RI Question

I was wondering how do you determine if a BP has a respiratory infection? Do they act a certain way or look a certain way? I am not worried any of my snakes have one but I figured that I should at least know the signs.

Wheezing or clicking when they breathe is the first sign, I believe. It's mucous getting in their airway. If its more severe, you can hold them upside down and mucous might come out. Not positive, just repeating what I read. I did buy a snake once that arrived with a mild RI and she clicked. Start to finish, Pet Care in VaBeach charged me $78 for exam and treatment.

I agree with Nick. In addition, it has been my experience that open mouth breathing is also a symptom. Often, slight RI's can be cured by raising the enclosure's temperatures a few degrees above normal. Make sure the snake has a cooler spot so it can still thermoregulate. If there is no improvement or symptoms worsen a vet trip is in order.

Thank you for the replies. None of my animals are exibiting any of these symptoms but with the weather change and the attempts to get the temps and conditions right, I figured this would be prime time for an RI. I truly appreciate the help.

also look for stringy smears around the tub or enclosure. as they move they tend to leave almost a "snail trail" around the walls. i agree about pet care, dr. hulls is a great exotic. i went through a 3 month ordeal with a mojave last year and even though it didn't end up well, everyone at petcare went out of their way to do everything they could for me.

pksnipr wrote:

also look for stringy smears around the tub or enclosure. as they move they tend to leave almost a "snail trail" around the walls.

Great tip. I presume this is mucus discharge?

What are your high/low temps?

My hotspot is between 90-92 and the cool end around 85. Ambient room temp is a high of about 78 and low of about 74-75 ish. I also have a humidifier going keeping the room over 60%.

Right now, I am running 88 hot spot during the day and 81 at night, with ambient/cool being 80-83 24/7. The room stays 78-82 and no open windows or draft. I don't have any problems at these temps and they are lower.

Last winter my quarantine room let the ambient/cool temp drop to about 75 and low 70's in the room. There was a mild, mild draft but no problems either. It was a rough time for extra space but I probably wouldn't do that again.