Wheezing while eating? Could it be the rat?

Mowgli just keeps popping up with new problems I swear.
This one I really have no clue about because I’ve never heard it or experienced it with him or other snakes before today.
Today I got him a rat from PetSmart, instead of my local exotics store, because it’s closer so I wanted to try out their freezed feeder rats. That’s really the only thing different about feeding since I got him, well not including the wheezing.

Anyways while he started moving it around, you know adjusting for that swallow, I heard high pitched whistling. Almost like a wheezing sound.
Now he’s never wheezed before today, and never made this sound during eating before. So I’m not sure if the sound is coming from the rat (it’s guts exploded by the way) or coming from Mowgli? If it’s coming from Mowgli I don’t need to know what that means sadly (respiratory infection)

Sounds not likely from the dead rat, though the fact that it exploded means it was spoiled & may have had a build up of gases in the GI tract as it was nonetheless
swallowed. :confusd: Sounds made by your snake when moving around, during or after swallowing do bear further surveillance though: it's possible that he is coming
down with an RI, but it's also possibly the result of some water (or other debris, like old shed) in his is nose or throat that results in "whistling" when he breathes.

I would find another source of rodents from now on...either that, or you need to review proper thawing of all rodents to prevent such spoilage. This subject comes
up all the time here, as many still think it's fine (or faster) to thaw rodents in warm/hot water, or by leaving them sit out for extended periods of time to thaw. Many
snakes will refuse to even consume spoiled rodents in the first place, because they have a very good sense of smell.

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Originally Posted by Kodayin

Mowgli just keeps popping up with new problems I swear.
This one I really have no clue about because I’ve never heard it or experienced it with him or other snakes before today.
Today I got him a rat from PetSmart, instead of my local exotics store, because it’s closer so I wanted to try out their freezed feeder rats. That’s really the only thing different about feeding since I got him, well not including the wheezing.

Anyways while he started moving it around, you know adjusting for that swallow, I heard high pitched whistling. Almost like a wheezing sound.
Now he’s never wheezed before today, and never made this sound during eating before. So I’m not sure if the sound is coming from the rat (it’s guts exploded by the way) or coming from Mowgli? If it’s coming from Mowgli I don’t need to know what that means sadly (respiratory infection)

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Stay away from petsmart mice and rats. I cant tell you how many times I had to take some back because they were spoiled.

It was kept frozen before I thawed it in cold water, after it’s thawed I usually pour hot water over it, to mimic body heat and immediately fed to my BP (never in the hot water more than a minute)
So I definitely have a feeling it was PetSmart having a spoiled rat... definitely won’t be going there again (not to mention their “medium rat” looked more like a large mouse... lol)

I’m hoping it’s not an RI, but he’s still under observation/ quarantine so I will just keep an eye out for that too

Another point to consider is that, when eating their glottis can be obstructed leaving them to breath through thie nostrils. If those are obstructed they can also cause a whistling sound.