Potential symptoms of an RI?

[kenthebird]

I've been keeping an eye on my two year old super pastel lesser Basil, as for the last 3 weeks or so, I'll hear an occasional wheeze when handling. I know that some amount noises can be normal but it happens often enough to make me concerned.

He was wheezing a bit more when he was in shed, but just had a beautiful complete shed today and looks good, but I still heard a wheeze when I took him out. I've looked for bubbles in the mouth and have only seen a few tiny ones - not sure if that's normal or not.

I'm a little more concerned with what appears to be sudden weight loss - when I weighed him pre-shed he was 960g, but today was 840g. I haven't fed him his post-shed meal so I'm not sure how much of this weight difference is just being hungry but it seems quite drastic. His skin also seems a little slack, and I'm able to kind of pinch it together.

I've gone ahead and booked a vet appt. in a few days but I wanted to see what y'all thought about these potential symptoms.

Husbandry info: kept in a large Hefty tub, temps 90-94 warm side/76 ambient, humidity 80+% (very humid climate), ample hides.




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[Pitonica]

Hello.
I think some here will agree with me that humidity is way to high and it can surely be a reason for RI if he is constantly in a 80+%
Best for them is 50-60% and in shed about 70%.
Can't you lower the humidity levels?
After/during shed most BP poop so weight loss is inevitable, but 120g sounds bit too much. Also the sounds your hearing from him are another not such a good sign.
Thats my opinion atleast... smart of you to book a vet appointment, I would go right away, but im a bit paranoid..
Hope that he will be fine.


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[hollowlaughter]

Yep, vet. Best case, he has some stuck shed in his nose, leading to the sound.

But you don't want to mess around with the worst case, which is an RI. The high humidity plus lowish ambient could have caused one. You may have caught him in early/low grade RI which isn't something you want to risk sitting on. Catching it early makes treatment far easier for the snake.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Too much humidity is as bad has not enough, 50% is what you should aim for and you can bump it a bit before a shed.

Now as far as RI symptoms it can be anything from wheezing, open mouth breathing, rubbing of the face on the sides of the enclosure, bubbles, heavy mucus in advance stages.

Now there is also wheezing and what may appear as wheezing due to a stuck shed or a nasal cavity issue (that obviously would be something the animal would always do)

Not hearing what you are hearing my advice is that if you are concern take the animal to a vet and have a culture done, do not let the vet treat without a culture or treat just in case.

[kenthebird]

Thanks for your responses everyone! I'll cut a panel out of the top of the tub and replace with wire mesh to bring down the humidity, any other advice for boosting ambient and bringing down humidity is welcome. I have another young ball and a kingsnake in the same room, should I quarantine my sick snake in another room? Or is staying in their respective enclosures & being careful between handlings safe enough for preventing the spread of infection?

I'll update again when I go to the vet tomorrow with what they say. Hopefully my Basil boy will start feeling better soon!




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[kenthebird]

Just to give a quick update: went to the vet today and doc diagnosed a minor respiratory infection, we're knocking it out with subcutaneous injections once every 3 days. I'll be modifying the tub to bring humidity down asap! Thanks for the help everyone :-)


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[hollowlaughter]

Great! Since I just replied to another user with the same method: look into tube restraint. Snakes generally do not like taking their shots and will make a massive fuss with flailing or bowel voiding.

So tubing and working on a surface you can easily clean afterward helps.