Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just pulled my snakes out of brumation, about 9 weeks at average temp of 55. All of them but one came out looking fantastic.

One female, 4 days out, started to act strangely. Went into shed, and showed me every symptom of an RI. Wheezing, bad crackling sounds, and generally makin a noise like something thick needed coughed up. Also a swelling of the mouth area on one side, which worried me even more. Every indication.

So, I raised the temps, separated her, the usual routine. Thought I'd give it a few days then start thinking about a Vet trip, which is awful because none near me at all treat snakes. I had checked on the snake several times every day, only to find that nothing had changed for the better.

On the 4th day (yesterday), I go in to check. The swelling of the mouth is gone, no wheezing, no crackling. I aggraveted the snake to get it to "puff" at me. It did, and it sounded like wonderful straight air. I don't think this had anything to do with it, but it also had cleared up from the "blue" phase of shedding, but had not yet shed. All symptoms gone.

Today, I thought, "what the heck," and offered it a small mouse, and she ate it right away. I'm baffled, I've never had anything like this happen. I've kept snakes for years, and this snake was sick. No doubt about it. Does anyone have any thoughts, or have you ever had an animal recover so quickly, and eat right away. I'm actually quite amazed.

Brian

What kind os substrate?

os = of

Substrate was aspen. Small water dish.

Hmmm, I've never heard of anything like this. The strange thing is that respiratory infections rarely go away on their own. You could shrug it off as something neurological, but that doesn't explain the swelling in the mouth.

How old is the snake, and how much calcium are you giving it?

Also, do you have it under lights, and did you go from 55 gradually, or 55->80 rapidly?

went from 55-60 on the first day out. days 2 and 3 were right around 70. Mid 70s on day 4, and this is the day I started noticing the issues, so I immediately went to 80. After the 4th day of temps at 80-82, the symptoms were gone literally overnight.

She is getting no calcium at this point, this is her first year to breed (maybe, might not do it now), so I have never had a need to supplement. Though I will be if I decided to breed her.

She is in a Vision rack, so no lights other than what is in the room, which is aquarium/plant flourescent.

I have to add, I agree they usually don't go away on their own, but I've had snakes over the years with obvious resp issues, come out of it with an increase in temp. Whether or not these were true RIs or just another "sickness" I can't say for sure. However, they didn't go away overnight. They got better over a little time. This one was honestly overnight.

I'm wondering if even it could have been a lodged piece of substrate, even thought the snake was not fed?

Substrate - that's where my money is - blockage, swelling. The swelling was very localized and it remedied itself rapidly, so I don't think it's bacterial or viral.

ive had similar symptoms with snakes in a shed cycle....clears when the skin clears and is shed...immune response may be down due to stressers???

Now that makes it interesting. Because, it cleared exactly as the skin cleared. However, it had not yet shed. She had moved out of the "blue" phase. I guess at this point I'm just glad everything worked itself out, it's amazing after you put so much time into these snakes, how quickly you can have a setback.

ain't a setback.....you learned something.....brumation can be stressful....and don't panic when you see symptoms.....sometimes it can be "normal" reaction to some environmental factor....either natural or human induced....

Very true. I'm glad that a while ago I decided to only brumate for 8 or 9 weeks instead of 12. At least with other colubrids I've had the same success I've ever had at 12. However, this is my first year with Gray bands big enough to breed.

It's funny, I've had Green Tree Pythons prolapse and take care of it myself, other snakes go off food for huge lengths of time for no good reason, over the years, and I've been doing this long enough I was confident it was OK. And, for whatever reason, when I heard that noise from this little Grayband girl, it was WAY worse. LOL, they're just different, ya know.