Snake making weird noises and throat inflation?

I first noticed he was doing this a few days ago and took him to go see the reptile people who sold him to me, but he wouldn't make the noises there so the best they figured is he just had some mucus he was clearing out, but I have him out right now and he's been doing it since I got him out. It's really making me worry here.

The sounds are kind of hard to describe, but they're almost like a cross between clicking, pops, and puffs of air expulsion (honestly kind of like farts). He'll open his mouth sometimes when he makes them and I've noticed his throat expands and looks like a toad's does.

He's still moving around, exploring things, his tongue is still flickering in and out, and he just ate a couple of days ago, so he appears and is acting healthy but the sounds are really quite peculiar and the thing with his throat really worries me. He's had a lot of shedding problems due to not being able to keep his humidity up and as such he's no where near as large as he should be (he's about two years old, but is only about half the size of the other two year old male ball python I've seen), however he has a PVC enclosure now and he's eating regularly.

Have any of you experienced this? Or know what's going on? If he needs to go see a vet or if it's even harmful? Or well, anything before I worry myself to death?

Thanks in advance!

Any visual mucus coming from the mouth or nose?

No, nothing like that. The only difference I can tell from his usual appearance is he's a bit dull, but I think that might be due to being about to shed.

So I did a little more exploration and the last half of him (underneath), especially right before his vent, seems to be almost bloated? It's soft, almost like a cushion. Could that be the problem, or part of it? I'm gonna take him back to the dealers tomorrow morning ASAP because that just seems weird, but I thougt I'd mention it here too, just in case it could be helpful.

It almost sounds like he is regurgitating the meal, however it may be to late at this point. You mentioned he ate about 2 days ago right? Do you still see the bump from the meal?

No, there isn't any bump at all, except for that odd bloating in his lower portions. He might have even been making the weird noises before I fed him the last time (under the belief that it was just him clearing up mucus), although unfortunately I can't remember for sure.

The throat puffing makes me suspect an RI.

yeah, that is definitely strange. I would talk to the breeder asap and even start looking for a reptile vet in your area. Really hope your snake doesn't have RI. Usually does not end to well :(

Keep us updated!

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Originally Posted by dr del

The throat puffing makes me suspect an RI.

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What I was thinking. But didn't want to trow that out there without more details.

RI as in respiratory infection?

I just got back from taking him to the dealer's. They looked him over and the best they can come up with is it might be because he hasn't defecated in a while and then gave me contact information for a vet nearby that treats reptiles. Considering I just cleaned his enclosure last night and didn't find ANY excrement of any kind, it could potentially be that and I hope that's all it is over something a lot more serious. By the sounds of it and the puffiness of his lower section, especially when you stroke it, it feels and sounds like there's air trapped in there?

At any rate they told me to give him a warm soak, which I have. I'll be periodically giving him warm soaks through-out the day and then if there's no change by tomorrow, I'm making an appointment with the vet, although I don't believe they have anything open until Monday, but hopefully this won't be a worst case scenario.