Really weird behavior... I'm concerned

[danielwilu2525]

I'll try my best to explain this. So today I was handling Sammy, and I see him breathing more heavily than usual, he would stare at nothing then jerk his head back as If someone poked his head, and all of a sudden opened his mouth wide and then shut it. I think the reason why he opened his mouth randomly Is because I never see him "roar" after his meals. In the 5 live rats he's eaten I have not see him "roar" once. I'll put in my husbandry below.


TEMPS-
DAY- Ambient- 82-84 (usually at 82) Basking- 92-93
NIGHT- Ambient 76-78 Basking - 92-93

HUMIDITY- 58%-65%

He Is In a 15qt tub with a reptile basics small black hide and a water bowl with a built in hide. His substrate Is paper towels.

[Oxylepy]

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...eavy-breathing

hey i had the exact same problem with my 07 male pastel, i read a thread made by Corey Woods or a comment in a thread by him that suggests you boost the temperature to around 95F maybe even a little higher and just cook the breathing problem right out of em . . . . so i did this i boosted the temp on the hot side to about 95ish and within a day the problem was gone and he has been fine ever since, good luck hope everything works out!

The opening and closing of the mouth is often a yawn. Jerking the head back I'm not sure about.

I dod know someone who fed their ball python a mouse and the snake kept opening its mouth, turned out ot had a piece of poop on the roof of its mouth. Pretty sure that's the jacobson organ too, lol.

Hopefully that link and post helps, it may be related