Slight wheeze?

So I was handling fuzzy/snakey wakey/charles today and when s/he was crawling over my shoulder i noticed a slight wheezing sound when s/he breathed. Is this fairly normal? I'm just worried it might be pnuemonia or something, i don't want my snake to be sick I pushed the bedding off the area over the UTH, there's a triple layer of paper towels covering it still cuz i dont want it to be TOO hot... but i figured more heat might help? what do you guys think?

First, If your UTH is unregulated by a thermometer, you have to be careful not to burn her. Having papertowels in the enclosure over hte glass doesnt help much because they can get under the papertowels and on the hot glass...so I reccomend you remedy that situation.

As for the wheezing, they will sometimes make this sound when they are getting ready to go into the blue. IF you hear this sound and see any type of drainage, or bubbles coming out of her nose or mouth then you certainly should get her to a vet because those are clear signs of infection.

Thanks, I taped the paper towels down all around the edges when i put them in, but im sure he could probably still get under there if he wanted. I'm going to the pet store today to get a better thermometer. I have not noticed any discharge from the nose or mouth, but I will definately keep an eye on him for that.

you should never use tape in a snake vivarium, they can and most probably will be able to eventaully lift the tape, or the tape will come off by itself as you putting over a heat source, which may affecy the glue.

If your corn gets attached to the tape in anyway this can cause bad skin damage, by tearing and removing scales and skin.

Also the tissue wont solve the heat sitiatio your need a digital thermometer with a probe and a thermostat to control the temperatures, too high temps can be dangerous, remember your hand is not a thermometer.

Hope this help
regards
Tom

Yes, he is right..no tape whatsoever in a viv. If you must then put paper some newspaper directly over the heat mat between and and the underside outside the tank to cut down some heat transfer. but you really need a thermostat to regulate it or a rheostat. You can pick those up pretty cheap at Walmart.

and by the way, when I said thermometer earlier...I meant thermostat! I am too much of a rush today.

Thanks guys! I've been looking for thermostats at the pet stores, which was obviously the wrong place to be searching. I'll head to wal-mart tomorrow. Is there a particular model that you would recommend? Snake seems to be okay, he ate today and I didn't hear any wheezing earlier today when I was handling him. But I know I still need to remedy the problems so that he STAYS healthy. I really appreciate the help.