dry heave!?!?

I was just looking at my adult female olive and twice she just had this large body convulsion and opened her mouth. It looked exactly like the snake version of a dry heave. Nothing came out of either end of her as far as I can tell. I'm a bit worred because her appetite hasn't been that great lately.

After some more thought, I'm wondering if this could have been a cough.

Could have been...maybe she had a scaleball!!! LOL sorry...I don't have any advice for you...I hope she's ok!

I'm almost positive that snakes cannot cough. This is why RIs are particularly deadly in snakes.

Ive only seen this once so I cant really give you any advice. I know they cant cough so its not that. I have never heard of this being a sign of sickness. My only experience with it is this.. One of my smaller females was doing this a few months ago a day after eating. The only thing I could figure was the day before she swallowed some bedding with the meal. I was using a very fine cut aspen bedding. Looks like confetti. After noticing that the snakes which were fed in this bedding always swallowed some, I stopped using it.

My BP that did the dry heave thing only did it for a few seconds. She did not regurge and she is completely healthy. I kept an eye on her for weeks after that. I believe it was just a freak thing due to swallowing some of that bedding. Possibly something similer was bothering your BP?

Also, if yours is not eating very well it could have something to do with parasites. Have her treated a couple times for internal parasites and see if that helps.

LOL Im sorry. I said your BP.. I know you said olive. Im not paying much attention today :P

Well its good to hear that somebody else has seen it at least.

One thing I did was call the manager of the exotic pet store I frequent and he reminded me that animals, like people, have their "one-off" type of thing. Technically, she did it twice but it was twice in a row so that still kind of counts as "one-off"

I also got her out and handled her for a while and listened to her breathing. No rattling or bubbling.

I haven't seen her do it again and she seems pretty normal. I do use coconut fiber bedding and I was thinking perhaps she got some in her wind-pipe somehow. I have seen mentions of coughing in other threads on here. I don't actually see any reason why a snake couldn't cough in some manner. They probably don't have the throat control we use to make coughs and sneezes really explosive. But, when you think about it, a kind of quick abdominal spasm could accomplish almost the same thing.

What kind of substrate do you have her on?

She could have gotten something caught in her mouth/throat and that was just her way of trying to expel it.

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Originally Posted by bearhart

Well its good to hear that somebody else has seen it at least.

One thing I did was call the manager of the exotic pet store I frequent and he reminded me that animals, like people, have their "one-off" type of thing. Technically, she did it twice but it was twice in a row so that still kind of counts as "one-off"

I also got her out and handled her for a while and listened to her breathing. No rattling or bubbling.

I haven't seen her do it again and she seems pretty normal. I do use coconut fiber bedding and I was thinking perhaps she got some in her wind-pipe somehow. I have seen mentions of coughing in other threads on here. I don't actually see any reason why a snake couldn't cough in some manner. They probably don't have the throat control we use to make coughs and sneezes really explosive. But, when you think about it, a kind of quick abdominal spasm could accomplish almost the same thing.

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i use coconut fibre bedding and that SAME EXACT thing happened to my BP today. At first I was worried that maybe he was trying to regurgitate his meal, but I quickly realized that he has some substrate in his mouth. Needless to say from now on I will most likely use tongs instead of letting him hunt down the mouse. The weird part is that my BP didn't even go to his water dish to try to clear out his mouth or anything. He just layed there with his head up and looked almost like he was yawning repeatedly. I have heard from maybe people that ingesting some coconut fibre shouldnt hurt your snake though. :gj:

a lot of people have said that coconut can cause respiratory issues if not kept moist. i guess the dust gets inside and messes with them. i have never used it so i do not personally know, but i have read multiple threads that have said the same thing

I'm of the opinion that snakes cannot cough. I agree that is why RI's are deadly. If they could cough they would do so to expel the excess mucus. I guess it could have been a dry heave.

As far as bedding goes try newsprint. It may not look the best, but there is no chance of it being swallowed during a feed and is super easy come cleaning time. You just toss it.:gj:

No, snakes cannot cough, but I have had a snake with an RI exhale as forcefully as it could, to try and clear its airway. They can't put a lot of force behind it, but they try. So, keep an eye out for RI signs, particularly with the snake being off feed.

This thread is way old but I thought I'd post just in case somebody searches this up again. The good news is my girl is fine. I've seen this behavior now some more and it appears to be the way she tries to get stuff out of her mouth. She opens her mouth and then does this lurching motion to try to knock whatever is in there out. At least that is the best theory I can come up with. She's eating again and seems just fine so I'm not too worried about it any more.

oh yea, I have been letting the substrate get dry since lower humidity does not seem to affect her shedding at all. So, perhaps there is something to the theory that it is related to dust.