What do I do?

So I have a dwarf retic named Diablo, he’s almost 4 years old. The first year I got him I noticed he had a respiratory infection. It went away after we took him to the vet and it didn’t come back until a year later. When it came back I was confused. His setup was fine, but it literally just popped up out of nowhere. Since he had the 2nd one, we’ve taken him to 3 different vets and spent thousands of dollars to save this snake. I absolutely adore this snake and would do anything for him. We currently have another appointment this Wednesday. But the 3rd vet I went to said to not add humidity so I stopped and gave him a large water bowl he can completely submerge in. He said he was a reptile experts but I don’t know. The vet said there was no mucus in the mouth nor bubbles and that he looked completely healthy. But he still “coughs” (I know snakes can’t cough). He breathes with his mouth open and he wheezes. I’ve done almost everything to get this snake better, this is the last vet we’re going to before we go to a university and get a small camera put down his trachea to see what the problem is. He said he could be nidovirus, a tumor in his trachea, or something else. We’ve tried multiple antibiotics and it had no effect on him. We’re running out of options, it makes me feel so hopeless and guilty because I feel I could’ve prevented it. He’s the first pet I’ve ever owned full responsibility over and it just pains me that he has something not even vets can figure out. I just feel unworthy to keep him and to make my whole life around these animals. It just tears me to pieces.

Any guidance would be appreciated.

The first vet you took him to...was your snake given antibiotics? Was there LAB work done FIRST to make sure he was given the right antibiotic for the pathogens he had?
IF NOT, it's possible that it took this long to for resistant 'germs' to return...that's why it's so important to have that often-expensive lab work done before an antibiotic is
prescribed, & then it must ALL be given...otherwise, you can get resistant germs that come back to haunt you.

I know it's hard but try to check out the vet's expertise before you make appt'mts. Many vets will "see" reptiles but it's not really their expertise.
This might help: https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661

A tracheal wash probably IS the right thing at this point though. Snakes can also get lung-worms, btw...I'd imagine with similar symptoms. ;)

In any event, you are far from being an "unworthy owner"...you've been doing all you can, as far as I can tell. Sometimes we all just end up with sick snakes...it happens,
so don't beat yourself up over it. Stay optimistic & let us know how it goes...we care & next time it might be any of us, you know? We all have things to learn here.

Thank you, it’s just really hard. We went to only one vet with the equipment to do a blood test. But we’re taking him to a vet that another vet recommended. Hopefully they have a lung wash available there. But since I live an hour or two hours away from A&M when this COVID-19 stuff is over I’m willing to spend the 3000 dollars for the camera if this vet doesn’t help. Although my parents probably will not do that for my snake. But I wish I could just snap and make it all go away. He eats like a monster and he thermoregulates he drinks, he pees, he defecates, he does everything normally but I know he’s not normal.

Hang in there...your heart's in the right place, & I hope things work out for your :snake:

Thank you, I’ll try. I’ll give updates as things go on. Oh I forgot to mention, he’s a pusher, is there anything I could do to prevent him pushing on top of his cage?

Sometimes a larger cage will help, but oh, that's frustrating for sure...seeing your beautiful snake damaging his nose. I've had bull snakes that are pushy too. You could
try misting water in his face when you catch him doing that...it won't hurt anything & will make him stop, but maybe only temporarily.

I'm wondering if what you're seeing isn't just male retic behavior when they are in breeding mode. A few of my males make a kind of noise but it's not the constant wheezing you'd get with an RI, they're quiet and then will suddenly open their mouths and exhale very loudly. My SD male is particularly obnoxious about it. The sound is definitely not a hiss and was rather disconcerting the first few times I observed it.

I found that getting my males out for more exercise time helped stop the pushing.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I'm wondering if what you're seeing isn't just male retic behavior when they are in breeding mode. A few of my males make a kind of noise but it's not the constant wheezing you'd get with an RI, they're quiet and then will suddenly open their mouths and exhale very loudly. My SD male is particularly obnoxious about it. The sound is definitely not a hiss and was rather disconcerting the first few times I observed it.

I found that getting my males out for more exercise time helped stop the pushing.

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That and retics breath really loud, in general.

Really glad to see ppl with retic experience chiming in here, as I have none. I was wondering if this might be "normal" retic stuff? :gj:

I agree with everything BCR has said here. Though every animal is an individual and will not necessarily act in accordance with what is the norm for the species. A couple years ago I spent thousands of dollars in vet bills and enormous enclosures for a persistent pusher of a retic and nothing could be done to curb the behavior. Sometimes a pusher is just a pusher and nothing can be done. The only thing that stopped it for any amount of time was giving the animal an entire bedroom to herself overnight. Pushing would resume as soon as she was back in the enclosure.

