A buddy of mine called me tonight to ask about a concern he had on 1 of his 2 Surinam Redtails he has owned for the last 3 years. He noticed 4 times this week 1 of the boas, literally gasps for air, she rises from the cage floor a few inches and open mouthed tries to cough or sneeze (says similar sound). He even noticed the cage glass front is smeered in something clear (maybe flem I think). I asked for more information, but that is all he has observed so far.

I never seen or heard about this before from anyone so I am asking here, what could it be?

What I know so far is these are 2 captive bred Surinam Redtail Boas that are siblings 1.1, and they are roughly 3 years old and he has had them since 2 months old. They eat jumbo rats frozen thawed, once per week and both are roughly 25 - 30lbs and almost equal in lenght at under 6 feet. Each has its own cage of 5 x 2 x 2 wood cages. Substrate is newspaper and they both have 2 drinking water bowls and a large soaking tub as well. No lights in the cage and are heated buy flexwatt tape on a rancho thermostat, temps and humidity are the same for last 3 years and these boas have never left the snake room since introduced. There are no other snakes or animals in the house. They have never been together other than the day they were shipped. They also have there own gloves for handling and tongs to feed as well.

So what do I tell him is the reason that the boa is acting this way?

And if it a disease can it be cured and with what and dosage amount?

As for vets that is a slim situation as there are none that deal in reptiles.

[ Hide Replies ]

• CONCERN, please help me help a friend. - Red_Hydra, Mon Jan 22 00:55:01 2007
• It sounds like.... - Fourquet, Mon Jan 22 01:06:48 2007
• Please excuse the spelling errors... - Fourquet, Mon Jan 22 01:08:00 2007
• Thank you....I' ll pass on the info...np - Red_Hydra, Tue Jan 23 14:01:39 2007