house. He is a good friend of mine and I looked after my snakes everyday, so did he.)

Like I said, Dez is alright...so whats up with Lily?

Man I am never buying a snake from a petstore again! Not even from the breeders they deal with.

OI! Its late here guys. I have been up for hours and I am worried...so naturally I missed more info *Smacks forhead*

I am not using aspen. I am using repti-bark. I think I'll switch to aspen as soon as I can.

I hope your snake come through. Sorry I can't really help with the health issues but I agree that you should never do business with that store or breeder again, They sold you a problem eater and they knew it. There's no other reason to feed anoles.

Also, a "basking spot" is not needed and 90 degrees is a little too hot. There should be a temp gradient up to 88 max

RI is usually a sign that the snake is or has been too cold. With the high temps you quote I don't see that being the issue. Hate to be a bummer as it sounds like proper housing may be a problem for you (the comment about trouble with your mother)~ but it sounds to me like you may be seeing some stress induced illnesses due to sharing the enclosure. Some snakes can handle sharing~ some just do not.

Your temps sound high not low~ here is what I would do. Lower the temps on the current enclosure to a hot spot of 80-85F. Get another cage (back at your friends house maybe?) for the sick snake, keep her temps nice and high (not 90F~ too hot) ~ increase humidity (pretty wet~ but avoid damp substrate~ try to mist enough around the heat source to keep the air moist). LEAVE the snake ALONE. Give her at least a good three days ALONE other than going to a vet.

Good luck

Flagg said:

Also, a "basking spot" is not needed and 90 degrees is a little too hot. There should be a temp gradient up to 88 max

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88 is also too high... 86 seems to be the "top end" temperature for corns.

BTW have you made absolutly sure she has an RI. What i though was an RI in one of my female boas was just how she went in shed. She gets extremely swollen and bunged up around her head. Wheezing, "caughing"... No mucas or anything like that.

This all disapears after she has shed. Maybe its only common in boids but be absolutly sure that the suspected RI is an infection or just bad shed symptoms.

In this situation i help her out by raising the temps a couple degrees more than normal (for corns keep it at 85) and i lower the humidity to decrease the amount of congestion in her nostils. 30 - 40% in your tank sounds good.

Lowering humidity in a shed situation sounds bad i know, but i put my biggest boas girl in the bath or shower after she has cleared up and she has perfect sheds everytime.

A healthy corn will have amouth that closes evenly all the way around with just a tiny window for tongue flicking and the nostrils should be clear and clean at all times. SOmetimes as snakes age, they might have a few bad sheds and the skin from the inside of their nistrils doesn't shed properly so they end up with blockages of skin in there but that doesn't sound like your problem.

So long as she has a thermal gradient, technically you can have one end of the viv too cold and one end too hot, so long as there are hides through out, your snake will choose the right temperature.

I think my humidity is probably generally too low but all of my snakes have a moist hide. You can make this with a little margerine tub with a hole cut in it and moist paper towels, moss od coconut fiber inside it. Te snake can use it as an extra hide and go in there if it needs to loosen up some skin for shedding.

Show us some pics of your setup. I don't think reptibark is a problem so long as your snake is fed in another tub with no substrate.

Good luck.

Heh...Well I got rid of the repti bark. She now has newspaper on the bottom. She is in a 10g and I am going to keep her at my place until I move out. (Not for a while yet) I am going to keep her temps at 7-75 or so. I guess I have been keeping her too hot. She'll have a basking spot of 83-86 and hopefully that works.

Last night I raised her temps and she stopped sneezing so much. Her mouth also closed a bit more.

Do some snakes sneeze or cough when a shed is coming up? She still looks so shiny and has not entered the "blue" phase yet.

I do not know if it is a RI. She is coughing/sneezing and her mouth is open slightly. She is not bubbling at the nose or mouth. I am just worried that if I leave it sit too long she will get worse and die.


I guess I should also mention that I left her alone because she had just eaten a big meal for the first time for me (was only interested in pinky heads before) and I was told my another user that I should leave her alone till she poops.

