I went to go look at a pair of yearling Borneo short-tailed pythons a gal I know has. The male looks good and healthy, but...
The female has a puffy throat. Has had it since she arrived 2 weeks ago. RI is what I thought, but here's the clencher.
About 1/6 down her body, just above where her heart should be, her neck is thin. Then right where the heart is, there's this swollen spot, then the body goes back to normal past that. When I hold my fingers against her belly scales, where I should feel a heart beat, I feel a wheezing sensation. Almost like sandpaper rubbing together.
I have never seen this before, I've seen enlarged hearts in snakes which have caused no problem other than stunted growth and short life-span, I've seen cryptosporidosis (not in my snakes, thankfully), I've seen Eimeria infestations, respiratory infections galore, pneumonia, scale rot, and many other maladies, but have never seen this.
Apparently the guy who sold the pair to her shipped the female with the puffy throat! I've seen his ads on kingsnake, I'll never buy a snake from him-ever.
I'm reposting this to other sites to see if anyone has any info.
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http://www.lowergroundreptiles.net/
