open mouth, sneeze, rough snout

[Irene Adler]

Sweetheart 4 year old snake with no feeding problems, but a history of bad sheds. In the past, her snout scales didn't shed and she developed black stuff on her snout. The vet said she had dead skin under a layer of dead scales--he cleaned her off, and I gave her a 10 day course of shots. It worked fine, although her snout is kind of funny shaped.

To prevent reoccurrance, I started feeding her more (she was underweight) and raised the temperature in the cage. In preparation for shedding, I misted her--and her last shed was complete but messy.

So, now she's getting ready to shed again, and she's wheezing--as though her nares are plugged up. And I see black stuff in her nares--looks like dirt--and I don't exactly want to go digging in there. There's no discharge, but she's keeping her mouth open like it's either swollen or she can't breathe through her nose. And her snout is rough. She rubs her snout against the glass cage walls a lot. She's getting ready to shed soon--her eyes just cleared up.

Couple of questions: What is the ideal temperature range in the cage? I want to get it right.

Mist? Don't mist?

Should I try to mess with her snout? get the black stuff off? Betadine swabs? lotion?

Lengthy amounts of Advice would be appreciated.

[abell82]

I would mist her and leave her alone the black stuff will probably come off with the next shed. If you have room in her enclosure you can put a box of moist moss in with her. That will help her to shed if she can get in it and lay.
As for ideal temp I like to try to keep one end of the tank at 75 and the other at around 80-82 degrees.

[Rachel]

Not entirely sure what the black stuff is but it sounds like some sort of rot?? If you find out otherwise and that it's an infection I would up the temps to help your snake fight off the cause. What's your vet have to say about it?

[carol]

I would try and clear away as much black stuff as you can using a swab and maybe some very diluted Listerine. It is definately not normal for them to do this so I'd take her back to the vet. You should have a fecal examination to test for parasites. Sometimes wheezing can be a Respiratory Infection, but it could also be worms causing the problem. With a possible infection, you may want to bump up one side of her cage up to around 86-89 degrees, but make sure this is only on one side so she can cool off if she wants to. Another possibility is, if you are misting her cage too much and not allowing it to dry and/or not very diligent at cleaning her cage often, it could be a perfect breeding ground for bacteria and mold. I would completely clean her cage, give her nice dry bedding, have a warm spot in the tank for her to go to, and make her a moisture box with some moss. Any old plastic tub will do, just fill it to the top with moist moss and cut a hole in the lid so she can crawl in and out. I usually put moisture boxes on the warm side of the tank. Just make sure the rest of her cage stays dry and very clean and change her water often. Also, I would only leave the moisture box in with her when she is in shed and give her fresh moss for each shed. Unless you have very low humidity where you live, then you should leave it in all the time and change the moss about every week or two.