Hi everyone. I recently acquired a pair of early Woma's approx. 2 months ago, wonderful animals, great feeders, putting on a lot of weight. However I'm noticing, especially in the female, a lot of huffing, almost like a sneezing or what seems like the act of the animal trying to clear it's nostrils. She even opens her mouth and rubs the side of her face like she's trying to itch her nostrils or clear her face. She has basically done this on and off since I received her and I figured okay, she's getting close to a shed. This behavior seems to get better after her shed but there is always some huffing, or almost what seems like hiccupping to her breathing. I'm not inexperienced in keeping reptiles but these are my first Woma's. I have great set ups for them, or so I think, 4x2x2 cages, aspen and or newspaper for substrate, heat panels on top and heat pads below plus thermostats for heat control (90 at warm end 78-80 at cool end)(they are almost always at the warm end). These animals are pounding pinkie rats every 3-4 days so their body weight is good, I don't have a scale but they sure are chunky little animals. I'm just concerned about the breathing or the appearance of clearing the nostrils bit. Is this typical behavior for young Womas? Please reply with any advice or recommendations. Thanks Steve
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WOMA QUESTION? (Please Reply)
Replies (1)
Let me just start by saying that i know little about womas and have never owned them. I make the following observations, and please feel free to correct me if i'm wrong.
- Snakes have no effective means of ridding themselves of mucus. This is why respiratory infections seem to be so prevalent. If a snake is making weird breathing noises, weazes, sneezes, etc, it is most likely a R.I.
- That said, the fact that the snake is rubbing it's nostrils suggests that they are blocked. This could be from bad sheds, and should be checked and manually corrected immediately.
- Feeding every three or four days?? If it were me, personally, i would be reducing that to at the very minimum, every 5 days. In some animals (and i'm not sure on womas), power feeding can reduce overall lifespan.
Anyways, If in any doubt as to the health of your animals, I would suggest going to a vet.
Cheers
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