Reptile & Amphibian Forums

hello, i am very concerned about my boa, he appears to be fine, except when i hold him, i can hear a weezing every time he breathes... Mr. Charlie's tank is 90 degrees on the hot spot, maybe sometimes 85... what can i do about this? is it a big problem? Whats causing this? please help. thanks,
Nav

Start by warming up the tank, then get him to a vet. He probably has an upper resp. infection. Keep a hot spot into the 90's and ambient of atleast 80. Keep him very dry, small water bowl low humidity. Good luck. Craig Kade

Ditto !
Put'em in the crockpot and slow cook'em.

TnK

>>Start by warming up the tank, then get him to a vet. He probably has an upper resp. infection. Keep a hot spot into the 90's and ambient of atleast 80. Keep him very dry, small water bowl low humidity. Good luck. Craig Kade

I agree that you should keep the temps up, but insufficiant humidity is often a reason for an RI to develope. When we get congested, a nice hot shower will help our sinuses. If a snake has an Ri, and you take away their humidity, their nostrils will often close up with dry mucus, not allowing anything to flow. raising the humidity helps aid the creamy mucus to be breathed out, or wiped off.
My vet says that if your snake is making whistling or slight sounds while breathing but no mucus in the nose or mouth, then the sounds are caused by insufficient humidity, and creating a type of sinus infection. he raises Boas, and has been a reptile vet for 27 years.
Ways to increase humidity are by using a humidifier in the room, or spraying the inner walls of the enclosure.
I've been told to drop the humidity in the past, but the results were way slower and at times costly. Go see a good vet regardless.
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I'm just the snake room janitor

Everything you stated in your post is totally correct. Never lower the humidity on a snake with an RI. Lowering the humidity will only increase the irritation of the lung tissue that probably caused the problem in the first place, and make things worse. I'm not saying it should be so high that it looks like it's raining in there, but it should be around the 70 to 75% range when an RI issue is suspected. Aside from sub-optimal temperatures, incorrect humidity levels are probably the second most common cause of respiratory problems in boids.

Kelly

Just from recent experience, I'd treat this wheezing as a respiratory infection and see the vet ASAP. I could be wrong, but it's better to err on the side of caution. My snake had a respiratory infection but I guess I caught it too late. The vet couldn't save her. Hopefully I'll be able to save someone else's snake.

Please take your snake to the vet...could save his life.

It could be a ri but i have snakes that weez off and on and never had an ri as long as there is no mocus and the snake is not holdin his breath and breathing with his mouth open it could be nothing but if u are worried i would see a vet.