Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My adult female Ball Python is acting very strange.
She whistles (almost sounds like elephant trumpeting) very loudly sometimes, then opens her mouth to breath.
Ok, so far i would think, respiratory distress.
But when she opend her mouth, it looks perfectly clear, no mucous, no discharge, no discoloration.
Also, nothing has changed in her cage, the temps are fine, and no new snake has been brought in.
She laid a clutch of eggs 2 month ago, and has since been feeding fine. She ate 2 weeks ago, 3 med. rats, which is a normal meal for her, she's a big one...(7 pounds).
She has also shed recently, again, normal shed, nothing amiss.
I took her to the vet this morning, and he is also slightly stumped. He suspects upper respiratory disease, but said, so far you can't see any problems. It might be in the beginning stages...
We also ruled out anything stuck in her throat...he said in those cases they usually "cough" more so then whistle.
She is on bed-a-beast substrate, which is neither wet nor dusty.
Does anyone have any ideas what could be going on???
The vet sent me home with Baytril, to be given every other day, 5 times total.
I put her in a smaller cage for now, bumped up the heat. I have heard diff. opinions on humidity while they are sick. Should it be up higher or lower????
Right now i do not provide extra humidity. She is on towels and nothing is misted. Should i mist the warm side slightly?
I do not want to loose this snake, and it hurts me to hear her fight for breath/whistle like this.
Is there anything else i could do or look into???
thank you in advance for any help...
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reps-r-us
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reps-r-us

Since there doesn't seem to be any apparent causes, I would guess to say that it may be Pentastomid(s) (lungworm). Hopefully, this is not the case.

This link seems to indicate that Royal pythons (aka Ball pythons) can be prone to this parasite.
Link

well, i will certainly bring that up to my vet.
This is so strange, though, I have had her going on over a year, and she never even acted sick in any way, fed well, had a nice suprise clutch, began eating again after laying, and shedding fine.
But i will check it out.
I do have liquid panacur at home, i will ask the vet what he thinks about giving her some.
He couldn't get a fecal from her when i was there, as she ate well 2 weeks ago and already defecated. He tried to get some out of her, but shes on "empty"...
Anyway, thank you for your thoughts, i appreciate it...
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reps-r-us

IF the snake was WC or a LTC, it could have originated from the environment-(in Africa) & the prey that it ate there. The parasite(s) may have gained in size &/or number which may account for the obstruction of the trachea. The treatment has to be monitored, once the diagnosis has been made. The drugs typically used for pentastomids are Ivermectin or Levamisol.
Goodluck.

hm...
before i got her, someone else owned her for several years, supposedely she has always been fine there, too.
But i do not know, where she originates from. Probably captive hatched or wildcaught.
Although, she is huge and not very shy and always seemed very healthy, so wildcaught seems questionable too...
The person who owned her before me bought her food at the same petstore for years....then he gave her up to that petstore.
This petstore is hell, and no doubt they would have killed her like they have many other snakes.
When i got her out of there, she was in a 10 gallon (she was about 3000 gr. at that time) with no heat/water/hide and they were in the process of forcefeeding her....UGGGGH!!!
I will call my Vet later and discuss everything with him...
I just want my girl to get well.
Do you know what the chances of full recovery are? I cannot find much info at all on the web.
thank you
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reps-r-us

I'm not sure what the recovery rate is for treatment of this parsite. It probably depends on how bad the infestation is & the current health of the snake. There may be some information in Dr. Klingenberg's book on Reptile Parasites. Your vet should be able to determine what the prognosis would be, if this is the actual problem.

I do have Dr. Klingenbergs book (finally found it this morning) and have figured out the correct dosage of panacur. I do have the liquid panacur and all the supplies to administer it.
According to the book panacur on the high end of dosage is actually the prefered method to treat lungworms.
Panacur is also a very safe drug, so i went ahead and treated her after consulting with my vet. So far she has also gotten the second shot today, and i will see if i can get a fecal from her.
If she is getting worse in the meantime, i will take her in and get a fecal flush done. Also, she is not whistling hardly at all anymore (only when disturbed) and the whistling is much quieter now.
I hope this is a good sign...sigh.
Thank you so much for your help and for steering me towards researching this possible cause of her problems.
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reps-r-us

If you do a search on Kingsnake & type "lungworm", there is some very good information on various cases & methods of treatment. Also, Oldherper had responded to some of these posts & is very knowledgeable about parasite information.

I did that, but a lot of info that is coming up is contradictory, as in how and with what to treat....
So i went with the info in Dr. Klingenbergs book, after consulting my vet.
Thank you so much...
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reps-r-us

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As far as I understand lungworms are primarily a disease of wild caught snakes. So a nice clean CB kingsnake shouldn't have to worry about them.
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Peter: It's OK, I'll handle it. I read a book about something like this.
Brian: Are you sure it was a book? Are you sure it wasn't NOTHING?

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