Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Greetings Fellow Herpers

I have an 03' female het. albino boa that I have had since Christmas day. I noticed recently that I can hear her breath. Not a crackly wheezy sound just an audible noise. If I have her out and barely squeeze on her just to force out a little extra air it doesn't sound wheezy then either.

She is kept in a boaphile rack with a 89F hot spot and around 80-82F on the cool side. She has eaten for me without fail every week and has amazingly fast tongue flicks. She has clean nostrils and I rolled the underside of her lip back and there is no bubbles or mucus. I am extremely meticulous about my animals almost to the point that it becomes OCD.

The only thing that I have read about RI that it could be is that she is stressed from her new environment and the fact that she slugged out on the guy that I bought her from(he was discouraged and practically gave her to me... a friend of mine though) She had 9 albinos and 11 normals that went 2-3 weeks premature because he moved and had to take her with him. She went into early labor because of the move.

Any advice or constructive critisism would be greatly appreciated. I have several other boas in the same room and rack and nothing is coming from them.

Thanks in Advance Guys

Probably just stressed out from all the activity.....just keep an eye on her. Watch for extra mucus in the mouth. If you see that, it is definitely a time to see the vet.

Certain snakes you can just hear them breath. We have one big girl who is 7 years old that I have ALWAYS been able to hear her exhale. This is not a hissing sound , just a puff when she exhales. She is perfectly healthy. We have one or two other smaller ones as well that seem to be the same way.

If when you hold your snake, you find any moisture at the edges of her mouth, then she might be getting an RI and a trip to the vet is order.

Good luck and just keep a close eye on her.

Kathy

you can hear an audible noise from them while breathing? After reading so many differnt things on RI it could literally make a guy (or girl) paranoid that any noise that comes from his (or her) boa could potentially be a Respiratory Infection.

I do however have the privelage of actually knowing the history of the snake since I have essentially watched this snake grow up... being as that I knew the guy that I bought her from. She has never had any RI problems before and I was just wondering about the breathing noise.

Just Curious