Bad news!-update(Marshall)

Unfortunately Marshall has come down with a cold, or as most people say, a respiratory infection. I noticed him sneezing continuously this morning, and when I took him out again later today, he was clicking. I opened up his mouth and found one or two bubbles. I have two herp vets near me, but according to reviews, they are both extremely unreliable. I had to do something to help him, so I did the Vic's vapor rub/eucalyptus oil remedy. How often should I do this? Should I stick with the feeding schedule or hold off until he's back to his healthy self? I have bumped his temps as well. I also need to figure out why he has a ri. My husbandry is top notch, I've been going over every little detail over and over today making sure I'm not forgetting anything. The only thing I can think of is that I'm not very sanitary. That sounds gross lol but what I mean is I don't always wash my hands before handling, and I handle him pretty regularly. Is it possible that he would pick up something that was on my hands?

Another issue we've been having lately, is he has started to strike at my hand when I reach in his cage. I made another post about this a couple of days ago, but now he's done it 2 more times. Either he's really hungry or scared right? Now a lot of you will say "typical hatchling behavior" but he has never ever bitten or even attempted to bite me in the last 5 months I've owned him. Even at his small young age, he allows me to touch all over his head and never balls up on me. I worried I might be handling too much, so I cut back on that quite a bit but he is still striking occasionally. I am planning on offering him two rats next feeding, maybe he is just starving.

Please help me out and give me any pointers! Thanks in advance:)


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He's not starving, and if he has RI he's probably not going to eat to be honest. I've never heard of using VIC's on a snake. I would say up the temp like you did and increase the humidity a little and if he doesn't show signs of improvement within a week or you start to see a mucus build up in his mouth its time to take him to a vet. Either way I would probably say going with a vet is the safest way to go

You probably will need a vet. There are 3 causes for RI, bacterial, viral, fungal. So I would first make sure there is no mold in the substrate or anywhere in the cage. I would also raise the ambient temp and like ajmreptiles said, give it a week with higher temps and pray his own immune system clears it up. If it doesn't, then you will need a vet, so I would start looking now. As for why he got it, most of the common stuff is all around us, just our immune systems fight it off but if the immune systems get weakened or compromised, then the germ takes hold. Your snake is probably striking because he doesn't feel good I would guess. He's not striking because he's hungry. Unless you are wiping your hands all over a rat or mouse and then sticking your hand in the cage, he isn't going into feed mode. He's striking from like I said, discomfort or defensiveness.

I've never had to deal with a RI before so I will leave that to others. I can comment on the striking. He doesn't feel good and he wants to be left alone. Once this RI clears up he should be back to normal.

It sounds like defensive strikes...which means he wants to be left alone. If you handle him "regularly", you could be causing a great deal of stress. Stress equals a compromised immune system. So, your husbandry may be "top notch" but so much handling could increase the risk of him getting sick. Also...what are the ambient temps where he's being handled so regularly? If they're significantly cooler than the ambient temps in his enclosure, the radical shifts in temperature happening so often could also up the risk level. Looking at those variables, it's not so surprising that he might come down with something.

I have also NEVER heard of using vics or eucalyptus oils and would not dream of doing so. Order some F10 and read up on using it as a nebulizer...basically, putting F10 in a humidifier and using that in (or very near) his enclosure. Keep ambient temps bumped by several degrees as well. See if that helps. And as suggested, in the meantime, track down a vet that you feel comfortable using if these methods don't clear things up. If the infection has progressed too far, you may need a culture and antibiotics to fight it off.

Good luck.

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Originally Posted by JLC

Order some F10 and read up on using it as a nebulizer...basically, putting F10 in a humidifier and using that in (or very near) his enclosure.

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Just to clarify, make sure you get the right F10. There's two of them. One is a disinfectant and one is a disinfectant/cleaner. You want the disinfectant (F10SC) not the cleanser (F10SCXD).

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Originally Posted by 200xth

Just to clarify, make sure you get the right F10. There's two of them. One is a disinfectant and one is a disinfectant/cleaner. You want the disinfectant (F10SC) not the cleanser (F10SCXD).

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There is actually a whole line of F10 products (soaps, detergents, biofilm removers, hand decontamination products, deodorizers, and medical ointments) the only one for nebulization is the F10sc.

I would suggest a vet. Get a culture done of a lung wash and then treat with the targeted antibiotic. It is the best way to get rid of RI.

RI is caused as mentioned by virus (rare luckily) bacteria (most common) and fungus (uncommon). It is is also rare for a healthy snake in perfect conditions to get RI. You need a snake with a depressed immune system, almost always due to low ambient temps, and too cool cool ends. It is also possible to have not been cleaning well and not every now and again killing off most (1 of 100000000 survival) of the bacterial load/fungal load.

This means to help your snake you need to:
Treat the RI
Insure the enclosure conditions are correct. (88-94ºF hot spot, ambients over 74ºF and cool end temps over 74ºF)
and be cleaning regularly surface wiping, irregularly with soap and water, and periodically disinfecting with a reptile safe disinfectant.

Vicks has cedar oil and thymol in it Thymol is a Phenol product and cedar oil is also a phenol. Phenol is why we don't use cedar chips it causes health issues. So NO never use a phenol based product on or around a reptile.

