Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have two kingsnakes, one sub-adult MBK and an adult Cali king that I just bought. The MBK has never made any sort of noise in all the time I've owned her. The Cali hisses quite a bit, and I am pretty certain I heard him emit a high pitched noise the other day. I was very surprised, and a bit doubtful of what I heard, so I held it up to my ear, and it did it again, twice! It was a solitary short burst, very soft, and accompanied by a slight tension in his muscles.

Has anyone observed this in their snakes? Any reason why a kingsnake would be "vocal?" Do they even have the capacity to be?

Yup, definitely not imagining it. He did it several times again tonight. It is a soft squeak, almost, dare i say, mouse-like...

Sounds to me like an upper respiratory infection. I know how to treat this with medications myself, but I would STRONGLY suggest you go see a well qualified reptile vet immediately. They will do a "sensitivity" culture to see which antibiotic will best target the infection.

Don't wait around until this gets worse, because it will. When this is caught and treated promptly, it can make all the difference in the world, and could easily save the snake's life.

Better safe than sorry in this case.

Good luck!, !Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I agree with Doug 100%.. Your snake has a respiratory infection and needs to get to a reptile vet ASAP!

Good Luck!

~ Mike Russo

Can this result from dusty substrate?
The reason I ask is that the local Petsmart recently switched to a new, super dusty brand of aspen and I snake-sat a corn that had to live on that stuff (as per the owner's instructions) and she sometimes made a short wheeze kind sound (very breathy, no pitch) that I noticed my king made once or twice (though he's not kept on aspen). Now that the corn is back at her house my king has stopped making any noise at all so I've dismissed it.

That's a good point to bring up too. There is always the possibility of that being the very cause of those symptoms. That can, and has happened before and can cause snake's at times to give some quick exhaust blows out of their nostrils in an attempt to rid the nostrils of the irritating culprit(the substrate).But in that particular case, I didn't want to come across as "down-playing" the situation and make it seem that that was truly the cause of the sneezy symptom. That could make the owner very likely to waste valuable time in getting the snake to a vet if indeed it really was a much more serious issue of respiratory infection.

Also, snakes can exibit these same "snorting", high pitch sounds when a piece of old loose shed skin has remained inside the nostril. Sort of like blowing through a blade of grass placed in your two hands, the air rushing by tends to make weird noises.

Most of the time, upper RI's can also typically make a "clicking" or ticking" sound too along with the wheezing puffing sound.

But without any of us actually seeing and examining the snake, it is really much safer to go ahead and take it to a good rept. vet, as this would probably at least eliminate the much more deadly RI possibility.

In any case, again, that was a very valid good point you brought up.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

As Thomas said below, I thought U.R.I.'s were more common in boas and pythons, rather than kings and milks. I'm glad my little wheezers turned out to be so inane, lol!

Yeah, those mentioned are certainly more prone to URI's than kings, but any type of snake can get sick as heck if things get too bad.

Hope yours continues to do well, and yeah, as mentioned incorrect temps, are a big contributor, but there are also many other things that can lead to a "domino" effect in bringing on the RI's as well. So it's important to know all this good stuff..LOL!

later, ~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

One of my males makes a sneeze/hiss noise when he is in his feed bin. Once he is back in the rack and warmed up he stops. The vet said it was normal for snakes that in the wild would normally never experience cold temps (below freezing). He said some just can’t deal with the sudden temp shift.

could be a respitory infection, but thats pretty rare with kings. what are your temp.gradients? many times kings can shake uri with just an increase in temps.
,,,,,,,,,thomas davis
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

that nobody asked about the OP temps??? just a friendly word of advise to the OP its all about temp. gradients the bigger the better.
good luck,,,,,,,,,thomas davis
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Morphs... just like baseball cards BUT ALIVE, how cool is that???

my website www.barmollysplace.com

In getulus maybe but in other kings it happens. Sometimes the respiratory issues happen from using dusty types of substrate. Some are more sensitive to certain types.
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Steve W.

Two things, hissing is in a sense vocalizing. So yes on this one.

Next, your king sounds(cause we can hear) like its nose was plugged up.

That said, we KNOW LITTLE TO NOTHING, about the hows, whys and what fors of snake comunication.

Things like the complexities of hissing or tail vibration and with our own rattlesnakes. Even such things as Large boas shaking their tails. We are VERY naive about these things and most of our thoughts are backed by rumor and theory.

In fact, a good percentage of biologists think snakes cannot hear. Even thought they have a highly developed inner ear.(depending on specie)

Me, I do not know what to think, most species that have a highly developed inner ear and make sounds, can hear. Most snake relatives do this. Lizards, crocs, torts, all hiss and make noise and hear. Snakes do all that and do not?????? I know, I know, I am thinking out loud.

Anyway, this subject should be subject to intense field study.

What I have realized over the decades in the field is, hissing, rattling and other noise making attempts do not foil their real predators, it sorta works on people. Sorta. Shovels trump rattles and fangs.

Their predators eat them anyway, and do not care if they are venomous or act like they are venomous or colored like they are venomous. They simply consume them. I know, more then you wanted to read.

So yes, keep questioning your snakes, watch the conditions that make them vocalize. See if there are patterns. Then post it here. Cheers