My ball python is wheezing when I try to pick him up

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Originally Posted by Maddumpling

yea but its not constantly so im confused.

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You've just been told it's not a RI.

You're snake is making an agitated exhalation noise due to the stress/displeasure at being picked up.

If this were a true emergency, where you did in fact need help ASAP, don't waste your time on a forum shopping opinions. Call your vet.

Nobody here can prescribe medication.

Nobody here can hear the noises your snake is making.

You run the risk of getting some very misleading and conflicting advice when you ask for a diagnosis over the internet. If you make the mistake of following that advice, you can get in big trouble really quick.

The noise you're describing is probably best compared to a human gasp. All of a sudden, this big thing is coming to grab you unexpectedly, you let out a gasp.

Now your nervous, and this thing keeps picking you up to hear you gasp.

Like the earlier posters said, it's nothing to worry about. Mine was doing that for a while as well. It's most noticable if they have a little piece of shed stuck in their nose because it creates a whistling noise.

In terms of the actual anatomy, my guess is that they tense up when you go grab them, which puts pressure on the lungs and forces the air out quickly.

But yeah, if you still think it's an issue despite the advice, call a vet. No one here will be able to offer you anything else if you disagree with an entire thread's worth of people in agreement. The only thing that can happen at this point would be someone new comes along, tells you "Oh that's definitely an RI! They made a noise so it's an RI!! Your snake is gonna die!!" at which point you would then go to a vet who would probably tell you don't worry and charge you $80.

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Originally Posted by Jeo123

In terms of the actual anatomy, my guess is that they tense up when you go grab them, which puts pressure on the lungs and forces the air out quickly.

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Not quite.

Snakes have a U-shaped wind pipe that has a slightly corrugated inside edge (as opposed to mammals that have a smooth O). This allows for the collapse or expansion of the windpipe when feeding. The corrugations are what cause the 'wheezing' sound when air rushes through with breathing.

Excitement, nerves, etc. all cause agitated breathing - which results in this noise.

My comment was more towards what was causing them to suddenly exhale rather than what was making the noise(interesting piece of information about the wind pipe though). And we're pretty much just saying the same thing, excitement causes a sudden exhale.

Same exact thing happens to me too bro it's them exhaling to make themselves flatter or to tighter around your arm...just exhaling it's normal. It happens to snakes that are really grabby when they are being held