Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a five to six foot dog tame boa. I was told it was red-tailed, and she does indeed have a red tail though I have my doubts...

But thats not thw point, my question is this: When I pick her up out of her cage (by the way, I refer to it as a 'her' all the time but she hasnt been sexed so its a 50% shot..), she lets out a breath through her nose... i can hear her do this before but now its like when a person has a stuffy nose... i can hear he mucus(Sp?) in her nose, its not so bad its draining out of her nose but when she breaths either rapidly or close to my ears I can her this...

I plan on getting a new basking light to raise her tempatures but other than that, is there anything else i can do? She is a very healthy snake otherwise and has never had anythign wrong with her i the 3-4 years I have had her since a baby... I am quite worried, though I hope its not a huge deal... She still eats like a pig, and shows no signs of being ill... just the stuffy nose sound...

Any tips?

Duster

This may be unrelated to your situation, but I experienced this once also when I was away for a few days and was not able to change out one of my snakes water. I gave him lots of water and he drank more than usual. IT made a strange almost whistling noise. Maybe it can be caused by having a dehydrated mouth/airway?

Sounds to me like your snake has an Upper Respitory Infection (RI). and if you can raise the temperature and it helps then you are free and clear but if you raise the temps and he/she continues then i would say a tript o the vet would be an order... i hope that the temperture raise works out for you. Good Luck

Sincerely,
Rose Hipskind
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www.srsnakes.com

Thats what I was afraid of... Well, thank you much for the tips. I am actually in the process of doing exatly as you say, and also building a larger cage... Originally it was for a python or monitor I wanted to get but I may just put my boa in there for now since I think I will be able to keep higher temps in this one...