Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi all,

Today i went and checked up on the snakes on my lunch break and something was wrong with Mary (my new female green conda, long story, wife suprised me w/a conda a couple weeks ago and it turned out to be from a certain less than positive breeder). She isn't breathing out of her nose at all. She has to open her mouth to breathe. I sprayed her with a little water and bubbles came out of her mouth. She is still full of energy, investigating everything, fairly active with me, very sweet. She seems strong, but not fat really. I haven't gotten her to eat yet, almost 3 wks since she ate supposedly.

Here are the specs about her
She's right at 3 feet long, not thin, but not really fat either.
In a 5x2x2 custom cage heated by heat pads. Ambient temps range 80-83, basking spots are at 90-95, i've provided a shoebox size soaking tub and a water dish. The tub temps stay between 80-85. She will go days in the water, then switch to the hide for days, back and forth. I'm getting worried about her, maybe i'm jumping the gun, but the breathing thing worries me. When she breathes, i can see the air fill up her throat like a bubble and she passes it. Can somebody please help? I am about to call the vet and set up an appointment if i can get one.

thanks, i really appreciate the help
Jason

Jason,
Definitely appears to be a respiratory infection and sounds like it is to the point that will require a vet visit. In the meantime, raise the overall cage temp into the upper 80's to 90, and keep the humidity fairly high. Good luck.

Kelly

I took her to the vet today. Of course, we get there, and she stops w/the mouth breathing lol. Doc checked her out, pretty knowledgable guy. Ran a fecal check on her. All came back fine. She doesn't have any parasites, she doesn't have an RI yet, but he said he could see a little mucus developing in the back of her mouth. He didn't think medication was necessary at this point, he said i caught it in time to where she seems pretty healthy otherwise. He said she is a little underweight, he said a little skinny. We have an appointment in 2 wks. he told me if she hasn't eaten by then we need to force feed her. He told me that if the problem persists or increases to bring her back, but said to raise the cage temps to low 90's and it should take care of itself. She was great for the whole staff too, sooooo sweet, no biting or anything, they loved her, said how beautiful she is and how sweet, i was a proud little daddy lol. She has been very active today as well?!?!? Got home and raised the temps up to the low 90's and put her away. She didn't seem phased at all by the visit. Back to the tub she went. I'll keep ya'll updated, thanks for responding Kelly, as always, much appreciated. As soon as i get some film for my camera, i'll get you guys some pics of her. She's a beauty, i'm keeping my fingers crossed she makes it okay.

thanks again
Jason

hey J,glad to hear everything's ok....friday is the next attempt i'm making with mine.ironically i am watching Mr.Corwin's(i don't care what you all think he is far more knowledgable than the moron aussie)anaconda episode.
yours' hae scars?mine does...sad,but i ain't giving up on him.

Jeff Corwin is hilarious, is it me, or does he look like Ryan Reynolds (Blade 3, Amityville remake)?

No scars, vet said the same thing when he looked at her. Good luck on friday rob, let us know the results. I'm not giving up on her either, she's my pet and i'm gonna make sure she pulls through.

Jason

yeah friday he refused me again...i have tried everything this past month...chickenbroth,live,dead,chicks,rats.EVERYTHING!i have been keeping herps for about 15 years now,and have had some stubborn snakes(brings to mind a WC borneo blood i had when i was 18,took 2 months,but got her eating)but i don't think this conda will last that long,it's been a month already.
don't know what i am going to do...
and speaking of jeff corwin,how is this for coincidence?that venzuela episode with the condas,well i he comes across a large male eating a tegu(gold).which is really funny being my girly just got an argentine black and white.have a conda and a tegu,and to see them running into each other in the wild was cool.

You snake will not need to be force fed in two weeks. This could be a sure way you get your snake to be less likely to eat. You could also seriously hurt the animal.

If your snake has heavy mucus forming in the back of the mouth, it is not a good sign. He may be right you do not need to take action yet with medication...but you need to take extra care of that animal and keep a close eye.

