Possible RI/Stress?? Need input

[Daybreaker]

I picked up two female adult balls today from a breeder. Saw both in person and each looked fine other than one having a stuck eyecap from a recent shed. After about an hour and a half ride back to my place I noticed that when we (me and my bf) took them out (we had them in individual snake bags for the ride) each had issues that concerned me.

One (the stuck eye cap) had a very slight wheeze/whistle sound, for the time holding her we only heard it three times. Her mouth was clear of any bubbles or cheesy substance, and she has healthy scales/skin and clear eyes (besides the eye cap).

The second is what is worrying me the most: she has a very apparent wheeze/whistle as well as a rumbling that I could physically feel within her body as she breathed. It sounded/felt almost like when you have phlem in your throat and you're trying to clear it by coughing it up in your throat - it was very similar to that sound and feel. Opened her mouth and she had lots of bubbles in the back of her throat/near her windpipe but it wasn't so bad that the bubbles were gurgling out of the sides of her mouth. No cheesey substance, clear eyes, scales and belly.

So here's where I'm confused: these all sound like the start of an RI yet when we saw them in person there was NO signs of any of this what so ever. RIs don't happen in a one and a half hour transit of course. So what's going on?

Talked to the breeder and he didn't see or feel any of these signs before when he had them for sale or before we traveled down to pick them up earlier that day. He checked the rest of the snakes in his racks and none are having these issues. The rumbling/wheezing/bubbles seems to have happened in an hour but how is that possible?

I have since upped their temps and they are in quarantine. Show I raise or lower their humidity? (Both are at 61 degrees humidity currently).

Could these signs have been stress related from the move? Can someone shed some light on this for me?

Thanks

[Rusky]

Sounds like the first one might have shed stuck on its nose and it sounds like wheezing when it breaths.

[cmack91]

from what ive heard on here, anytime theres a risk for an RI, you raise temps and lower the humidity, try going down to 45-50%? and se what happens, but im not sure why it would come on so fast, im not thatexperienced, but im sure someone that is will be in here soon. and also, how much do you trust the breeder? they may have just ben trying to get rid of them real quick and was lucky enough to have it not show symtoms until you left, i hope thats not what hapened but it is possible

[CoolioTiffany]

The first one seems to be fine if you are not seeing any excess mucus in the mouth or bubbles.

Sometimes when you open up a snake's mouth, small saliva bubbles will be located at the throat area. If the saliva seems stringy and the snake has larger bubbles around the mouth and tracea I would set up a vet appointment.

The wheezing could just be from the stress on the snakes moving into a different environment from what they're used to. I would keep a close eye on the second Ball and raise up the temps a couple degrees. If you can try, see if there's any bubbles within the tracea when the snake opens it to breathe or in/around the Jacobson's organ and nasal cavities at the top of the mouth.

Also if you have a good camera pics of the mouth would be helpful.

[mpkeelee]

If you can feel rumbling when it breathes it most likely has an RI and the fluid is causing it. Hold it up to ur ear and wait for it to breath. If u hear anything then it is an RI. Up the humidity to around 80 and that will help break up anything inside. If u start seeing mucous and smears on the wall call a vet and make an appointment

[cmack91]

If you can feel rumbling when it breathes it most likely has an RI and the fluid is causing it. Hold it up to ur ear and wait for it to breath. If u hear anything then it is an RI. Up the humidity to around 80 and that will help break up anything inside. If u start seeing mucous and smears on the wall call a vet and make an appointment

you UP the humidity? i thought you were supposed to lower it

[Daybreaker]

Sounds like the first one might have shed stuck on its nose and it sounds like wheezing when it breaths.

I didn't think about something stuck in there - and she did have a tiny little piece of stuck shed on her nose along with the eye cap. Will the stuck shed that's causing the whistle just be right there on top of the nose/scales like any stuck shed?

from what ive heard on here, anytime theres a risk for an RI, you raise temps and lower the humidity, try going down to 45-50%? and se what happens, but im not sure why it would come on so fast, im not thatexperienced, but im sure someone that is will be in here soon. and also, how much do you trust the breeder? they may have just ben trying to get rid of them real quick and was lucky enough to have it not show symtoms until you left, i hope thats not what hapened but it is possible

It's my first time working with this breeder but honestly I don't get the "feeling" that he was trying to drop these off on someone. He has many good guys on Fauna and really seems like he takes care of his animals and cares about them at that. On top of that he has been more than helpful and cooperative through these events, and really wants to make it right with me. It also puzzles me why these affect would be noticeable so soon!

The first one seems to be fine if you are not seeing any excess mucus in the mouth or bubbles.

Sometimes when you open up a snake's mouth, small saliva bubbles will be located at the throat area. If the saliva seems stringy and the snake has larger bubbles around the mouth and tracea I would set up a vet appointment.

The wheezing could just be from the stress on the snakes moving into a different environment from what they're used to. I would keep a close eye on the second Ball and raise up the temps a couple degrees. If you can try, see if there's any bubbles within the tracea when the snake opens it to breathe or in/around the Jacobson's organ and nasal cavities at the top of the mouth.

Also if you have a good camera pics of the mouth would be helpful.

The second one had lots of bubble in the back of the throat as well around/in the windpipe when she relaxed and breathed. I did not see anything stringy - just bubbles. I will be checking them tomorrow and will look at the top of her mouth - I didn't look there when we checked. I will try to get pics of both their mouths as well.

If you can feel rumbling when it breathes it most likely has an RI and the fluid is causing it. Hold it up to ur ear and wait for it to breath. If u hear anything then it is an RI. Up the humidity to around 80 and that will help break up anything inside. If u start seeing mucous and smears on the wall call a vet and make an appointment

Why would I feel/heard the rumbling when she got home but not at his house? Could the transit have exaggerated the RI into being noticeable if she indeed had one while in the breeder's care and it was so subtle he didn't notice? I have upped the hot side on each of their tubs, and will try to up the ambient temps as well (should 83-85 be a good ambient?). Humidity is at 64 now, so I'll try to raise that too. They are both on paper towels with just a water bowl - I will look out for the smearing of mucus. I didn't see any smearing in their old tubs also.

Thank you for your help all! If I could, I'd give everyone a hug

[Daybreaker]

I'll add that the bubbles in the second one's throat looked almost like a froth of bubbles, not a couple huge ones. Until I can get pics it looked closest to this: http://us.cdn4.123rf.com/168nwm/ragn...background.jpg but NOT like this: http://farm1.static.flickr.com/99/29...bd211ce091.jpg

Also I know sometimes snakes will go off feed with RIs, but these two have been good feeders and have been eating consistently for the breeder. Each are ~ 2200 gram proven breeders.

[snake lab]

When dealing with r.i. raise the heat to 92 get on paper and loose the humidity. Also because snakes cant battle infections very well a visit to the vet for injectibale baytril is in order. Hit em with .007 once a day for 14 days middle third of the body either side of the spine in the muscle and between the scales.

[mpkeelee]

So ur saying lower humidity too? Two vets have told me to raise it. I'm starting to doubt my supposed knowledgeable reptile vet