Ball Python yawning is this normal?

My Ball Python came out of his hide looked at me and yawned 3 times in a row is this normal? nothing has changed in his cage, hes in a 30 long aquarium the temps on the hot side are 97 degrees and on the cool side 80 degrees. He has one hide on the warm side and a dish of water on the cool side, hes 9 months old and 2 ft long. I feed him stunned ASF rats, one rat once a week.

Thanks
Chris:snake:

As long as you don't see any signs of an RI (popping or wheezing when breathing, mucous in the mouth/nostrils) then he's just yawning for no reason, as balls are known to do sometimes. When they have an RI they sometimes "yawn" to try to breathe better, but if there are no signs he's just yawning. Nobody knows why they do it, maybe they just yawn to confuse us :P

On a side note, 97 is a bit hot for a warm side... If you have it on a thermostat I would maybe turn it down a bit, and if not I strongly suggest you get one

my adult ball will do that at times. Ive got him out from under his hide and he hissed at me sat there for a min yawned and went on his way like he had to wake up lol.

mine does that ALWAYS after he eats!

Thanks for the replies, I'm glad the yawning is normal for him to do.

Chris

As long as he's not holding his mouth open for an extended period then I wouldn't worry about it.

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Originally Posted by lexxielightning

As long as you don't see any signs of an RI (popping or wheezing when breathing, mucous in the mouth/nostrils) then he's just yawning for no reason, as balls are known to do sometimes. When they have an RI they sometimes "yawn" to try to breathe better, but if there are no signs he's just yawning. Nobody knows why they do it, maybe they just yawn to confuse us :P

On a side note, 97 is a bit hot for a warm side... If you have it on a thermostat I would maybe turn it down a bit, and if not I strongly suggest you get one

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This, my girl did it soon after we got her and I didn't know what to think lol. Like Lexxie says as long as there is no signs of RI there is no problem.

My ball has yawned once or twice after having to re introduce a dropped rat. I think just from being ready to eat. And iv been keepin my 40g tank at 84 & 78 f.

Hot side temps are a little high.

Yawing is totally normal, but most of the time you will catch them yawning after eating. (To re-align their jaw)

It's perfectly normal, and totally hysterical.

I've heard they "yawn" after meals to pop their jaws back into place. That's probably what's going on with the repeated yawns--I bet he was sleeping with his nose smushed up against something at a funny angle. And after he woke up he was having a hard time popping his jaw back into alignment.