Reptile & Amphibian Forums

He's only about 8 months old
was vet checked when I first brought him home
but he has a lot of trouble shedding, so I've done as advised and help him out by soaking him in lukewarm water and then rubbing off the loose skin...

I was doing that tonight and I noticed he was making a funny noise... like the sound that your nose makes when its stuffed up and you breath out... that really high pitched squeal noise... it was really quiet though, and since I have a cold, I figured it was me... then all of a sudden he made this funny meowing noise like a cat!

I got really worried thinking I hurt him or something... but I was being gentle about it, doing it slowly, just soaking him and then rubbing the skin off.

I thought at first maybe he's just pissed off and doesn't want me picking at his skin... he seemed to like it the first shed I did this for him though, he just sat still and let me take it off... this time he was agitated though, moving around a lot and trying to get into my hair (he likes hanging out in my hair...)

I've put him back in his cage, he's currently rubbing his face on everything.
should I be worried about this?
should I take him to the vet or is it just him telling me to piss off?
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Alexandria Neonakis
Owner of:
Olivia the Female Green Ig
Maize(f) and Onyx(m) the cornsnakes
Peter(m) and Lois(f) the Leopard Geckos

It's a resperatory infection, and you owe it to your snake to get him to the vets. If left to it's own it's more likely to kill him that to heal up and go away. Until you can get him there though, you could bump the heat in his cage up to about 90 degrees.

Okay, I've knocked the temp up in the whole room
E-mailed my herp vet
I'm going to skip off classes tomorrow to take him in

I'm freaking out
I don't know what I've done wrong!

The only thing I can think of is possibly ambient temp.
He's got an under heat pad right now, but even at its highest I don't think it's providing enough for him throughout the whole tank, only on his belly. Tomorrow I'll get him an overhead light as well, maybe a CHE...

Another question is should I take him out of my room?
I have two corns in there, a leopard gecko and an iguana... is the infection air borne?
I've never handled any of my pets after another without washing my hands.

I feel like such a bad mom
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Alexandria Neonakis
Owner of:
Olivia the Female Green Ig
Maize(f) and Onyx(m) the cornsnakes
Peter(m) and Lois(f) the Leopard Geckos

I have never heard my bp making any noise before BUT I have seen my bp rubbing his face sometimes but does that mean he also have this infection?

Don't panic yet. They often rub their face on things in an attempt to break the skin at the mouth to begin shedding. Sometimes it's just an itch, or simply feels good. If you hear a noise when they breath or see saliva bubbling from their mouth, then you have an infection.

This is the exact same symptoms my adult male was displaying. i got him to the vet immediately and it was a respiratory infection. Do the right thing for your snake and take it to teh vet. My vet is a real nice guy and he gave my snake a shot of antibiotics and sent me home with 9 more. He was on a ten day antibiotics treatment. The vet showed me how to give the shots and I am happy to say my *boy* is doing much better!

Ses01

Taking it to the vet can never hurt...
but if he only started making the weezing sound when you were giving him the bath, that is pretty normal.

The water goes in through the nostrils and they blow it back out when the breath. However, if you ball is making a weezing noise all the time that is due to excess mucus, most likely the result of a repiratory infection.

If your worried, go to the vet, at the very least they will put your mind at ease.