I also went to a petstore today to get something for her. I read about it on this site and when you do not have alot of resources you try to do the best you can. Apparently there is a antibiotic that is for birds but has been proven to be useful on reptiles before. Its called Sulfadimethoine. Please someone tell me if this cannot be used. I was told it worked well on turtles and other reptiles as well when they get respiratory illnesses. I don't want to use it on her till I find out more about it. I am also still thinking whether she should go to the vet tomorrow or not. The University here can look at her, though, it will be pricey.

JM :o) said:

RI is usually a sign that the snake is or has been too cold. With the high temps you quote I don't see that being the issue. Hate to be a bummer as it sounds like proper housing may be a problem for you (the comment about trouble with your mother)~ but it sounds to me like you may be seeing some stress induced illnesses due to sharing the enclosure. Some snakes can handle sharing~ some just do not.

Your temps sound high not low~ here is what I would do. Lower the temps on the current enclosure to a hot spot of 80-85F. Get another cage (back at your friends house maybe?) for the sick snake, keep her temps nice and high (not 90F~ too hot) ~ increase humidity (pretty wet~ but avoid damp substrate~ try to mist enough around the heat source to keep the air moist). LEAVE the snake ALONE. Give her at least a good three days ALONE other than going to a vet.

Good luck

Click to expand...

If there is no bubbles then maybe it is stress related. I think I will try that with the humidity and temp. I did move her around too much when the heat went up. She also has a weak immune system. Could be everything mixed and caused this.

Thank you everyone for the support and advice.

I will try fixing her house a bit more. I have two hides for her already, one at the warm end and one in the cool end. I will also try the moist hide idea. I hope that everything will work out. I'll keep everyone posted. I hope its not a RI.

Oi! Silly me!

I made a few typo's in post #9.

I meant to say temps between 70-75F.

I also meant to put "Sulfadimethoxine" instead of "Sulfadimethoine".

I haven't slept for a while...I guess I worry too much

I hope she gets better soon, please keep us updated.

Hey thanks!

I checked on her this morning. I just looked at her through the glass. She was in her moist hide. She looked up at me when she seen me so I left her alone but I noticed that her mouth was closed. I started to give her an antibiotic yesterday and I have seen good improvment since then. She is a little more active too. I was supposed to feed her yesterday but I don't know if I should disturb her. Could someone tell me if it would be bad if I fed her right now? (today)

Do you take her out to feed her? Maybe just putting the food on a tray in the viv would be a good idea?? Then if she doesn't want it, she hasn't been disturbed.

OI! What a silly little girl! =)

Thats a good idea! I never thought of that.

Umm...I feel like an idiot. I looked in on her this evening and guess what I found. A freaking shed! Maybe she was just all junked up pre-shedding.
I know that she was coughing and I felt her body heave, and she was making odd clicking sounds. Her mouth was also open. So I thought it was a RI. But now that she looks better and has shed...Maybe I worried for nothing. I am still kinda apprehensive though. I feel that if I disturb her too much I'll cause a sickness >.<

In anycause, thank you everyone for the advice and support. I really appreciate it. I learned a new thing today. ^^

She shed! Excellent news, fingers crossed that she keeps improving

Yea definetly! I am still taking her to the vet on monday. I just don't want to have anything inexpected come up. Some say leave her alone cause it could be stress related, others say I should take her immedietly. lol...I don't really know what to do. I'll wait till monday comes around and see what it brings. I have a log I am keeping on her to keep track of absolutely everything. Finding that shed was so amazing. Also I noticed that she is not sneezing/coughing or whatever it is she was doing, her mouth is also properly closed. I really hope the vet knows what they are doing. Lol. They seemed really uncertain when I talked to them. And they are the only place that isn't 5 hours away that will see her. Still. I am happy she shed! And is finally eating the proper food No more anoles! (Dumb petstores) :flames:

I think it was due to the shed. My snow does the exact same thing when she is in shed. Just keep a close eye on her and if you notice the coughing or sneezing continuing, then take her to the vet.

She has really put me through a few scares that girl I love her though. I have been checking on her once a day and she seems great. I have left her alone for the most part though, encase its stress induced. Who knows. I think it had mostly to do with the shed too. Now that she is eating and shedding, her colour looks really good too, I think she'll turn out to be OK. I have a vet I found here in town that will look at snakes. The university animal clinic. They deal with exotic pets and I heard that they know what they are doing. So things are turning out OK. I am getting a few books tomorrow too, along with Kathy's. I think I'll learn a lot from that book.