Respiratory Infection in Corns?

My amel stripe female has been lying around with her mouth open quite often.
At first I thought it was that she was moody (she wasn't handled while growing up, though I have gotten her to the point that she'll let me pick her up with thrashing around and biting me).
I did notice her lying on her back, as if she was a Burmese python basking inverted. She did lay 18 or so eggs, of which 16 hatched at the beginning of July.
I haven't seen any more eggs yet, and haven't seen her inverted lately, but she still has her mouth open more often than not.

Her cage is in the 50-60% humidity range - temps are around 70-80 (ambient/warm spot). It's the same setup she's been in the entire time I've had her. I tried lowering the temps a bit, thinking perhaps she was too warm and trying to get rid of excess heat. She's always been perfectly healthy, and eats small rats regularly, just like my other corns. She has a water dish, hide spots (though she prefers burrowing in the corrugated paper liner). She also sheds every few weeks (fairly regularly, off the top of my head).

I think that's about it. If anyone with more corn snake experience than I would like to share, I'd love to hear your ideas or suggestions... should I be doing something differently?

a couple questions first. did she recover her weight after egg laying? if so, did it take a long time or was it a quick bounce back? if it took quite a while for weight to return, it could indicate a health problem leading to this one(assuming there is one).
what type of bedding do you use? cedar is bad, for all small animals, worse than smoking, enough said. some aspen sold as bedding is loaded with more slivers of wood than is chips, chips( or flakes) are better. i have seen slivers caught in the mouths of snakes trying to break a shed loose. it takes only a short time in a higher humidity environment to start an infection and more problems ensue from there. there are others that are good/bad but you can see where i'm going with this.
do you regularly clean/disinfect her entire enclosure? no accusations, just something for you to think about. bacteria not good.
okay, thats a few possible causes of gaping mouth, now for observation. while mouth is open can you see cheesy substance (infection, tooth or mouth rot, bedding slivers,etc.), or is she blowing bubbles and wheezing(resporitory infection)?if so, raise temps,lower humidity(snakes can't cough) and call a herp vet. i wish you luck with her.

Cornsnakes do not bask on their backs. The fact that she is doing this is cause for alarm. I'd suggest taking her to a vet ASAP. Increase the temps on the warm side to provide a spot around 90 degrees until you can. An adult corn should not be shedding every few weeks either. Usually it's about every few months, not weeks. I think a trip to the vet is in order.

Hi there Herpivore.
I support Meg 100%, do not delay, get to a good reptile qualified vet.
If she had a respiratory infection you would notice a wheezing sound, blowing of bubbles or slime on the lips. A course of antibiotics is needed to cure this.
Raise the temp. in the viv to 27 / 28 C. Get the humidity to about 60.
Best of luck.

Ciao

rolandslf said:

Get the humidity to about 60.
Best of luck.

Ciao

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I would think you would want low humidity for an IR.

I would recommend a lower humidity as well. I don't even keep the humidity that high on a regular basis unless the natural air is that high.

Thanks for all your good advice.
Ariel died before I was able to get her to a vet, however. It happened suddenly yesterday (afternoon, I believe).

To answer your questions...
I can't speak to her weight, but she had regained her somewhat plump appearance (she was not overweight-looking - just trim, yet well-fed). She'd laid her eggs at the end of April, and never was all that thin, but had bulked up within a month, I'd guess.
Her bedding consisted of, as I mentioned earlier, corrugated paper liner (the open-face/brown paper kind). Previously, I'd used newspaper.
Humidity was nearly always in the mid 50's. That's with a water dish (as far from the heat source as possible, and numerous airholes in the cage for ventilation. Occasionally, when water would be spilled, or messes of another sort were made, the humidity would rise, but that was temporary. Of course, humidity percentage would drop when the cage was opened, or when it was cleaned. I'd tried giving water frequently, as opposed to leaving it in the cage, and I'd say the humidity level was around 40 then, but their sheds would come off in shreds (and I'd occasionally have to moisten them and rub bits of skin off them). So that's why I had that outrageous humidity level of around 55%... The air in my basement is fairly dry, unless I am scrubbing stuff down.
I clean all my snake cages as needed, and probably at least weekly otherwise (after feeding, messes, etc.). I would rinse, scrub, use hot water, and disinfect as well (also changed the bedding, obviously).
Her mouth was as full of teeth as it ever was, there was no abnormal substance that was noticeable, and the color was not noticeably different from the normal color. There were no bubbles, and she did not wheeze or breathe rapidly/abnormally.
I had only observed her on her back once, and within seconds, she had flipped over. I never saw her do it again, though I snuck up often to check.
Her shedding frequency was about every 6-8 weeks normally. Sometimes it was longer than that, but never shorter. I guess I should have qualified "few".
Temperatures were as previously stated, though I did raise the warm spot to the mid to high 80's, as suggested. She avoided it, however, remaining near her water dish away from the heated part of her cage (which still increased the ambient temp to about 83, with a cool temp of about 80).

Is there a possibility she was egg-bound, or was double-clutching and had problems result?

Also, about her being on her back... She was mainly right side up, except for her mid-section (exactly how Burmese pythons bask inverted). I thought it was funny that a corn snake would do this (and I never saw her or my other female do this with their (previous) clutches), as they are meant to live in lower temps than burms, so I tried, without success, to catch her doing it again.

I'm so sorry to hear about you losing her. Perhaps she had retained an egg or something? The only way to know would be with a necropsy. If you choose to do that you need to refridgerate, not freeze the body. Again, I'm very sorry for your loss.

I'd palpated before and after, but noticed nothing out of the ordinary. I'd been wondering if she was growing more eggs.

Wouldn't 5 months be a long time to retain an egg before showing symptoms/distress?

Anyway, I do appreciate your condolences. Thank you.

It would be a long time although I've heard of longer than that. It's possible she retained from a second clutch though that she perhaps had partially reabsorbed or something. Odd behaviors she showed though.

Okay, thanks.

I might have a look tomorrow if I'm going to do that. I've never pm'ed a pet before though, so I don't know...

I'm so sorry for the loss of Ariel!

So sorry to hear about your loss I hope you figure out the cause!

i need some help. my corn was drinking and then blew a small bubble and it popped. then, the next day right after u fed her i knoticed that her mouth was open. i wonder if this was just her trying to force the food down cuz it was big but i need some answers. thx. pleeeeeeeeesssssssseeee respond.

It's usually best to post your own question on the forum instead of using someone elses. Blowing bubbles after drinking is no big deal. If her mouth was open after eating, also no big deal. She just hadn't readjusted her jaw yet. If it continues, take her to a vet, but otherwise don't worry about it.