Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Good morning all... I have a question. I have a female BCI that is 8 years old. She is a big girl... over 45 pounds. That is all good.. here is the question. For the last few years she goes through times when she breathes and whistles at the same time when she exhales. At first, I thought she had a cold.. so I had her swabbed and it came back clean. Same thing the next year, and the next.

Well.. this year she is at it again.. when she breathes she whistles when she exhales. Yesterday I fed.. and she is the clean up crew. Anything the rest do not eat.. she will. So today she is stuffed and I hear the whistle even more when she breathes. I can get her swabbed again.. but this would be the 4th year in a row.. the last 3 showing clean.

So.. those with BIG girls and boys.. do the larger Boas just have a louder breathing? She is really bad prior to shed and I thought that was due to the skin taking up more room in her nose etc. Maybe she just has allergies? Is that possible.. ?

I have many Boas and none of the smaller ones have this audible breathing. Not just an exhale.. but again.. a whistle.

Just for precautions.. over the last few years I have given her Tylan and Fortaz and the whistle is still there. I know.. WHY administer if swabbed clean. Well.. I wanted to make sure she was ok.

Any suggestions? Do you have any BIG ones that do the same thing? Should I get her some somertime allergy meds?

Oh yea.. More info.. NO external mucas from mouth or nose, eats and sheds great. Sheds in 1 piece almost everytime. Mouth is clean and no white stuff etc...Nice pinkish color in the mouth like normal.. fecal matter looks normal. What questions have I missed? Seems 100% fine except the darn Whistle.. maybe she is just bored? Whistlen Dixie?

The live Boa Cam is in her cage today if you would like to see her.

Thanks
Shawn Morelan
See her here.. SouthernBoids

I know there are people with large Boas here.. am I the only one that has one that whistles?

Shawn

but I have large boas - though most of them top out around 7 feet in length (Bci). Offhand, I only have two that I expect to reach or exceed 8 feet in length. No whistlers in the whole lot of them though.

Now, for my ideas on the whistling...

Does it only happen in the winter months (when the heat is on)? Many animals (and people) will have difficulty breathing due to the dry air caused by heating elements. Air conditioners will also dry the air out, but not to the degree that heaters will. Have you tried boosting the humidity? Also, sheds can cause whistling or heavy breathing in snakes as the nostrils constrict somewhat (so I've read, anyway) just prior to a shed. Also, one of my females (the smallest who's 6 feet in length) will sometimes blow when being handled or disturbed. She usually doesn't blow open-mouthed but through her nose and that will occasionally make a whistling sound.

Raven

Shawn,
. Most of the big Boas that I have heard whistling were the heavy ones. The big heavy female I have now is very quiet. I think the whistling can be okay but sometimes is a symptom of a repiratory infection.
Jeff

>>I know there are people with large Boas here.. am I the only one that has one that whistles?
>>
>>Shawn

I volunteered at the Local university in the herpetarium there we had a 26 year old Boa she was 8"11" about 37 pounds and obese as hell she whistled but was otherwise completely heathy maybe it is a sign of obesity in snakes (big snakes) or it may be an advanced age thing. I had a 9 footer in my personal collection and she never made any noise but she was also a mean lean eating machine and was not what I would call obese. By obese I mean overweight you look for visible lumps of fat deposits around the cloacal orafice. The big girl at the university has a group of fingure like projections that are visible underneath her skin. If your girl does turn out ot be obese and you control her diet better she should loose the excess weight and reduce the strain on her respiratory system and thus lose the weeze.

I currently have 3 boas over 10 feet. One of them whistled a few years ago, she also coughed and wheezed very violently. I could hear her whistling all the way in my bedroom, thru 2 closed doors! After a week or so of this I decided to take her in and see what was going on. Turns out she had a cat hair wrapped around her breathing tube (I always forget what that thing is called.) After it was removed she was back to normal. Here are the culprits:

.

I have an 6ft Argentine. She makes some noise when she breaths. Nothing bad. But, it is noticable when she breaths compared to smaller boas. And, it is more noticable right before she is about to shed.
John

;

I have a ten foot female that is just a monster but she still only weighs just under 51 pounds, but she does not whistle.....
On the same line of thinking though, I am 5'9" tall and I weigh 245lbs and I snore like a bear when I sleep LOL. Maybe, and I am just thinking out load, you snake is overweight, Like me and is snoring in her snake way......
Just a thought
Jim Hopkins

Thanks to all that replied. I am glad to see I am not the only one who has had one whistle. It freaks me out because I think right away, SICK.. but she has been swabbed and swabbed and is always clean. Maybe there is something to the snoring.. because when I checked on her this morning, she was on the move and didnt make a sound. Maybe I just caught her when she was asleep before. She needs to post a DO NOT DISTURB sign on her cage so I can tell she is asleep... or give these animals some Eyelids!

Thanks again for the replies...

Shawn and Fat Jasmine!
Cam is on again today.. in her cage.

SouthernBoids