Breathing really hard (new BP owner)

[alienbellhop]

Hi all,

So I recently found bugs under my pythons water bowl, which looked like mites but I'm not sure what they are since I didn't see them crawling all over him like I've been told they would. Well ever since then (about a week ago), he's been moving his body in and out, like he's breathing really hard or something, but I can't hear any wheezing like I heard would happen with a respiratory infection. I cleaned out his cage with a Nix solution and the bugs appear to be gone, but he's still doing the breathing really hard thing. Is this just him digesting, or could he have internal parasites or something? Thanks a lot for the help

[Flicker]

He could just be stressed, did you just get him? How old is he?

What did the bugs look like? were they small and red?

[llovelace]

Does he do when when you have out of the cage handling him or when you first open cage to get him out or spot clean?

[alienbellhop]

I got him 2-3 weeks ago, and I don't know how old he is, but he's definitely a juvenile since he's only a foot/foot-and-a-half long..He only started doing this about a week ago though. He does it if he's just laying in the cage or if I'm handling him. The bugs were very small and looked like black specks of dirt. I should mention his skin seems almost loose on him, something I realized soon after buying him from Petco.

[llovelace]

ahhhh I see, well call petco and find out what herp vet they use, and explain that they may have sold you a sick snake and you want it looked at.

[alienbellhop]

ok cool thank you I hope it's free since they probably sold me a sick snake but knowing Petco I doubt it..