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Rescued snake not breathing right?

vovalyosha

Хоккей и
This afternoon, I picked up a snake that was going to be released. He's about a year and two months, very very friendly, and has a sweet disposition. Problem is, when I first got him and went to put him in the travel tupperware so he didn't slide around in the viv, he was getting water and sneezed several times.

When I got home, got his viv cleaned(it was filthy), and everything cleaned, I put him in and proceeded to take pictures to put up an ID post on here. He is breathing very heavily, both visually and slightly audibly, but my first thought was that it's a respiratory infection.

I've moved him to a different room away from my other snake anyways, but what should I do to help him? I thought about raising the humidity, but then I couldn't remember whether you were supposed to raise or lower it and found it best to just ask before hurting him.
 
They can huff and puff like that before a shed sometimes - could be that he's just loosening the skin. When the shed starts around his nostrils, this can also cause them to sneeze. Plus they can be untidy drinkers and if it went up his nose, that could also have made him sneeze.

For both a suspected RI and an impending shed, advice is to increase humidity, so you'll be helping either way! If there's no shed, an RI needs antibiotic treatment so it's vet time. And it may be contagious, so keep an eye on your other snakes.

With any luck it'll just be a shed.
 
Isn't the usual recommendation dry and warm for suspected RI, though?

What I've understood is that a few huffs or sneezes aren't a huge cause for concern, it's only if they happen all the time. Other symptoms of RIs are keeping mouth open and possibly some discharge around the mouth/nose area. Snake's respiratory rate rises when stressed anyways, so temporary heavy breathing isn't always a sign of a problem.
 
I figured stress was the problem, especially since the breathing has really calmed down some. (And I thought it was warm and humid. :/)

Thanks, bitsy! Just trying to take it all one day at a time.
 
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