Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I bought a baby GBK at the NARBC show in Anaheim on Sept 12th, and just yesterday I noticed he is making a "popping" sound from his mouth. I bought him from the Reptile Industries booth and KIM Bell told me that he had just shed and not eaten anything yet. I gave him a wild caught side blotched lizard just to get something in his belly.

I noticed that in the last few days he has been acting a little strange. He started rubbing his face against his water dish and the sand substrate, so I figured he was getting ready to shed. A couple days later he started randomly opening and closing his mouth for no apparent reason. And last night I noticed that about every 15 - 20 seconds while he's moving around, he "pops". It almost seems like the hick-ups. I am concerned that this is an early sign of some kind of respitory or digestive sickness.
If anyone has any input I would greatly appreciate it!
Thank You,
Ryan

Hey, this is exactly the problem my greyband had a couple days ago. It is either a respiratory infection or a retained nose cap. if you read a couple posts below where it says PLEASE HELP, EXPERIENCED VET or anyone knowing about respiratory infection. REad the replies. Keep him VERY warm and take down the humidity considerably. Keep him at like 90 degrees and like 30% humidity. you can take down the humidity by just switching him to paper towel substrate. Get him to a vet immediately. They can tell you what the problem is. No one can help you online without having examined it. I have seen this problem a lot lately because everyone is buying greybands now, and somehow your little GBK from the NARBC show got chilled and gave him that infection. What is happening is he cannot breathe and his mouth is filling up with mucus and the popping sound is him trying to breathe thru that mucus. When you raise the temps, you are creating an artificial fever that will hopefully clear up that mucus. Like i said, get him to a vet! Hope this helps.... Will

Thank you Will. How is your GBK doing?
-Ryan

He is doing just great now. Thanks for asking, like I said the "fever" helped clear up the infection a lot. I will post some pics soon. Keep us updated on your little guys recovery! -Will

Did you end up taking him to see a herp Vet? I have an appointment tomorrow at 10:00 am. We'll see what happens.
BTW, great to hear he's doing better!!
-Ryan

I gave Will the info on heating the snake. It is posted below, not too far down the thread. Remember to allow the snake a choice. Don't overheat him all the way all the time. read the thread. Good luck.

Doctor visit yesterday! Doc said he wasn't in very bad shape at all. Caught it in time. Thanks to all that helped!
With a little Baytril and some warm conditions, he should be just fine!!
-Ryan