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Our dumerils boa has been making a loud breathing noise every couple of minutes. He also has lost his appetite - he normally is less interested in eating in the wintertime, but he hasn't eaten for quite a while longer than normal. He is 5 years old.
Any ideas what may be wrong, and what should we do?
A little more info would be helpful, but the end result is probably a vet visit and change in husbandry somewhere. But, what is a while? Are we talking 2 weeks or months? Is he in shed, and what are the cage temps/style/room temp., etc? If it is a respiratory infection, meds will help, but if you don't correct the cause, it will probably just repeat itself, so might as well cover all the basics.
The cool side of the cage is at around 75 degrees, and the warm side is probably 85 or so. I use an undercage heat source for the warm area, and a heat lamp on a thermostat to ensure that the cool side doesn't get too cool. I use aspen chips in the cage since he likes to bury himself.
I heard the sound once about two weeks ago, but didn't have him out much since then. It wasn't until sunday night that I had him out long enough to notice his breathing noise.
Can anyone recommend a good reptile vet in the Maryland-Washington, DC area?
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