Can Ball pythons roar like dragons? is he sick?

I was thinking he might have a respiratory infection, but hes not wheezing, and no bubbling or drool. To fill you in on this fellar. Hes a 2+ year old honeybee I picked up at an expo by brian from Spcl-g morphs from kentucky a little over a month ago. After letting him get accustomed to his new enclosure for a week, I got him out to check him over a bit better, and realized he had mites. So he's been in quarantine for a bit now. I've gone through 3 mite treatments now, and so far so good. hes eaten 3-4 times now since I've gotten him, and he seems very healthy. Now the question is is i've been woken up now twice in the middle of the night where i look over and hes mouth wide open roaring like a dragon I swear. Loud enough to wake me. almost sounds like a very loud couple second long burp and he'll go right back to sleep. What am I missing here? Looks acts and sounds good. Am i just worrying myself for nothing? What could it be?

The only loud noise I ever heard from my ball pythons, were poops! One time I heard a ridiculously loud noise, I thought the snake was dying or something! I look and he just sprayed out a huge dooker! It came flying out LOUD!:fart:
I never heard a loud roaring though! Maybe gas? Like a burp from a digestive problem?

Geez.. In 30 years I've never heard a Burping sound or anything like your explaining. If you can compare it to a Straw (Slurping sound) when your out of Soda then that can be a RI. The sound I'm explaining is fluid in the Lungs like pneumonia but your saying there are no other symptoms so I'm at a loss.


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It's pretty hard to tell when we can't hear the sound he makes. I personally have never heard my snake making any sounds.
Maybe yours in the early stages of a RI and he has problems breathing which creates the sound? But that's a far fetched guess of mine. I'm not sure if anyone has an idea what a screaming ball python is supposed to sound like. Anyway, I have a few more questions.
How long does his mouth stay open? Is it more like a yawn or does it stay open for a longer time? Does he only do it during the night? Have you noticed a possibe trigger?

I have had my snake hiss at me and my husband sometimes when we take the hide off of her. But even then there's an outside stimulus making her make that noise. Hopefully some of the more experienced members will have an idea. If you could get a video that'd be amazing, but it sounds like it might be hard to capture.

I would suggest fewer bong hits and less Game of Thrones before bedtime there Cheech[emoji43][emoji244]

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Originally Posted by Godzilla78

The only loud noise I ever heard from my ball pythons, were poops! One time I heard a ridiculously loud noise, I thought the snake was dying or something! I look and he just sprayed out a huge dooker! It came flying out LOUD!:fart:
I never heard a loud roaring though! Maybe gas? Like a burp from a digestive problem?

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Yeah I actually think that's all the noise he heard was :)

I've heard it in my snake room only twice in ten years plus keeping 20 snakes and it SCARED me senseless both times !!

:)


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My guess is RI. Snakes don't generally make more than a soft hiss through their mouth unless they have respiratory issues going on. Reptiles often show little to no symptoms when ill so if you see one sign, take it seriously.

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Originally Posted by Zincubus

Yeah I actually think that's all the noise he heard was :)

I've heard it in my snake room only twice in ten years plus keeping 20 snakes and it SCARED me senseless both times !!

:)


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Right?! The noise was extremely loud, much louder than a human defecating. It scared me too! I seriously thought she was vomiting her lungs out, or worse! I never heard it like that since, it was a really giant poop, from back in the day, a couple years ago, when i was feeding my first ball python the largest rodents possible, just to see if she could kill them and swallow them!
(she never failed, killed and ate rodents that were way too big by most standards. She was injured once by a really big rat as she killed it.)
but I digress, the point is, massive bowel movements from a python can sound ungodly! Lol

Open-mouthed “roaring” sounds like RI to me. They shouldn’t be straining with their mouth open, noise or no noise.

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Originally Posted by Trisnake

Open-mouthed “roaring” sounds like RI to me. They shouldn’t be straining with their mouth open, noise or no noise.

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As far as Balls I agree...

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Originally Posted by wolfy-hound

My guess is RI. Snakes don't generally make more than a soft hiss through their mouth unless they have respiratory issues going on. Reptiles often show little to no symptoms when ill so if you see one sign, take it seriously.

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"snakes don't generally make more than a soft hiss"...

You can hear Burms & Retics through a entire house when they Hiss... I agree 90% of BP's don't make much noise. My Male BP does, he fills his entire Body up with air and releases it..
Its hard to understand most questions when we cant hear, see etc.. Especially questions from unexperienced keepers as they don't even describe things as experienced keepers would. If it seems really wrong to you call a Vet. I know several cases where RI's got so bad before someone acually noticed they didn't make it once they got around to going to a Vet.


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A dragon-like roar coming from the airway of a ball python is a RI until proven otherwise. Too suspicious and its always best to err on the side of caution. Vet visit and quarantine bt not necessarily in that order. In the meantime, consider boosting the ambient temperature a few degrees. :)

Back when I did rescue I had a large female that had a RI.

She had NO bubbling or anything, what she would do is open her mouth and the weirdest noises would came out. It was a mix of loud teakettle hissing/whistling and screeching. The sound was usually longer then 2 seconds and it was LOUD. You would have never guessed it came out of a snake.

If it keeps happening, time for a vet !!

See it's just strange.. no bubbling.. no extra saliva.. no hissing.. no signs of a RI at all.. just that one sound twice..

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Originally Posted by Legion418

See it's just strange.. no bubbling.. no extra saliva.. no hissing.. no signs of a RI at all.. just that one sound twice..

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Gotcha, but it can be a atypical presentation for a RI or any number of other ailments involving the airway (ie: tumor, cancer, polyp, obstruction).