Vet tomorrow

What do you mean by wheeze? It doesn't make any sense to me that there is even a problem. Does she cough phlegm up? Blow her throat out? Sneeze out bubbles? Blow bubbles? Breath with her mouth open? She probably had a slight RI for a long time and now has permanent damage because of it. That's my verdict.

i agree, could be some permanent damage if symptoms are mostly gone.. have you noticed any neurological symptoms or regurgitation? i'm sure you and your vets have a handle on it, i'm just curious because RI's don't take long to clear up...

one more question, have you tried a nebulizer or steam?

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Originally Posted by jim020cricket

What do you mean by wheeze? It doesn't make any sense to me that there is even a problem. Does she cough phlegm up? Blow her throat out? Sneeze out bubbles? Blow bubbles? Breath with her mouth open? She probably had a slight RI for a long time and now has permanent damage because of it. That's my verdict.

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Originally Posted by kzooherpetoculturist

i agree, could be some permanent damage if symptoms are mostly gone.. have you noticed any neurological symptoms or regurgitation? i'm sure you and your vets have a handle on it, i'm just curious because RI's don't take long to clear up...

one more question, have you tried a nebulizer or steam?

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Thanks guys, I was wondering if it could just be something she would live with. Her health hasn't seemed to deteriorate because of the wheezing, if anything shes healthier now than when I got her - people before me used a heat lamp on her in a screen top cage with no humidity. I haven't seen any regurgitation and no neurological symptoms, shes just a very mellow snake - gets active when I take her outside and she moves around a lot - nothing out of the ordinary.

She doesn't breathe with her mouth open, I saw bubbles come out of her nose once when I first got her but haven't seen anything sense. The vet looks in her mouth every time I take her to him and he said that the mucus isn't a weird color but it is there.

I have not used a nebulizer/steam, how would I use that?

I'll read all these posts again before I go to the vet, and make sure I write down some notes and ask some questions to see what he thinks.

Thanks for all the questions/comments!

I would ask your vet before you use a nebulizer or steam.

A nebulizer is a machine that makes liquid medicine into a light mist that you can breath in. My daugher has to use one occasionally and the thing was expensive. I have only put albuterol in it so I am not sure if it will make plain water into a mist or if the vet would want you it use some type of meds.

For the steam you could use a regular run of the mill humidifier in the room to boost the humidity of the room.

Good Luck and Keep us posted!!

the general consensus is that steam either from a shower running in a bathroom, or from a nebulizer filled with saline solution, is at least as beneficial as the meds themselves. it's definitley worth asking your vet about.

Colin and Jimi basically summed it up. Sometimes its just scarring or permanent damage. My 2 cents is that besides R.I. sometimes problems can just be caused by too low humidity over too long of a period. It happens more often with rainbow boas since they require such high humidity, but I have heard of it happening in boa constrictors kept in poor conditions. Which sounds like it happened before you picked her up, but that shouldn't be permanent.

Thanks guys, this is really going to help me have some new questions for my vet