The questions.

What are your ambient air temps and how are you measuring them?

Are you disinfecting? and you following the instructions? (f10 for example requires using a detergent or soap before using the disinfectant most are the same the ones that work on unclean surfaces are too dangerous to use.)

I totally agree with Judy. As far as the f10 is concerned the one you don't want is green colored. The one to use on the bp is clear and uncolored! Thanks to the post that differentiated the specific differences in the f10. Good luck and don't forget to boost those temps up a bit and refrain from added handling until he gets better. :gj:

Thanks for all the replies. Where can I get the f10sc? Like I said before, I don't have access to a vet. Makes sense that he's striking if he's not feeling well. I will stop handling him so much, I don't want to deal with this again! The ambient temps where he is being handled is just room temp(70f) but he's usually against my body which is around 90f. I have bumped his temps, The ambient temps In his cage are at 80-85f hot side, and 75-80f cool side. I haven't been handling him at all the last two days, I just want to focus on him getting better. The Vic's/eucalyptus oil treatment is supposed to soothe and clear up their lungs, I believe this method was originally seen on a SnakeBytes video. It's had a pretty great success rate.


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You can get F10 from Amazon, Beanfarm, or Reptile Basics. As for local, not sure as I have never seen it sold locally in any pet shop. Don't forget you also need to buy a nebulizer to administer it, either by putting the nebulizer in the cage with the snake or putting the snake in a small Tupperware box and pumping the nebulizer'd F10 into the box. And this is not a guaranteed cure, its a possible cure. The only sure way is to go to a vet, get a culture done and then get the right antibiotic for the RI. So you NEED to find a vet in your area, it might be 10 miles, it might be 40 miles but you need to find one. My vet is kind of a drive for me as I don't trust any of my local ones and the gal I use now came highly rated by lots of reptile people but all my guys' are worth it hands down.

Good news, I might of found a vet that I can to, just waiting for an email back. I will order the F10 asap.


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I would double check your ambient air temp it is irregular to see an enclosure where the air is stagnate and has pockets of different temperature. The ambient air temp should not be effected by a heater at all. It is the temp of the air generally in the enclosure. This is likely where your issue have arisen from.

How exactly have you measured the air temps?

Take little Marshall to the vet. Jack up his temperature and try to keep his humidity around 50%.

I measure temps with 3 different things- a temp gun, a digital thermometer with probe and an analog thermometer.


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Well he's doing a bit better, no more bubbles, but still a bit of soft wheezing. He hasn't struck at me. Should I feed him? He's looking pretty hungry...


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I would still go to the vet. I cant imagine RI just clearing up in less than 24 hours especially if you found bubbles in his mouth. You can try and feed him but if he does have RI to the point of bubbles in his mouth, I doubt he will eat but your call as you are the only one who actually sees the snake and can make the call. Plus reptiles are pretty slow to recover from stuff like RIs so it usually takes awhile for them to completely overcome it since they have a rather slow metabolism.

I would still do the vet get the culture it is definitive. Try checking this take a probed thermometer and measure the temperature from 3 inches off the floor and in the exact centre of the enclosure. The air temp being different on one side to the other is odd air should be circulating that fact you have measurements that are shifting likely represents an error somewhere potentially the air is far cooler than you think.

Do you have control over the ambient air temp ? separate from the surface temps?

I would still get to the vet. Like has already been said, there are three causes of infection: Bacterial, viral, and fungal. The eucalyptus oil treatment (which I have never heard of so I can't recommend to do it or not, but I tend to stay away from stuff I haven't heard about before) may be clearing up his symptoms, but it isn't addressing the root of the problem. This means that you can think he's getting better when in reality the infection (or whatever is causing the RI) is getting worse. That sort of home-remedy type treatment can be a good way to have an RI get out of control without really noticing before it's too late.

I'm still working on finding a vet, but for now I will do what I can to help him out myself. Some more good news though-still no bubbles, he is happily eating his rat right now, and is being more active. Yay! On a downside, still a bit of wheezing clicking noises.


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Originally Posted by DVirginiana

I would still get to the vet. Like has already been said, there are three causes of infection: Bacterial, viral, and fungal. The eucalyptus oil treatment (which I have never heard of so I can't recommend to do it or not, but I tend to stay away from stuff I haven't heard about before) may be clearing up his symptoms, but it isn't addressing the root of the problem. This means that you can think he's getting better when in reality the infection (or whatever is causing the RI) is getting worse. That sort of home-remedy type treatment can be a good way to have an RI get out of control without really noticing before it's too late.

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You are right, it is only soothing his symptoms. I believe the root of the problem is most likely over handling:stress:illness, as someone else said above. I will handle him less and be much more sanitary in the future. If anyone else has tips on preventing future ri's, please say so. I just want to do what's best for Marshall, I don't want to harm him in any way. I'm trying to find a vet, but so far no luck.


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The best prevention for RI is correct ambient air temps.

In a enclosure with correct temps snakes can tolerate a shocking amount of filth and not get sick. A snake in a clean environment will almost always get sick if the temps are off.