respiratory infection?

[NyanNyan]

Not on Tomato (corn), but on Xerxes (boa). I put his nose up to my ear and heard him having breathing trouble. No excess mucus, no mouth opening, no lifted head. Just hearing his breathing with a very slight popping sound/ slight wheeze (it doesn't happen every time he breathes, I just thought I was hearing his tongue flicker at first). I can't hear it unless hes up to my ear, literally! I was keeping the tanks at 82-88 room temp but now I bumped up his temps to 90-95 with the heating on and 82 on his cool side.

He might be going into shed soon as he hasn't shed for a while and his eyes look as if they might cloud over soon. Would that have anything to do with it?

Well I'm posting it here because I'm worried for tomato too! I don't have any place to put him so.. is it contagious? Tomato sneezed a while before I noticed him but I did not hear the same breathing problems.

Any input guys?

[TWGarland]

in corns sometimes loose skin around/in (im not sure which) the nostrils, during a shedding period can cause a rattling type sound. That sounds to me like this could be what your hearing.

If you do think it may be a respiratory infection, then raising the temps is a good start, aswell as quarantining the affected snake away from any others you may have.

If it doesnt get better after the shed( which i expect it will), then monitor it very carefully, and if it gets worse (if it were my snake) i'd take it to the vet.

Cheers

Tom

[NyanNyan]

Thanks. Blue hasn't kicked in for either of them

[Animal_gal]

my snake had a respiratory infection for a pretty long time. a couple times actually. he sneezed so much. it was really funny when he sneezed in front of someone who had never seen or heard a snake sneeze. their reactions are so funny.

well it's really not a funny matter, i was actually really worried and dedicated my life to getting him better which only made me more of a wreck.

i'm not sure if respiratory infections are contagious between different species of snakes, but i would definitely move tomato until you find out. also, i'm not sure if treatment is the same for your boa as it would be for a corn snake.

in which case i'd like to back out and wait for someone that knows more about boas than myself.

however, i do think it's likely that tomato's already got an infection if he sneezes more than once. i noticed that smeagol started sneezing far before his throat started rattling and wheezing.

[Tula_Montage]

Your boa should have a hot spot of 90-94 regardless of whether you think hes I'll. They are semi-tropical boids :-p 82 is a little high for the hot end, I keep my boas at 75 and have no issues whatsoever.

As for the heavy breathing, every boa I have ever owned does this, especially near or in shed as they get very congested. Its nothing to worry about. I actually think its rather cute when they huff and puff in my ear.

[miara20]

Well she may have one and she may not have one. My corn had an RI when she was little the poor things head was tremblin and she was clickin and sneezing bad but no mucus. I treated her with antioboics and then she got some shots and she was better. She still makes that clickin noise but the vet says she's perfectly healthy. And she also notices it only when she picked her up and she thinks its the snake actually gettin excited or what not and just makin that noise. Sasha does it only when I pick her up and sometimes she dont so I dont know. She is full of energy and all that good stuff. If your still not sure and she is sneezing alot I'd definetly raise the temp in the viv and then take her to the vet.

[miara20]

Oh and all snakes sneeze every once in awhile. they might have dust in there nose or something but i would still get it checked out. I've been dealin with sasha clickin for almsot 6 months now

[rolandslf]

I know this is off Corn Snakes but I have a male Dumerils Boa who had an RI
so bad that he was passing Mucus as well as sneezing and wheezing.
I took him to the vet and after 2 weeks in hospital and big bucks spent he was alright.
He is still prone to periodic Ri and the vet says I can only watch and administer anti-biotics. Having said that I have found that when I raised the
Humidity factor he is in a far better state of health and doesnt get the RI so much.

Ciao

[NyanNyan]

Well tomato is in shed right now. She does click but again no other symptoms.

my boa has shed and his symptoms have not worsened nor improved. He does seem stuffed up but he shed properly, never regurged and has eaten an adult mouse + rat pink.

As soon as tomato sheds i'll take stool samples and bring them both over to the vet.

[miara20]

I would take your boa to the vet so they can do an exray on him. just to make sure. it dont cost that much. I think I paid like 85 for sasha and that was the total visit including the exray and the antiaobitics. Its better to be safe than sorry. But then again im overly protective of sasha any slight change I freak out. She's my one and only and my baby. I have gotten better thou lol.

[NyanNyan]

Okay here is an update- I went to the vet yesterday with Xerxes 'Pharaoh' and Tomato.

She didn't heat Xerxes's pop noise (funny, he was loud as hell that night) but heard tomato's. She said other than that they looked great (yay!)

She gave me antibiotics for them (Fortaz) ...and I have to inject it myself! Scary!! I feel so terrible having to do something like that to them but its for the better.

Any tips on administering besides the obvious?

[miara20]

the only advice I can give you on that is make sure your below the lungs and try to do it as quick and easy as possible. The vet showed me how to do it but I couldnt bare doing it myself so I just took her into the vet everyday and she helped me do it. sasha flinched a little but she was fine after that. And the popping noise I had to take sasha in several times before the vet actually heard what I called the clicking noise. And she only heard it because sasha decided to make a double clicking noise. For some reason I could hear it before I took her in but when she got there its like she didnt want to do it. they are weird. Good luck with the shots. Shots are much better than tubing. I've had to do both not at the same time of course.