Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My young Dumerils is making little puff sounds when breathing and her jaw is more open than I think it should be. I know these can be symptoms of mouth rot or a respiratory infection, but she is also within days of a shed. Could the puffy breathing be connecting with the immenant shed or should I be truly concerned about this snake's health?

thats more than likely a respiratory infection. get it to a vet asap. while you think you may have caught it in it's early stages, the reptile RI is a lot like the human pneumonia. By the time you start to show signs, its too late.
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1.1.0 Colombian Redtail Boas
2.1.0 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python

Thanks for the response, I made an appointment with the vet for Wednesday. If it were the little puffs alone I would not be as concerned, since I heard imminent sheds can sometimes cause that, but her throat also swells up when she takes a deep breath, and that can't be a good sign. Hopefully everything will turn out alright and she will be recovering soon.

boost her heat up a bit but remember that dums dont like it very hot. they are comfy in low 80's temps. so turn it up to mid 80's. also increasing the humidity will help as even low humidity can lead to an RI.
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1.1.0 Colombian Redtail Boas
2.1.0 Sumatran Blood Pythons
1.0 Black Blood Python
1.0 Dumeril's Boa
0.1 Coastal Carpet Python
0.1 Jungle Carpet Python

Turns out that the slight open mouth breathing and puffy noises were attributable to the imminent shed, as all symptoms vanished after the shed. I never heard of puffy open-mouth breath due to a shed so I erred on the side of caution and assumed it might be an infection. Better safe than sorry.