Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Back in April I got a Beautiful 2 year old Male Columbian Rainbow Boa. He's a solid 4 feet long (Maybe more now) and eats 2 weanling rats (f/t) every other tuesday. He's never missed a meal (always eats like there's no tomorrow) and hasn't been acting ill at all since I got Him. He's still acting Fine, ate like usual today. But While He was swallowing His rats, and a coupe times after swallowing, He kinda whistled when He breathed. Not for the whole breath but for half a second and then it stopped. And it was very very soft sound, I had to lean in to hear it. But I haven't heard him do that before.... Is He starting R.I.????? What can I do to stop it??? I planned on taking Him to the Vet soon for a check up but was hoping to get a couple pay checks under me before I did.... Has anyone else encountered this? I keep him in two large sterilite Bins connected by a black tube. One bin is his Humid Bin (VERY humid) with His Soaking tub and the other Bin is His dry bin with branchs. I keep Him on paper towel for Substrate. I clean it whenever it's soiled so He's kept in a very clean house.... Help! What do I do now? Can I change something to stop it before it gets out of control or is this a Vet needed NOW situation? Like I said, He's still active and ate Great today. Did I catch it early? Will He be ok? Please help My Canth...... I love Him dearly and I'm very scared......
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2.0 Iguanas, 2.4 Beardies, 1.3 Saharan/Nigerian Uromastyx, 0.0.2 Leos, 0.0.1 African Fat Tail, 1.0 Columbian Rainbow Boa, 0.0.1 Fla Garter Snake, 0.1 eastern garters, 0.0.1 Banded California King Snake (M.I.A.), 0.0.1 Corn Snake, 0.0.3 Fire Belly Toads, 1.0 Eastern Painted Turtle, 0.0.1 African Sideneck, 2 Horses, 4 cats, 1 dog, and I'm still not done.....

that you've not mentioned is temperature. To low a range will definately lead to a RI and it sounds like the slight wheezing sound you heard could be the very beginning of a problem. It also could be because your animal had prey in his mouth and may have been excited making the breathing effort more noticable. The good news is that if there is a RI problem and you've caught it early enough you can typically just raise the temperature and cure it without medication. The first thing you need to do is find out exactly what the temps are throughout the enclosures (there are two sections). The other thing is, I've never heard of a humid and a dry section for rainbow boas. I've heard Colombians don't require as much humdity as Brazilians but I don't think there should be a dry section abywhere. I guess it depends on how dry is dry and how much time your animal spends in each section. The same thing goes for the temperature ranges.

By "dry" i didn't mean BONE dry, just not as humid as the other bin. As far as temps, I have a large water bowl in the humid side with uth under it for heat and humidity. It's about 85 in that bin and on the "dry" bin, I have no heat source (He's in My reptile room where I have several Heat lamps for other animals so the room is always warm) and that bin stays about 75. That's the bin He spends most of His time in. At night He likes to go in the other bin and soak and crawl around between the two bins. Here's a link so You can see His house:

http://www.printroom.com/ViewAlbumPhoto.asp?userid=DalDove&album_id=146379&image_id=6

If you look closely at the "Humid House" Right between the cave and water bowl, You can see him. But usually He's sitting under His branch or on His branch in the other "dry" bin. Yes, I know the paper towels in the Humid house are wet. I change them constantly to make sure everything stays clean and healthy.
I haven't heard Him Make these sounds before. In a few days, I'll take Him out and see if I can hear Him make them again. He's My first boa and I love Him dearly. I'm scared to DEATH that He's got R.I. Anything else I might look for while I wait for him to Digest? Any signs I might have a chance of seeing? Thank you ssssooooo Much for the quick replies. I'm scared to death....
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2.0 Iguanas, 2.4 Beardies, 1.3 Saharan/Nigerian Uromastyx, 0.0.2 Leos, 0.0.1 African Fat Tail, 1.0 Columbian Rainbow Boa, 0.0.1 Fla Garter Snake, 0.1 eastern garters, 0.0.1 Banded California King Snake (M.I.A.), 0.0.1 Corn Snake, 0.0.3 Fire Belly Toads, 1.0 Eastern Painted Turtle, 0.0.1 African Sideneck, 2 Horses, 4 cats, 1 dog, and I'm still not done.....

Hi Heather –

Often when a snake is feeding, it may produce a lot more saliva than normal, probably to facilitate swallowing the prey. Some of this fluid may flow over or inside the trachea in the floor of its mouth, and then when your boa breathes through this tube, a whistling sound can result. The important thing to determine: is it making these sounds when it is not feeding?

Due to their relative inactivity in a cage, boids can mask obvious symptoms of a respiratory problem for quite a while before we notice them. Assuming your temperatures are okay, why not wait until your snake has finished digesting his meal? Then take him out of his cage and stress him a little. Harass him to the extent that he has to expend some energy and crawl around a bit. How does he sound now? If his breathing seems to be labored and he is still making those whistling sounds, then you probably should schedule a visit to a vet.

No one can really diagnose an illness for sure without seeing your animal. And I’m not a vet, so this is just my two cents worth.

By the way, I like the concept of the two enclosures with the connection between them.

-Joan

Hey,
I know exactly how you feel! My '03 Colombian was giving me a similar scare soon after I brought him home from Southern Cal, (all the way to Vegas in the car). I noticed a coughing and some mucous, probably as a result of the arduous car trip, so I took him to the vet and the vet showed me that he had a stuffed up nose! The mucous literally had blocked his nose so he had to take occasional breaths from his mouth, which makes an unnatural sound. The vet picked his nose (which I don't recommend trying!) and recommended more fluids to help wash out the mucous in his nose/throat, and since my guy seems to be a reluctant drinker, we've been injecting his killed prey items with a little warm water through a hypodermic syringe just before feeding. The problem cleared right up without any medication, and now I know he gets plenty of fluids.
Boas are just amazing...! Leslie