I agree with you, i think it is a bit too soon as well. He said he was concerned about her weight, that being the reason for force-feeding. She's at 632 grams, so what do you guys think? thin, average or fat? She's 36 inches long as well. I'm not going to let him force feed her unless it becomes a desperate situation. I only force feed when all other options have failed and the snake has to eat. He did say that it was just a little mucus in the back of the throat, not a lot. He said that since it was just a little bit, that he wasn't too concerned. Don't worry, i'm not gonna let anything happen to her. That's why the minute i saw the mouth breathing i rushed straight to the vet. i discovered at noon, doc was examining her by 4. I'll keep all of you updated on her progress. Thanks again for your concern and all of your advice, i don't know what i'd do without ya'll

Jason

a 36 inch green. I definitely would not consider her thin. The initial stages of RI could have easily put her off feed, and she will need a little time for recovery. It usually takes them a week or two for adjustment to a new environment. If you have only had her two weeks, I would give her at least a couple of months of feeding attempts before you even begin to get concerned. Jud and I have had a few newborn greens go 4 and 5 months before their first feeding and they did fine and with very little weight loss. This does, however, apply only to healthy greens. I agree with everything in E4's post. I would never forcefeed a healthy boid, as they can be too easily traumatized and injured, and it definitely delays voluntary feeding. What have you tried feeding her so far?

Kelly

I've tried pretty much everything i can think of except chicks. Live, prekilled, f/t small rats, same with mice, both unscented & scented, even tried a hopper thinking maybe she wouldn't be able to resist something so small but no luck. It's feeding day today so i might dangle one in front of her today and see if she responds at all, but i'm not going to push it, she needs a little to recover and i don't wanna bother her unless i have to. I agree with you and E4, Kelly, sounds like the doc is being a little too proactive in treatment, when we go to see'em in a couple weeks i'm going to explain to him that i'm not comfortable forcefeeding her b/c of the risks until we have no other choice. I've also tried feeding at dusk right after lights out, and leaving in overnight, no difference. I hope she pulls through, i've grown quite attached to her in the past couple weeks....

thanks again
Jason

Your snake might refuse a rodent when it is skin and bones. They can hold out forever for what they want. You can try at dusk but you really should try laying the food (chick asap) on the edge of a dish or bowl or something and leave the snake alone. Anacondas can be very shy feeders. My green does best with lights completely out and no movement in the room...but as Kelly has mentioned before, this goes against their crepuscular nature and you might have better luck at dusk.

I managed to locate a chick breeder and it's not very far from me so i should be getting some tomorrow. I'm going to leave her be and place it in there tomorrow at dusk and keep it quiet for her and see what happens. I'll let u know the results. Yeah, it seems to be a completly different world between her and my burmese. The second i get the rat out of the box, my burm will perk right up, almost licking his lips lol. I don't even have to get it close to him, he slithers right up and yanks it out of my hand lol. Never refused.....maybe that's why he's grown 10 inches in a less than 2 months lol.

thanks
Jason

starting reluctant young greens. They will usually take live chicks 90% of the time on the first try. Frozen / thawed are usually taken probably 50% to 75% of the time on the first try.

Kelly

Well, over the weekend i watched her intently, keeping the temps at 90-92 the whole time, she would move back and forth, hide to tub, hide to tub. She doesn't seem like she's weak at all, i can still see a little mucus, almost like a stuffy nose w/her, but her breathing has definitely improved. So yesterday i decided it was time, i managed to find a single baby chick at a flea markety, last one, so luck was on my side lol. Got home, waited till dusk, lights out, placed the thing in there at the front of her hide, she was in there at the time. I awoke this morning to find an uninterested anaconda in her tub, and a dead chick on the floor . She seemed as uninterested as she is w/the mice & rats, so now i'm thinking it has nothing to do with the food. Seems that the RI is affecting her appetite i believe. The good news is that she has pooped & pee'd twice since her vet visit! At least i know that her digestive system has started again. I used to be an EMT, so i have a decent understanding about how anatomy works, so correct me anyone if i'm wrong. A lot of the times, when an infection occurs, the body will shut down other "expendable" systems temporarily in order to concentrate on the problem. This happens a lot when a patient is in shock, usually the kidneys are the first 2 go. I'm not saying it's exactly the same, but i wouldn't be suprised if it's a similar occurence. The pooping may be a sign that she is starting to get over the infection and her body is slowly starting to return to normal. It's been a few years since school, so maybe i'm wrong, but that's how i'm making sense of this so far, i just hope i'm right.

thanks again,
Jason