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Just a few minutes ago when I went to soak Ajah I noticed a slight buldge under her neck, right where the head and neck meet. I asked my roomate to confirm that I wasn't seeing things or being irrational. She confirmed. What could it possibly be? Is it maybe something she's trying to pass and maybe that's what's causing the "seizure like" episode, the "jump"see post"what could be wrong?", @ Bobclark.com-Retic forum), and her thrashing around?
Maybe she's trying to force a breath???

She hasn't done any of that since then, but she does "wheeze" pretty frequently. Any help is GREATLY appreciated.

One more thing, she's making a strange "wheezing" noise today that i've never heard before. It's like a regular wheeze, but more drawnout.

Thanks again everyone.

Raymond

Quick update:

Upon taking her out of her soaking container I began looking more closely at the lump and noticed a couple of things.

1. When I lightly pressed on it, it gave a sort of congested gurgle sound.

2. when she moves you can hear a distinct "crackle" noise.

3. And as she'd flicker her tongue back and forth it would stop, half way hanging out of her mouth.

I'm trying to be as descriptive as possible.
Thanks again...

Raymond

p.s I almost forgot, the lump is on the belly side of her.

I would take her to the vet as soon as possible. The things you describe don't sound healthy. I would guess shes got an upper resperatory infection and the swelling in the neck is congestion, but like I said "guess". If you really want to get her better, take her to the vet. Try to keep the temp in her cage 88-90 till you can get her to the vet. One of my tigers was able to fight off a resperatory infection by raising the temp in his cage but I caught it quick and still took him to the vet. Hope this helps. Good luck.
Lou

Hi Raymond, It does sound just like Bill described. i too have seen this. The lump in the neck is often from the trachea actually bending with the effort of trying to expel a blockage. Mucus blockage can often be very thick and somewhat "dry". It would help her tremendously to raise her humidity very high (80-90 percent) and to keep her temps high (90-92) and if you can, give her unflavored pedialyte to drink. This is much more readily absorbed into the body than regular water. When you see your vet ask him/her about getting injectible lactated ringers, or ringers lactate, or saline solution. If you can inject her with this then she will hydrate very rapidly and should be able to better clear her trachea. Ask your vet for accurate dosages based on the snake's weight. Keep the snake's stress down as much as is humanly possible.

I hope this helps.

>>Quick update:
>>
>>Upon taking her out of her soaking container I began looking more closely at the lump and noticed a couple of things.
>>
>>1. When I lightly pressed on it, it gave a sort of congested gurgle sound.
>>
>>2. when she moves you can hear a distinct "crackle" noise.
>>
>>3. And as she'd flicker her tongue back and forth it would stop, half way hanging out of her mouth.
>>
>>I'm trying to be as descriptive as possible.
>>Thanks again...
>>
>>
>>Raymond
>>
>>
>>p.s I almost forgot, the lump is on the belly side of her.
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"If I had 365 enemies it would only take a year out of my life to settle all scores." Mia Miselfani

Maybe this?

Years ago I had a large female Peruvian bcc that died from a respiratory problem. In the end, I awoke one morning to banging sounds coming from my living room, where her cage was. Upon inspection I found her belly-up dead.

I took her body to a vet for a necropsy and he found a large thick plug of mucus in her glottis, blocking her airway. He said it was about the size of an adult finger and it looked like chicken fat. I suspect that the thrashing I heard was her last attempts to get a breath.

My advice is to get your snake to a vet ASAP. And, monitor the temps and humidity in the cage. In my case, I believe the problem was caused by too low humidity -- drying out her lungs and eventually creating a raw irritation that produced the mucus. BTW, a couple of weeks before she died I found a couple of bloody pieces of mucus in her water dish. I had been treating her with antibiotics but the condition was probably too far advanced.

The seizure episode you witnessed MAY have been your snake trying to clear its clogged airway -- that time successfully.

I learned a very painful lesson about monitoring humidity back then.

Good luck!

Bill

That sounds almost exactly like my situation. When I told my vet about it when it happened thats the same thing that he thought. But why wouldn't they do something then to prevent it from gettting worse?
I have an appointment tomorrow @ the vet. What tests do you think I should request?

The thing is ...

When I brought my Peruvian to the vet (a very good & well-known herp vet, BTW) after I saw the bloody mucus pieces in the water dish, we were looking the animal over and there was no abnormal mucus in her mouth -- the typical signs of RI. The vet had no idea at that point and wanted to do all kinds of tests but I didn't want to spend TONS of money. So we settled on injectable antibiotics. I know, some might bash me for not spending the bucks but it was really a lot. Really! And it was the early 1990s and I didn't know as much back then. No Internet forums!

Anyway, there is a possibility that my boa's condition was not a respiratory infection (bacteria) but just an acute irritation from dryness (my apartment had forced air heat, it was winter, and I did not use a humidifier. I thouight the really large cat litter pan was enough for the 6-foot cage.).

Some of her other symptoms were:

I'd be watching TV and all of a sudden I'd hear a hiss. Just a single hiss.

I'd occasionally hear a very quiet high-pitched whining sound (I guess while she was exhaling)

On two occasions I saw the slightly bloody mucus plugs in the water dish.

What puzzled me was that we did not see signs of an RI. But in the end my big boa died from a mucus-clogged windpipe. This mucus was not watery -- it was thick and whitish/yellow.

So, I would recommend that you get your animal's lungs and windpipe checked out even if there are no signs of bacterial infection.

Best wishes. Please keep us posted.

Bill