Posted by:
Bill S.
at Sun Dec 21 19:54:02 2003 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by Bill S. ]
The thing is ...
When I brought my Peruvian to the vet (a very good & well-known herp vet, BTW) after I saw the bloody mucus pieces in the water dish, we were looking the animal over and there was no abnormal mucus in her mouth -- the typical signs of RI. The vet had no idea at that point and wanted to do all kinds of tests but I didn't want to spend TONS of money. So we settled on injectable antibiotics. I know, some might bash me for not spending the bucks but it was really a lot. Really! And it was the early 1990s and I didn't know as much back then. No Internet forums!
Anyway, there is a possibility that my boa's condition was not a respiratory infection (bacteria) but just an acute irritation from dryness (my apartment had forced air heat, it was winter, and I did not use a humidifier. I thouight the really large cat litter pan was enough for the 6-foot cage.).
Some of her other symptoms were:
I'd be watching TV and all of a sudden I'd hear a hiss. Just a single hiss.
I'd occasionally hear a very quiet high-pitched whining sound (I guess while she was exhaling)
On two occasions I saw the slightly bloody mucus plugs in the water dish.
What puzzled me was that we did not see signs of an RI. But in the end my big boa died from a mucus-clogged windpipe. This mucus was not watery -- it was thick and whitish/yellow.
So, I would recommend that you get your animal's lungs and windpipe checked out even if there are no signs of bacterial infection.
Best wishes. Please keep us posted.
Bill
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RE: A possibility ... - Bill S., Sun Dec 21 19:54:02 2003