Reptile & Amphibian Forums

my male brooks king sometimes have his mouth half open for 10 mins or so. he is very livey. he moves around alot since his first meal and warming up, well he kinda always do that. here's some pics.

That is usually not a good sign. It can be a symptom of respiratory infection. Hold his mouth up close to your ear and listen for any clicking or wheezing. Also look for bubbles or mucous in his mouth or nostrils, hopefully it is nothing....but you better check him out Tom Stevens
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TomsSnakes.com

>>my male brooks king sometimes have his mouth half open for 10 mins or so. he is very livey. he moves around alot since his first meal and warming up, well he kinda always do that. here's some pics.
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Could be a respiration infection, could be moving alot do to discomfort'

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R.Bichlers Colubrids
http://www.webspawner.com/users/rbichler/index.html

well i guess i better not breed him then. since i am deaf i will have my fiance listen to him. thanks.

well my fiance said she didnt hear anything but i will try again to have her listen while i hold him close to her ear. that's werid i would not do anything to provent ri i keep tubs clean and warm unless cooling. i only had him for about 5-7 months so maybe he already had it.
when i just checked him i noticed he opened his mouth and pulled himself backward like s shape and looks like he's trying to spit with his toungue out. but no there's nothing came out. hope this info helps.
i hate it when stuff like this happens and i get soo stress out. i am not breeding him ever and he's going to the vet. i put him away in a differnt room.

It definetly sounds like an upper respiratory infection to me. Just like when we get a cold, snakes get really mucusy, only they don't have hands or tissues, so somtimes they struggle to breath. A trip to the vet is definetely in order. Some antibiotics and a warm tank and he will be good as new in no time. You don't need to separate him from the other snakes, RI's are not contageous. Don't stress out about it, occassionally the stress of brumating can cause this to happen, and you might be right, he could have had it before he went down for the winter.

What happens is that when the snake is cooled, both the bacteria and the reptile slow way down. The bacteria barely grow and the snake barely makes any antibodies or white blood cells. When you heat snakes up (maybe too quickly) sometimes the bacteria are up and multiplying and growing in just a few hours. It takes the snakes imune system several days to kick back into high gear, so during this period they are particularly susceptible to disease.

thank you for the info. but one thing i don't understand is.. you said that its no need to seprate the snakes? usally people always said to put the sick one in a differnt room so others don't get it.?

Every animal has normal bacteria that live all over us, especially in our mucus membranes. WHen our imune system is compromissed sometimes these bacteria, which are normally harmless, can make us sick. The reason that there is no point in separating a snake with an RI is that the bacteria that are making him sick are almost garanteed to be common throughout your collection, they just happen to only be moking one snake sick.

This is not true of all diseases, but I have never seen an RI jump from one snake to anothe HEALTHY one.

I agree w/ Zach. Give the snake a spot to really warm up on...maybe even as high as 88-90 on the hot side and then high 70 to low 80 on the cool side. Snakes are very resilient and if given the chance can easily bounce back from an RI. Just don't try to feed in the meantime.

Good luck,
Russ

Derek, did he recently feed? Maybe he got something stuck in his mouth/throat? Take him to a vet, don't freak out, he may be good to go a little later on.
Todd Hughes

he ate once so far since cooling was done. since i have had him he always moving around in his tub pushing and rubbing a little. he moving around right now.

Snakes are not like mammals. Usually if a snake is listeless or crawls abnormally it is probably to late. This is the way snakes arw wired because in the wild they don't show symptoms because of appearing weak and being potential prey for other animals...

On a positive note. If the snakes only sympton is its open mouth (though the spitting description of yours sounds bad)it might make it through with raised temps and feeding. If the snake is feeding then that is a good sign. I have had sevral adult floridana with their mouths open and after a feeding and warm temps the problem corrects itself and goes away. Heat the encloser. Wait a couple days and see if it feeds and it goes away.

have to say that it is the onset of respiratory infection. My large five foot female Eastern king had the same problem last year. As soon as I noticed, I provided more heat on one end of the cage (overhead & bottom), and she would lay there for hours every day soaking up the heat. After about three weeks the symptoms went away and she's doing great (nice and thick, ready for breeding)

Zee

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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

Zeeman! Great to hear from you! Email me antelope297todd@aol.com.
Todd Hughes

n/m
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"I am an expert on everything, but I know so little and have so much to learn!" -Carsten "Zee" Zoldy-

Derek,.......The snake is "gaping" which is a VERY bad indication!!. this can be respiritory infection, and/or "mouth-rot"(infectious stomatitis). I see signs of severe nose-rubbing even through the opaque container. This can even make things much worse than they already are......this does NOT look like it started recently, and the snake is in dire need of antibiotics. You would be well advised to immediately make a vet appt. when showing these signs the problem is already well established, and hoping this just goes away is not very realistic. Like the other posts aleady mentioned, until you see a vet, the snake would do well at a temp. of 87-89 degrees.......he indeed needs a vet!!.......................................Doug
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Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!

thank you guys. i already up the heat for now and i am gonna go from there and work something out with one of a good vet here for reptiles. thanks again and i am droping breeding plan for him, no girl for him lol.

You do not need to drop breeding plans. Firts it is way early in the year to make such a decision. Second you will probaly have this beat by the end of next week in which case you will have a perfectly viable specimen for breeding. I am going to repeat... Snakes are not like people or other mammals. You cannot compare them to us. Take a wild guess how often I have this happen to me? It just takes a little patience and it will most likely be gone. Of course the best and safest route to take is get a vet. You asked for advice here and you got 50/50 opinions on the vet or to wait it out. Some people will side on caution rather than wait and that is probably the best advice since none of us can see the snake in person. Even if the snake needed a full spectrum antibodie it would still be plenty healthy to breed in time. Most people breed snakes in april. You got a way to go before making any decisions on whether to breed it or not. I would say if the snake is still sick in April it will most likley be deceased.

gotcha. ok thanks. we'll see what happens first. wow i am learning something here with different people. will keep updated. thanks

>>Take a wild guess how often I have this happen to me?

I know what you mean man, when I get a cold I still like to do it!

lol!!

Ditto on all that, lol and still good to go! Derek, he ain't dead yet, don't put the cart before the cart. You decide which options are best for you to try but remember why you got the snake in the first place. It may cost you to take it to the vet, but when you breed it I will take a baby and the vet bill might go away! Get him well and party on, dude!
Todd Hughes

shoulda been cart before the horse! LOL, This ain't my week, DEEDEDEEE! Wait, I mean, the cat spilled my beer as I was typing.....
Todd Hughes

RFLMAO..your a quick learner Todd..I wonder who said alcohol destroys brain cells.(um, forgot what I was responding to)cheers
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Richard Evans

no not THAT one

ZIGGYZOGGYZIGGYZOGGY, HOI,HOI,HOI!!!! LOL!
Todd Hughes

654564
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Diego

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