I only have one BP and I interact with him almost daily. He's always friendly and inquisitive- hides most of the time unless I'm late a day or two with feeding. My warm side is 85F, basking is 89-90F, cool side around 74F. I keep humidity above 50%. He eats 1 f/t rat about once a week approximately the same width at his thickest part. I weigh him about once a month and he has never lost weight. He's not fat but he's not skinny. He always looks healthy is what I'm trying to say. Always has a perfect shed, always has normal stools (shed a few days ago and had a solid 4 inch poop yesterday, it was huge and stinky lol). He has never refused a meal no matter what stage of shed he's in or time of year it is. He is about 1 1/2 years old.
SO about 3 months ago, mid December I think, I saw him do something that sounded like a snort or maybe a cough/sneeze. He didn't open his mouth but his body kind of contracted when he did it. I was worried naturally about a possible RI, I upped his temps and humidity, looked up vets in my area and monitored him very closely- and nothing ever progressed. That was the only time he did that, he never developed any breathing sounds like wheezing or anything, he didn't start holding his head elevated, no substances coming out of his nose or mouth, his behaviour and habits never changed, nothing. I was confused....I was told it might have been a fart and that its not possible for snakes to sneeze or cough.
He did it again in January but I just heard it I didn't actually witness it and I was a bit less worried about an RI but again monitored him very closely.
And then last night he did it again! It sounds like a short snort and his body kind of clenches- I was near his tail and it definitely wasn't a fart.
He has always yawned every once in a while and his mouth always looks clear and pink. This cough thing is the only change in his behaviour and his overall picture of health is always constant and seemingly optimal.
I am confused is the short of it.
Can RI's be present and never progress?? If I do take him to the vet will they just look at him? Because he appears to be healthy other than this. Can they detect an elevated immune response from a stool sample or would they take a blood sample? I don't want to stress him unnecessarily or put him on prophylactic antibiotics that are tough on any animals body if he's not sick... I don't know.
Thanks for reading all of this....
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