breathing heavy

i just picked up a reticulated python about a week ago from an older man i owned alot of reptiles and have done alot of research about snakes and what not he says he bought the snake from a breeder at an expo he feeds with no problems but latley hes been breathing heavily when i handle him he was whistling out of his nose at first but i raised the temp in the cage and closely watched the humidity and the whistling seemed to stop but he still breathing deeply he's only a year old and besides the breathing he seems healthy i've scheduled an appointment at the vet but i would like to hear some peoples advice

Thank you

From my experience, breathing hard usually means they're stressed and feeling unsafe. I would get him a little extra time to himself to settle in.

Ask the admins to move this into the python category. I think you will get a lot more answers there.

I know nothing about those types of pythons....however hearing the nose whistle and the heavy breathing I instantly worried about an RI.

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Originally Posted by retic-lover1988

i just picked up a reticulated python about a week ago from an older man i owned alot of reptiles and have done alot of research about snakes and what not he says he bought the snake from a breeder at an expo he feeds with no problems but latley hes been breathing heavily when i handle him he was whistling out of his nose at first but i raised the temp in the cage and closely watched the humidity and the whistling seemed to stop but he still breathing deeply he's only a year old and besides the breathing he seems healthy i've scheduled an appointment at the vet but i would like to hear some peoples advice

Thank you

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dealing mainly with retics, I can tell you they do breath louder than other big snakes. It is also very hard for a retic to get an RI . In no way am I saying they dont get them just very hard for them being such a resilliant and strong species. with you being unsure and not havig the snake long a vet visit sounds like a good idea. big snakes no matter what people say are a little different to deal with than these little bp's, carpets and so on. there are other forums with more large constrictor people out there.

I have to agree with shawn when I first got into retics I thought my first retic had an r.i. But he didnt have any signs of it other then the breathing heavly. I took him to the vet and the they told me he was fine. Sometimes mine breath heavy when they get ill with me. If I have to clean a cage and they dont really want to be messed with they start breathing really hard and huffing and puffing to let me know there not to happy

When I picked up my Tiger retic a year ago I was still new to the big guys. He was weezing real bad and I brought him to the Vet. Well what do you know.... He had an R.I. The vet gave me a shot to give him once a week under him scales, and within a month it cleared up. Hope it helps!

The whistling could possibly be from a stuck piece of shed inside the nostrils. The heavy breathing may be what others have suggested-he may be nervous from the move and needs more time to settle in. A visit to the vet is never a bad idea.

See:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...7&postcount=23

If it sounds like compressed air being released then I can say that this seems to be the equivalent of heavy breathing.

Whistling is another matter, of course...

Recently, my BP whistled during a handling session. I scheduled him for a vet appt and misted his cage down. Its been very dry here. Of course, by the time the vet appt came around he sounded just fine. The vet found nothing wrong and recommended I simply keep an eye on him. He's been fine ever since. The vet did say that they can get temporary stuffiness just like we can.