Reptile & Amphibian Forums

So I got my Irian Jaya carpet python at the show today. I didn't notice anything when I got her, but I noticed at home that she makes a tiny bit of noise when she breathes. Her nostrils are kind of crusted and she occasionally opens her mouth to breathe. I know these are signs of a cold. When I got her, she was very dry and was on gravel. I now have her in a nice humid tank full of moss and actual substrate that holds moisture.

Do you think these signs are possibly because she's been in a deli cup for a while...on dry gravel for that matter? She is a tiny baby, for that matter. So it's kind of hard for me to examine her face. There is no bubbling or anything like that. I am going to keep her humiditiy high for a day, but if it doesn't clear up, I'll take her to my exotics vet.

Any tips?

Bubbling from the nostril's and open mouth breathing is a sign that something is probably wrong. If you can get her mouth open, look for mucus buildup on the roof of her mouth. If you've caught the problem early enough, you can try and crank the heat up in your cage for a few days (over 90*F), that often fixes the problem. If after a few days the snake doesn't seem to be improving a trip to the vet would be a good idea. Also keep in mind that it could be a sinus infection and not a respiratory infection. I had a Ball Python with the same symptoms you're mentioning and I took it to the vet and it was a sinus infection (cleared up w/ shots given every two days for 2 weeks) and not a respiratory infection. If any doubts, take it to the vet.

Thanks. I ended up taking her to the vet the morning after the post. And the vet confirmed it as an RI. I will be giving Jade an injection of Baytril every 2 days until it clears up, and she has a follow up appointment in a week. She's also full of parasties...so I need to get her dewormed, also.

Parasites aren't very common in captive bred pythons, was yours wild? Anyway, glad to hear that you got the infection cleared up.

No, it is captive bred. It's a tiny baby, and they had about 20 of them. But I'm thinking if it was housed with other babies, that may have been in contact with a snake that had parasites, that's maybe where Jade maybe have gotten them. Or even food. I have a bearded dragons (cb) that also had parasites. ::shrug:: Either way, she's going to get all fixed up. I wouldn't think that a wc baby snake would be this friendly, either. I really don't know for sure. It seems odd if the breeder would have been selling an entire clutch of 12" babies, though.

Well it's good to hear that you're getting all the problems taken care of. It seems odd that a CB would have parasites, but it does happen. Considering you were in the market for IJ's, did you come across any that were striped? I've got a male that's about 2 years old, but he's got genetic striping that runs down each of his sides from head to tail. I live up in VT where we only have one good trustworthy pet store so I was just wondering if maybe you've seen any while looking for yours?
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1.0 Anery Columbian Redtail Boa
1.0 Striped Irian Jaya Carpet Python
0.1 Gray Banded Kingsnake
1.1 Ball Python
1.0 Sunglow Striped Corn
1.1 Leopard Gecko (Male-Albino, Female-Reduced Pattern)

I haven't seen any striped. But I also wasn't looking for a striped. At the show I went to, all that was available were babies. And the babies are so bland anyways.
But nopers, haven't seen any anywhere, now that I think about it. Are you sure it's genetic?
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0.1 Irian Jaya carpet python
0.1 Ball python
0.3 Crested Geckos
2.2.7 Leopard Geckos (male-jungle, hypo tangerine carrot tail. female-normal, albino. babies-leucistic, blizzard, normal)
0.1 Western Hognose snake
1.0 Eastern Milksnake (currently free roaming in my home =/)
1.0 Albino Lavender California Kingsnake
1.1 Bearded Dragons
0.2 Water turtles
1.0 Umbrella Cockatoo (belongs to my mom and I)

Yea, I'm sure it's genetic. It was captive bred by a woman who works for one of the larger reptile distributors up here in the Northeast. She raised it as a baby and when it was about 1.5yrs old she ran out of space so she sent it up here to Burlington to see if our local pet store would want it. It's def. a genetic stripe and not due to incubation temperatures.
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1.0 Anery Columbian Redtail Boa
1.0 Striped Irian Jaya Carpet Python
0.1 Gray Banded Kingsnake
1.1 Ball Python
1.0 Sunglow Striped Corn
1.1 Leopard Gecko (Male-Albino, Female-Reduced Pattern)
Various Fish