Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I walked by the enclosure that is inhabited by 1 of my tangerine female honduran breeders. She had her mouth open, so I walked closer and she pulled her head back, closing it. I assumed I caught her mid-yawn/stretch. I just noticed about 45 seconds ago that she had her mouth open again...not fully gaping, just a bit to be noticeable. She has never had any feeding problems, no mouth rot, nothing. I am currently boring more holes in the lid of her enclosure, for her's is plastic and much more humid than any others. She is also in shed. She has been passing normal stools and feeding fine; appears healthy in all aspects. I'm going to clean the tank and put in fresh newspaper. I'm thinking respiritory infection, but I know some people (I have) expose their snakes to high humidity to clear this, which would be odd in my case because my snake is in a humid enclosure. I'm going to inspect her now. Think its a respiritory infection? If so, treating with humidty would be pretty obsolete, I guess I should take her to the vet if this keeps up. Any remedies that do not require vetinary care that I do not know of? I'll take her to the vet immediatly on responce from here if there aren't any sure-proof (or close) alternatives. Thanks,
-Sean

Sean-
If it appears to you to be a respitory infection, I would check cage temps. One of the most common causes is temps being too low. I've cleared up this type of problem in the past by simply raising cage temps to a little above normal for a few weeks and making sure cage is clean with fresh water.

Dale Ruffo

I am glad you brought that up, I don't know how I over saw it. We're having an extension put on our house, and they had to move a window for the peaked roof, which was my reptile room's window. I had to put them in my basement, usually same room temp, though lately I'll bet it has been cooler over night. Stupid on my part. I have their lights on now simply to heat them before I move them into my bed room. Thanks.
-Sean