He does that noise quite often though, and he keeps half of his mouth open quite often as well. Does that happen with your retics as well?

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Originally Posted by TheReptileCyka

...But he still “coughs” (I know snakes can’t cough). He breathes with his mouth open and he wheezes...

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What might be happening is that he has damaged his nostrils, so he has to breathe with his mouth open. I had a bull snake that did some of this...he was another "pusher". The "wheezing" might just be the resulting sound of his breathing this way...especially since your vet found no mucus or bubbling in his mouth.

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Originally Posted by TheReptileCyka

He does that noise quite often though, and he keeps half of his mouth open quite often as well. Does that happen with your retics as well?

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The behavior comes and goes, and yes, they will occasionally lay mouth-open for a while. I usually take advantage and have a good look inside for mucous/bubbles just to reassure myself that there is nothing going on.

Now, what I won't do is tell you to take your snake to the vet, but I would not be surprised if you get various tests done for RI, and the vet finds nothing is wrong, other than your retic is being a typical male retic.

I took him to the vet this morning. And he did a checkup, he said he was a VERY healthy snake with no problems. He said he was very strong and there were no bubbles or excess saliva in his mouth or anything.

All in all I’m very happy he’s perfectly okay and that nothing’s wrong. =)

That's wonderful news! :gj: It's really hard to tell sometimes [when to worry & what to ignore] but good on you for paying attention, caring & making sure he's OK.

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Originally Posted by TheReptileCyka

I took him to the vet this morning. And he did a checkup, he said he was a VERY healthy snake with no problems. He said he was very strong and there were no bubbles or excess saliva in his mouth or anything.

All in all I’m very happy he’s perfectly okay and that nothing’s wrong. =)

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That's great! Hopefully you can get the pushing to stop as well.

Hopefully there's nothing wrong with him! Retics, especially as they get bigger, just get noisy. If there's no mucus or anything, an RI is not very likely.

My SO has a bullsnake (I believe), and he can be a pusher. His face healed cleanly except the nares are nearly completely closed, but he often sleeps with his mouth wide open and will randomly let out a loud whistling sound that could be mistaken as an RI. So if your retic is a pusher and has damaged his face, that could certainly be another cause. As mentioned, larger enclosures can help, as well as adding some hides and things to climb around in/hide behind.

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Originally Posted by CloudtheBoa

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My SO has a bullsnake (I believe), and he can be a pusher. His face healed cleanly except the nares are nearly completely closed, but he often sleeps with his mouth wide open and will randomly let out a loud whistling sound that could be mistaken as an RI. So if your retic is a pusher and has damaged his face, that could certainly be another cause. As mentioned, larger enclosures can help, as well as adding some hides and things to climb around in/hide behind.

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Same exact thing with that male bull snake I had...:rolleyes: They're active diurnal snakes in the wild, not always the best in captivity so no enclosure is big enough
in their opinion, lol. Cool snakes though, & not all of them "push".

So the vet told me to not add humidity at all because it causes illnesses. But at the same time, he had a rough shed. I want to hear from you guys if I should add humidity or should I just keep it how it is with a large water bowl he can soak in?

Type of enclosure? Size of enclosure? Means of heating? Thermostat? Type of thermometer and hygrometer? Substrate? Size of water bowl? Cage furnishings?

None of this has been mentioned and will be helpful in giving advice


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He’s in a wooden enclosure with the dimensions of 6x2x2. I use heat bulbs and they make the warm end 90 to 95, and his cool end is 80 to 83. I use a temp gun for temps with an electronic thermometer plus hygrometer coming in on Thursday. His substrate is paper towels, and he has a very large water bowl for him to soak in and it’s counts as a shed rock since it has coarse sides.

Sliding doors? Closed top or screen? Pics? Temps could come down a bit too. ~80* ~90*.

High humidity on its own does not cause illness. Often what happens is high humidity + heat can cause mold, which can cause illness, or in an effort to raise humidity the enclosure became too cold because the keeper misted several times daily using 60*F water straight from the tap each time.

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I use heat bulbs and they make the warm end 90 to 95, and his cool end is 80 to 83.

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Okay - first your "cool side" temps are too warm. The cool side temps for retics should be about 74-77 F. If the cool end of your cage is constantly over 80 F - you are likely find your retic pushing a lot. Also your basking spot should be a bit cooler as well - retics should have a basking temp no higher than 90-92 F. And their humidity needs to be about 60-75 %, but you can go with humid hides if you want.

Here is a good video from Reach Out Reptiles on setting up Retics.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Lxi3HTJ9Rc

He also has a video on Face pushing in retics as well.