Help NOW. FREAKING OUT

We fed Cleo a hairless rat today and went to pre stun it by whacking it with the tongs (it's worked every other time).
The rats skull cracked. Mess...everywhere.
Cleo was striking at us from the sides of the tub so she was still interested, we fed it to her.
She took forever to eat it and was making horrible, horrible wheezing, gurgling, and grotesque sounds as she ate it.
We fed Nergal a slightly bigger than usual rat and he made the same sounds. Awful high pitched, wheezing, gurgling sounds--like they couldn't breathe. Cleo sounded like her mouth was full of water, and I know the rat had a ton of blood she swallowed.
What the heck was it?
Do I need to call a vet?
I'm panicking. Nowhere sees snakes on Fridays--no one sees snakes all the way until Wednesday. The doctors aren't in! What am I going to do?
What were those sounds?
What do I need to do??
Should I check their mouths for bubbles, liek an RI? How do I open their mouth?
Sorry for typos. Freaking out. I don't want my babies to die.
I'm panicking so bad.
PLEASE HELP!!! I can't breathe, I'm so worried.
please please!

She swallowed it just now, I hear cracking and popping sounds, she seems to be acting ok. Gurgles and wheezing seem to have stopped also. WTH?

JLC! Dr. Del! Boanerges! Mods and experts, where are you? ;-; :tears::tears::tears:

Who is Cleo and Nergal? I'm guessing you are feeding balls? Is there anything different about this feeding time than others? IE: Hairless rats, cracking their skulls open? Anything change from normal feeding and are these new sounds to this type of feeding?

Typically with respiratory infections your python will refuse food and these symptoms will be present during non-feeding times. Fluid and bubbles out of nose and gaping mouth with fluid. Check your heat temps... typically bumping heat and reducing humidity helps with RI. Sometimes with hairless rats, and fresh killed rats with oozing fluids, I know my snakes seem to salivate more than usual during eating. I guess it just tastes better, but it's common with a lot of my snakes to produce some more saliva with bloody rats and what not. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true... Like people I suppose.

Also the size of the prey can make a difference with breathing during eating. Large food will make a snake gasp a little more for air sometimes, making it sound like wheezing coming from the trachea. It shouldn't cause for alarm. Although this wheezing and saliva during non-feeding should.

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Originally Posted by shelliebear

JLC! Dr. Del! Boanerges! Mods and experts, where are you? ;-; :tears::tears::tears:

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How do they sound after they ate? How did they sound before they ate?

Edit: Some posts I do not see as fast (sorry) but if you ever need a question answered and you see that I am on you can PM me if need be. I can't guarantee I will know the answer but I will do my absolute best to help in any way I can.

If you were swallowing something that size, you would gurgle and wheeze, too. If they seem normal afterward, then they are fine, lol.

Trust me if it was a RI i doubt they would eat.

When a snake has a RI they have a hard time breathing. If your mouth was filled with bubbles blocking your airway would you be in the mood to eat? To me that rules out a RI.

But as others said. If their fine after dont worry about it. Give em time to relax a bit after it goes down all should be well.

Sorry I didn't see this sooner, hon. If they were FINE before they ate...and they settle down and seem FINE after they've completely swallowed it...then I seriously doubt you're dealing with an RI. Extra fluid from the rat with the cracked head probably bubbled at opening where it breathes while swallowing food. That opening may also have been compressed some by a larger than usual meal...and maybe some sounds like that are usually perfectly normal, but you never noticed them until they were exacerbated by the bloody rat.

If, on the off chance you ARE seeing signs of an RI...they won't die before you can get them to a vet on Wednesday. Just keep them warm and don't do anything to add any stress to their life, and make the appointment. But I really don't think you'll need to.

:)