Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My female JCP(7ft , 5ish years old) only got her last year. has suddenly started breathing heavily through her nose and it sounds like her nose is stuffed. She's holding her head up all the time too and her mouth is slightly open. It looks like a respiratory problem. Ive got some vitamins to mix with her water and am doing a complete cleanout and disinfect of the viv tonight. I'm going to up the temp and lower the humidity as I think it was increased humidity that caused it.

Anything else I should be doing?

It seems that you are not 100% sure of the diagnosis (respiratory issues?), considering the facts you specified I would say take her to a Reptile Vet ASAP. I don’t like hearing that she is keeping her head up, that indicates or could indicate an advanced breathing issue which would need medical care. You are correct in what you would do if your snake has a minor respiratory infection. (Heating her up and drying her out.) ". I would keep a very close eye on the nostrils and listen carefully to her breathing. If it starts to get slightly worse with everything you are doing instead of better; I was strongly suggest for you to take her to a reputable reptile vet ASAP. The vet can take blood tests and with certainty administer the proper medications (ex. antibiotics) if need be. Since your snake is doing that head motion I would say you are past these previous seven sentences and go strait to the vet.

This is just my $.02

Keep us posted and good luck!

Thank you,

Eric

Wow, conflicting humidity advice posted simultaneously...LOL. Like I said, opinions vary!

The vet advice is great!
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"He who would stifle debate rather than engage in it, does so at the expense of his integrity and credibility"

Mike Curtin

Well here goes w/ the humidity thing....you'll hear people tell you to raise the humidity and others tell you to lower it. According to my herp vet (Dr. Barry Stuart in Bridgewater, NJ), the decreased humidity dries and irritates respiratory tissues which can further complicate matters. Higher humidity helps to "lubricate" the tissue, so to speak, which causes less irritation and allows for healing.

Regardless, I would see a vet at this stage. Make sure he/she specializes in herps. I've tried a few times to correct these problems on my own, and have each time wound up at the vet. For me that means a 2 hr drive, so it's worth it.
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"He who would stifle debate rather than engage in it, does so at the expense of his integrity and credibility"

Mike Curtin

lol, I was a little vague on "lowering the humidity." Reason being, this snakes should be on its way to the vet and my respiratory advice would be pointless. But I do agree with your vet in regards to keeping the humidity up for lubrication, as additional moisture will aid in soothing irritations. Usually for a few days I like to dry out the enclosure and keep the relative humidity low as bacteria utilizes moisture for its own survival. Afterwards increasing the humidity and getting on track to keeping that optimum humidity level stable would be ideal. Humidity can be adjusted accordingly for the comfort of the animal. Keeping that close eye and ear will be crucial.

Lets us know how the vet works out!

Eric

The advice Mike's vet gave is the proper procedure when dealing with an RI in boids. The humidity needs to remain between 70 and 80% for the duration of the treatment. As the vet stated, when the humidity is too low, the lung surface tissue dries to the point that it becomes irritated and damaged and allows bacterial invasion of this tissue causing an RI, or aggravating an existing one. With the extra ambient humidity, the moisture will allow the pythons immune system to operate more efficiently at the surface of the lung tissue where most of the invasive bacteria are located. This also allows any antibiotic that maybe used less restricted access to the surface tissue as well. You will never be able to lower the humidity to the point that you are in any way affecting the survivability of the bacterial species that are causing the infection. Even lowering the humidity for a few days initially is going to cause a significant setback in the recovery from any RI.

As long as the environment is clean, for high humidity to be a respiratory issue, it would need to remain well above 85% for an extended period with the majority of python species. In all the times that I have used maternal incubation with pythons, I have never had any respiratory issues, and I never allow the ambient humidity to drop below 90% over the 2 month incubation period.

Kelly

I have used the method I noted quite a few times with some wild caught poorly treated animals that I took in or rescue. I was successful in getting the snakes back on track and have yet (knock on wood) had to take one to the vet.

Your advice sounds great and sounds like you know your RI. I feel that since I have had success with the approach mentioned I don’t think it is fair to say "not the correct approach" But then again I am no expert just a keeper/breeder of reptiles for 15 or so years. If a vet made a statement I would suggest going with what the vet said.

My $.02

Bottom line as previously stated, take that snake to the vet.

Eric

I highly commend you for your ability to pull these snakes out of a bad situation. It sounds like many were health compromised to the point that they probably would not have survived without your intervention. My only thought would be that many of these snakes might not have yet progressed into a full-blown RI, but possibly were showing symptoms of initial lung irritation. Your procedures were then enough to prevent this from progressing on to an actual RI. Once the health condition has moved beyond that point, stressed, wild caught boids with acute RI show a very low percentage of recovery without antibiotic therapy in conjunction increased temps and humidity. My comment about correct approach was more directed to those snakes with actual acute bacterial RI’s. Thanks again and good work,

Kelly

I got her to the vet yesterday, respiratory infection allright, cleared some gunk from her mouth, gave her antibiotic injection and fed her thru a tube to help boost her chances of fighting the infection. I was amazed at how tame she was with strangers opening her mouth and jabbing her. I've put her into a seperate tank to help with her rehab. Thanks for the suggestions according to the vet upping the temps and humidity is fine so long as you've good ventilation otherwise it's a breeding ground for more germs.