Boa have an RI?

So I just picked up boa for super cheap, the guy seemed really nice and stuff, assured me there was nothing wrong with the boa, and that he just didnt like snakes and tried to get into them. Anyways, it's a hog island female, probably around 3 feet long. I heard a hissing like sound, opened the container and she froze and looked at me and opened her mouth a little bit and her body puffed up, is this hissing or an RI? Well I guess you guys wouldn't know if it was for sure an RI, I guess my question is, is it possible that it was just hissing and is there a way to distinguish hissing from an RI?

Do you see any mucus? If you watch her, does she regularly breathe with her mouth open? And does it sound like she's wheezing or making any clicking noises? It sounds like the hissing/pressing her body down sounds like just a defense mechanism, but it's definitely a good idea to keep an eye on her.

I'm going to keep an eye, I think it might be an RI. But I will check back on her in a few minutes and monitor her breathing. I watched her for two minutes or so earlier and she wasn't regularly breathing with her mouth open but it was opening ocassionally.

I checked up on her again for a second, her jaw looked almost dislodged, like it was kinda hanging off the the side and open very slightly. She didn't have it elevated, she was curled up in the corner of her enclosure. I just put some wet moss on the heated side to up the humidity and see if that helps at all. Is that a bad idea?

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Originally Posted by thehonestpirate

I checked up on her again for a second, her jaw looked almost dislodged, like it was kinda hanging off the the side and open very slightly. She didn't have it elevated, she was curled up in the corner of her enclosure. I just put some wet moss on the heated side to up the humidity and see if that helps at all. Is that a bad idea?

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Bumping up the heat and humidity a bit is not a bad idea if you think she's getting sick.

If she's not laying with her head sticking up or showing mucous/bubbles in her mouth then she may just be defensive and hissy. Usually you can tell because when they're sick they lie with their head and neck pretty straight - or straight up - to make breathing easier. When they're being defensive they're coiled up, the neck is in an S, and if you're not careful you end up getting bitten.

If she's hyper-defensive that may be why she was for sale, a lot of people don't have the patience to tame down a snake that is naturally defensive.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

Bumping up the heat and humidity a bit is not a bad idea if you think she's getting sick.

If she's not laying with her head sticking up or showing mucous/bubbles in her mouth then she may just be defensive and hissy. Usually you can tell because when they're sick they lie with their head and neck pretty straight - or straight up - to make breathing easier. When they're being defensive they're coiled up, the neck is in an S, and if you're not careful you end up getting bitten.

If she's hyper-defensive that may be why she was for sale, a lot of people don't have the patience to tame down a snake that is naturally defensive.

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I think t might be the early stages of an ri. Someone near by me reached out to me and volunteered their antibiotics, they work as a reptile specialist

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If there is no evidence of mucous in her mouth or in the enclosure, it might just be her being defensive. Usually with an RI you can hear the cracking, bubbling and actual hacking up of mucous. Also, its usually visible on the sides of the enclosure. Keep checking for symptoms and keep us posted.

If she is hissing you can definitely hear her forcing the air out through her mouth. My guy hisses at me when he doesn't want to be messed with (usually when shedding) and is a long blow of air with no clicking or cracking sound. My ball had something like that when she came to our our house (my son basically left her with me to take care of) but this cleared up on it's own. I was a bit more careful with her environment and I think that it cleared up with better husbandry conditions.

If you aren't seeing/hearing the other signs people have mentioned I'd hesitate to just treat with antibiotics unless your friend can do a culture to show there really is an RI. Could just be typical hissy baby hog isle behavior
:)
http://gallery.kingsnake.com/data/329Egghissy5_05.jpg

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Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

If you aren't seeing/hearing the other signs people have mentioned I'd hesitate to just treat with antibiotics unless your friend can do a culture to show there really is an RI. Could just be typical hissy baby hog isle behavior
:)
http://gallery.kingsnake.com/data/329Egghissy5_05.jpg

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This is what I would go with. Hogs are known to be temperamental