Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Nobody likes to admit when they have a problem with an animal.

I admit it. I have seen a Boa that was either coughing or sneezing. This was back in about 1988 or 1989 the largest baby from my first litter awakened me. She was about 3 years old and near 8' at that time. I had a couple stacks of cages in our bedroom in our two bedroom apartment. I was disturbed by the "honking" sound of something. I realized it was coming from the closet stack of cages and then I saw her all stretched out with her head about 8" off the floor of the cage making a honking sound about every ten or fifteen seconds. She was the only Boa I ever saw do that and I saw her do it probably three or four different occasions over several years. She was massively power fed measuring 48" at just six months. Perhaps that was part of her issue. Power fed Boas do not live long and she was no exception to that rule.

It was disconcerting to see but didn't seem to have any effect on her. But has anyone else ever observed a Boa engage in such behavior?
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Jeff Ronne Sr
The Boaphile
Director USARK

Originator of Boaphile Plastics
The Boaphile Boa Site

Jeff I would imagine that the lungs of an obese snake would be over worked as are the lungs of a human. Have you seen obese people climb stairs or after? Heavy breathing wheezing....it's terrible. I do not know if that would make the lungs more prone to infection though. I would say that has to do with more of a weak immune system. Do you believe obesity weakens an immune system?

I do not often read about experienced keepers stating when their animals are sick or how they treat them.

Do you think that people in general tend to avoid buying from people with known sick snakes?

Yes, I have witnessed the same exact thing. Its happened a few times over the years with only one boa that I have. She is a normal colombian female (het for nothing), is about 10 years old, and about 7 ft. Ive noticed that it usually happens at night, comes a few at a time, and is the strangest sounding noise!!!
The first time it happened I took her to my herp vet, and he checked her out. He told me to keep an eye on her, and that if nothing seemed wrong it was probably nothing to be worried about. Shes never been sick in any way, but it has happened a handfull of times over the years....

Yes, I believe its a humidity thing , and that's a sort
of dry cough they are doing.

. . . Lar M
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Boas By Klevitz

I Support USark.org

yup. Rose did it way back when I lived in NC in my second to last apartment, so that would have made her 1-2 years old. Heard it one time and then never again. I know exactly what you're talking about though. Unfortunately, this is back before I knew to keep notes on things like this so I don't know its relationship to temps, humidity, weight, etc...

But as you know, she's since delivered 2 healthy litters and has a 3rd cooking She's always been the picture of health, except the one time she decided to honk

jb
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What's written above is purely my opinion. In fact, MOST of what you read on the internet is someone's opinion. Don't take it too seriously

Jonathan Brady
DeviantConstrictors.com
Deviant Constrictors picturetrail

Wow. I thought I was just crazy when it happened. It was around 2 am and it sounded like my roommate was drilling something in the other room. I was horrified when I heard it again and saw my snake with its mouth wide open all stretched out basically holding out a long loud cough. It happened one or two more times that night, and she's never done it since. I thought I was probably just dreaming the next morning so I didn't really give it much thought. Wow. I wonder what is happening when they do that? Thanks for the story Jeff.
Michael Burton

BTW My boa was not power fed.
Michael Burton

When you say powerfed..what exactly did you feed and how much to get a 6 month boa 48"? I hear the term power fed used and was wondering in your case how often etc did you feed...did you get to ever breed her and at what age? How long did she live?
Just curious.
I have never heard the sneezing thing..the weirdest thing i ever witnessed was with my first boa back in the 90's. I had bought a colombian boa, a baby, from a place called glades herp here in sw fl and i had it in a big 65 gal set up. At night this thing would contort itself into weird shapes , writhe and coil and twist then just fall off its shelf to the cage bottom. It was freaky. It then started regurging...I took it back..They wouldnt refund so I just gave it back to them. But it was the weirdest thing i have seen one of my boas do.

Yes,
I had that happen with a large male hog cross that I bought at a small Tuscon show 10 years ago. He was very tame initially, but then started making a honking noise as well. Then I noticed mites and immediatly treated him for that(my last mite encounter- hopefully). By the time the mites were gone, he was INSANELY aggressive and was striking the cage at any sign of movement. I had an incident where he wrapped around my arm and I couldn't get him off without help!!(still never been bitten though) I haven't had a sick animal since my teen years. Needless to say, He started to lose his balance and I put him down. Have you ever had an animal get that aggressive as it died?

It happens to my albino 66% het for snow female. This started when she was a year old and still going on and off until now. I am not sure if powerfed or humidity factors are the reasons for this to happen. The reason why I say this is, first i grow her up slowly and even at one point people said to me that she was way to small/lite for her age; second I have a few other boas that I raise under the same environment/condition/humidity that have never done this kind of thing.

I am curious to know what everybody's take on this.

Reza