Help NOW. FREAKING OUT

We fed Cleo a hairless rat today and went to pre stun it by whacking it with the tongs (it's worked every other time).
The rats skull cracked. Mess...everywhere.
Cleo was striking at us from the sides of the tub so she was still interested, we fed it to her.
She took forever to eat it and was making horrible, horrible wheezing, gurgling, and grotesque sounds as she ate it.
We fed Nergal a slightly bigger than usual rat and he made the same sounds. Awful high pitched, wheezing, gurgling sounds--like they couldn't breathe. Cleo sounded like her mouth was full of water, and I know the rat had a ton of blood she swallowed.
What the heck was it?
Do I need to call a vet?
I'm panicking. Nowhere sees snakes on Fridays--no one sees snakes all the way until Wednesday. The doctors aren't in! What am I going to do?
What were those sounds?
What do I need to do??
Should I check their mouths for bubbles, liek an RI? How do I open their mouth?
Sorry for typos. Freaking out. I don't want my babies to die.
I'm panicking so bad.
PLEASE HELP!!! I can't breathe, I'm so worried.
please please!

She swallowed it just now, I hear cracking and popping sounds, she seems to be acting ok. Gurgles and wheezing seem to have stopped also. WTH?

JLC! Dr. Del! Boanerges! Mods and experts, where are you? ;-; :tears::tears::tears:

Who is Cleo and Nergal? I'm guessing you are feeding balls? Is there anything different about this feeding time than others? IE: Hairless rats, cracking their skulls open? Anything change from normal feeding and are these new sounds to this type of feeding?

Typically with respiratory infections your python will refuse food and these symptoms will be present during non-feeding times. Fluid and bubbles out of nose and gaping mouth with fluid. Check your heat temps... typically bumping heat and reducing humidity helps with RI. Sometimes with hairless rats, and fresh killed rats with oozing fluids, I know my snakes seem to salivate more than usual during eating. I guess it just tastes better, but it's common with a lot of my snakes to produce some more saliva with bloody rats and what not. I know it sounds crazy, but it's true... Like people I suppose.

Also the size of the prey can make a difference with breathing during eating. Large food will make a snake gasp a little more for air sometimes, making it sound like wheezing coming from the trachea. It shouldn't cause for alarm. Although this wheezing and saliva during non-feeding should.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by shelliebear

JLC! Dr. Del! Boanerges! Mods and experts, where are you? ;-; :tears::tears::tears:

---

How do they sound after they ate? How did they sound before they ate?

Edit: Some posts I do not see as fast (sorry) but if you ever need a question answered and you see that I am on you can PM me if need be. I can't guarantee I will know the answer but I will do my absolute best to help in any way I can.

If you were swallowing something that size, you would gurgle and wheeze, too. If they seem normal afterward, then they are fine, lol.

Trust me if it was a RI i doubt they would eat.

When a snake has a RI they have a hard time breathing. If your mouth was filled with bubbles blocking your airway would you be in the mood to eat? To me that rules out a RI.

But as others said. If their fine after dont worry about it. Give em time to relax a bit after it goes down all should be well.

Sorry I didn't see this sooner, hon. If they were FINE before they ate...and they settle down and seem FINE after they've completely swallowed it...then I seriously doubt you're dealing with an RI. Extra fluid from the rat with the cracked head probably bubbled at opening where it breathes while swallowing food. That opening may also have been compressed some by a larger than usual meal...and maybe some sounds like that are usually perfectly normal, but you never noticed them until they were exacerbated by the bloody rat.

If, on the off chance you ARE seeing signs of an RI...they won't die before you can get them to a vet on Wednesday. Just keep them warm and don't do anything to add any stress to their life, and make the appointment. But I really don't think you'll need to.

:)

I think they are probably fine just probably getting a little blood and ick in the little hole that they breathe out of when they eat. There is a pic somewhere on here of that. Its actually pretty cool as I had no clue at first about it.

As far as checking for bubbles in the mouth....take a Q tip sideways and open their mouth with it. super easy ....in fact you can probably google it and someone I am sure will have a how to vid on it. Just be sure to hold right behind their head as they will try to wiggle away...(no one likes their mouth pried open. ) :please:

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by f4n70m

Trust me if it was a RI i doubt they would eat.

When a snake has a RI they have a hard time breathing. If your mouth was filled with bubbles blocking your airway would you be in the mood to eat? To me that rules out a RI.

But as others said. If their fine after dont worry about it. Give em time to relax a bit after it goes down all should be well.

---

Not necessarily true. At early stages of RI, the snakes will eat. I got a snake from a breeder via Fed Ex and it was blowing bubbles and it's throat was a pure mess. She ate. Then died 5 days later. Vet said she was really congested.

Since the OP didn't mention any issues prior to her feeding the rats, I would think it's not an RI.

Just my opinion,
Jim Smith

The snakes had no issue prior to feeding which is why it freaked me out. I thought they were choking to death, and one of my ball pythons was stretched so big I thought his scales were going to rip. :( The hairless rats have more meat on them, it seems, especially around the hip area.
They're all sounding and looking fine now, as they were before. That gurgling freaked me out, I can't believe that's normal! :O I've heard bones cracking before but geez, never gurgling and whatnot. :weirdface
I love you guys. Thank you so much...:) The snakes are everything to my fiance and I, and I'd hate it if one of them were hurt. :( Thanks again. :D

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by BPelizabeth

I think they are probably fine just probably getting a little blood and ick in the little hole that they breathe out of when they eat. There is a pic somewhere on here of that. Its actually pretty cool as I had no clue at first about it.

As far as checking for bubbles in the mouth....take a Q tip sideways and open their mouth with it. super easy ....in fact you can probably google it and someone I am sure will have a how to vid on it. Just be sure to hold right behind their head as they will try to wiggle away...(no one likes their mouth pried open. ) :please:

---

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing.

I like to use a business card to pry the mouth open. It seems to me to be the easiest way to open the mouth and look inside. But use whatever you feel comfortable with, that's the most important thing.

Also, take the snake out of it's enclosure tomorrow. Hold it for 5-10 minutes. Listen closely for anything that doesn't sound normal. Clicking, popping, looking for bubbles. Also look for open-mouth breathing.

Good Luck!
Jim Smith