Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey everyone. My 7 month old male ball is definately sick. I've noticed that over the past 2 days he has been "yawning" and "wheezing". I've even seen him blow a few bubbles. He ate a few days ago and had no problem. Please help, hopefully it's nothing major but I'm a newbie at this and need your help. Thanks a bunch in advance. Any suggestions, tips or recommendations you have are greatly appreciated.

Tim Savard

Sounds like a resperitory infection. Your best bet is to get him to a vet.

Quig

Will the vet want to put him on meds??? Whats the usual procedure they follow for a respitory infection???

He also has been rubbing his face on the walls of his cage. Almost looks like he is trying to shed but I dont believe he is even in shed. Is this part of a respitory infection???

Yes, the rubbing is part of the respiratory infection....yours has all the classic signs. I would get him to the vet like first thing in the morning. He will most like give you some antibiotic injections. In the mean time, get the temps up higher. I would shoot for an ambiant temperature in the low 90s throughout the whole cage. I've only had a touch of a resp. infection in one snake about 10 years ago, and I've raised and kept 100's of snakes in that time. For that, my vet recomended the raised temps thing. Its like forcing the snake to run a fever. As soon as you get this cleared up, and I hope you do, you MUST fix whatever husbandry problem caused it. Snakes will not get this illness if kept in conditions of proper temps and humidity. Can you share your set-up so we can see if you've got a problem? Good Luck

Thanks for the help. I brought him to my good friends at NERD this evening and they are taking care of him. He'll be fine as he was just at the beginning stages of the infection. Anyway, I have him in a vision cage with cobra heat pad under the cage. I have an over head heat lamp to keep the temp correct and a thermostat set to the pad for a hot spot of 90 degrees. I have a large water dish in there, a hide for him with moss inside it. I keep the moss damp and mist down his cage a few times a week if it looks dry. Air temp is kept in the 80's during the day and 77ish at night. I thought I was doing everything correctly and have been told by many that the infection could be stress related. What do you think?

Most respiratory infections are stress related, and not due to temp.

Good luck,
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Chad Bachman

The Vet will most likely put him on baytril and/or penicillin, hopefully both. What is the history of this guy: age, origin etc. What kind of setup do you have him in? Most R.I.'s arrise because of poor temps and/or humidity. You should get him to the Vet ASAP though.

Evan
EnD Constrictors

It sounds like a respitory infection and it sounds like it's progressed to the point that you need a herp vet. The vet will examine it and put it on antibotics and fluids if needed. Until you get it to the vet raise the ambient temps in your cage to 85-90 degrees and drop your humidity. But don't hesitate on getting him to a vet the longer you wait the harder it's going to be to clear it up. If it appears he's having trouble breathing hang him head down to help him clear his lungs. Hope this helps.
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Tosha

8.8.0 Ball Python (Harry and Fluffy and currently un-named)
0.2.0 Feline (Pippen and Pandora)
0.0.1 Dessert Tortoise (Pope)
7.9.5 Fish (1,2,3,4...)
0.0.1 Frog rescued from pool skimmer
0.0.2 Lizards rescued from pool skimmer

In addition to what Tosha has said... if you have any other snakes, do not let them have any contact with the sick one. If you have to handle the snakes for any reason, make sure to handle the one with the respiratory infection (RI) last... RI is contagious. The vet will most likely have you give it Baytril. Good luck!

Eric

Thanks for the help and advice. I brought my little guy to NERD this evening and they said he is doing fine. Damn, I love those guys up there. THANKS KARA AND KEVIN!!!!!!!