Mucus In The Throat Of My Ball Python?

[MissLovesSnakes]

I adopted my ball python about a year & a half ago. The only information about him I received is that he is 7 years old & was apparently a 'runt'. When I got him, he was a petrified animal that hid all the time & would randomly strike at people, especially men. He was thin like a corn snake & quite short. Over the last year and a half he has grown just over a foot in length and doubled his width. He is rarely ever frightened and no longer tries to stay hidden.

Unfortunately about 5 weeks ago he started wheezing/puffing. He received 3 weeks worth of antibiotics. The wheezing/puffing is a lot better than it was. His lung x-rays showed that his lung was quite clear. When the vets (I went to 2 different ones) listen to him with their stethoscopes it doesn't sound bad. But there is a large amount of mucus at the back of his throat. My main vet says that when she opens his mouth, his trachea is clear and that the mucus is coming from the throat behind the trachea so she doesn't think it's to do with respiratory infection. She took a swab of the mucus & when the results came in, it said that there were no parasites or bacterium found. He's refused to eat for the last 3 weeks. There's no clicking noises, no bubbles coming out of his nose, I've seen him yawn only once in the last month, he doesn't keep his mouth open, he's never regurgitated, he usually poops 7-8 days after eating, he's peeing normally.

Does anybody know what on earth the mucus at the back of his throat behind the trachea could be?

[kitedemon]

To be honest I am unsure. If you have had the culture done (did they do a lung wash or just a swab?) and it is clear (was that before or after antibiotics? if after how long?) assuming the vet knows what they are doing it could just be 'spit' effectively. I have a small misformed girl whom has odd mouth issues she too forms bubbles when she is excited. I have repeatedly had lung wash cultures done and a swab culture and it is just liquid. Nothing unexpected. The best guess in my case is the snake due to her odd skull shape and short tongue she 'froths' liquid when she is excited. I am not saying this is what your animal is doing but it could be. Is the discharge slimy or is it watery?

[MissLovesSnakes]

They only did a swab. The mucus has been there before & after the antibiotics. The swab was done 7-9 days after his last antibiotic shot. The most they could say is that there may be inflammation. The mucus is clear and very thick/slimy.

[SkyEatsLyndsee]

Hello. I know this thread is old, but your story is extremely similar to mine. My snake is having almost the same exact problem and there hasn't been a clear answer as to what he has. I, however, do not have a ball python, but your post has been the only thread I found that was even remotely similar to the symptoms of my snake. My snake is a 4 year old brindled rat snake, bought from a local pet store as a baby. For 3 years, my snake was perfectly healthy and I was lucky to have little to no issues with him. Just last summer in June of 2013, my snake started "coughing" or spitting up a thick, white, thin and long sticky "mucus" that occasionally has speckles of blood in it. After much research, I figured he had an upper respiratory infection because he also showed slight signs of open-mouth breathing (but that is the ONLY other symptom he showed). I immediately took him to the vet and he was swabbed and tested positive for pneumonia. He was treated with 7 baytril injections accordingly over a 14 day period. After that his symptoms seemed to clear up, but not too long after he started to cough up the thick white mucus again. He was taken to the vet again and tested negative for any upper respiratory infection. Long story short, throughout the end of 2013 until now he has continued to cough up the same type of mucus at different times, sometimes within 3 weeks of each other and sometimes within days. He has been seen by two different reptile vets where they both received samples of the mucus and were at a loss as to what it was, and they were even shocked to find out that the mucus was coming from his glottis (I have had many opportunities to watch him cough it up and where it comes from...it is very scary and disturbing from a motherly point of view). Since June of 2013, he has received baytril injections twice on separate occasions, approximately 3-4 mouth swabs, and one culture (the culture showed that he had Klebsiella oxytoca and was treated with the baytril since it can treat both the bacterium and an upper respiratory infection just in case he was developing one, but it was not related to the mucus), and had his mucus tested numerous times (results showed nothing).

I don't know if this has anything to do with his issue, but I have noticed that my snake has never really hissed. Is it possible that he could have a defect in his glottis area and it is causing him to discharge mucus? The mucus is never watery or bubbly like a respiratory infection is supposed to show.

If anyone has any information/comments/questions, please feel free. Being that he is my first snake, I have been extremely concerned with this issue since it happened. I can also include pictures of the mucus or my snake if that helps anyone. Thank you!

[bcr229]

Has your vet suggested a lung wash?

[MissLovesSnakes]

The vet decided to just monitor it instead of further testing & treatment for the time being because she was eating, sounded clear in the lungs & behaving healthy. And oddly enough it went away on it's own after a couple months.