Sounds like the snake has an infection. A reparatory infection can either be or act like pneumonia. Also this infection could be or lead to mouth rot.
What Doug and the other guy have posted here is correct. I would say do both what Doug said and change that cage substrate to paper. You will be able to tell if the paper is staying dry and also it is easy and cheap to keep changing it every day to reduce reinfection to the snake while it is sick.
I would also say to make sure the cage has real good ventilation. The air flow in the cage has to be good to keep some types of bad bacteria from growing. If the air flow is bad and the cage is too damp and or the snake not warm enough then you are in fact keeping the snake in a large petri dish and he is not able to have a fully functional immune system either since he is not up to temp.
Some species more than others are very sensitive to this kind of environment. Cal kings come from stock that tends to have been collected from desert or at least bear desert conditions. They are found near water a lot, but even then the air in these areas tends to be dry and air flow is high.
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Noah was the first snake collector. ~Eric~

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