ANOTHER snake handed to me... Question!

Yet another Ball python has been given to me for nothing! This time, it's a breeding size adult female normal - a pretty girl who comes from someone who adored her but knew nothing about her care. She came in an uncovered 24x24 exoterra with soaked newspaper, a human heat pad (uncontrolled) underneath and a wet cardboard box as a hide.

I have that cage (cleaned out, with dry paper towels, a better hide and a nice water bowl) with the heating pad on a t-stat setup in the dining room (as far from my established snakes as possible and even far from my other QT BPs) for tonight and plan to get her into a spare tub tomorrow. Her appearance is fine despite the wrong care - no burns or rot on her belly, no mites, and no discharge, but she is whistling as she breathes and does something rather strange in her dish: She sticks most of her head in the water and blows bubbles by exhaling through her nostrils. I'm not sure if she drinks as she does this...but it's rather strange to see.

I'll get pictures of her up ASAP, letting her settle down all covered up for now. Wanted input on that weird behavior, though.

If she's whistling as she breathes, it could be a sign of RI, have you made an appointment with a herp vet? If I were you, I'd take her asap. No breathing with mouth open? No mucus on the walls of the enclosure?

Post some pics if you can :D

blowing bubbles in its water sounds like what i do with soda or milk lol. but ive never heard or seen that before im really interested

No discharge or open mouth, no. And she only whistles when she's actively investigating something (I listen while standing near the tank and don't hear a thing, but if she sees me looking into the tank and checks me out the whistling starts up again).

I'll be taking her in to see my reptile specialist tomorrow afternoon to get her looked over. Man do I have such a headache from all this. The guy just said he 'needed to think over keeping her' after a 'lesson' on snake keeping. I gave him a rheostat and Acurite to use and he came back about five minutes later to return them and say he wanted me to take her. I barely had time to clear off the desk in the dining room (we recently moved, so its a mess over here) before he brought her over cage and all. Oh man...

I'll get some pictures tomorrow before I pack her up to go out. :)

Oh my goodness....
My rottie, Jack, blows bubbles in the water when he plays in his kiddie pool on the deck!!! :D
Maybe your new snake is het for canine? ;)

It could be she has a piece of shed stuck in her nares (nostrils). A damp q-tip can help to remove it...

Good luck!

Hmmmmm, it's so strange to me that even with the wealth of good information available people still choose to house and treat animals the way the guy before you did Argentra. I don't know that much about RI's just what I've read about but that would be my first guess if the snake is whistling like that. OR, maybe she's putting her head underwater to try and loosen up something in her nose or mouth and that's causing the whistling? Just my .02 :D

:rolleyes: I'm still thinking het for canine.... :8:

I agree with Jenh.
I had a Royal making the same noises and it was definately an old shed in her nostrils.
It came off with her next shed.
A friend of mine has a large Burmese and always has to clean out its nose after a shed.
Ken

I've seen snakes blow bubbles in their water before... it always makes me nervous that they're going to turn around and inhale it directly afterward, but they never do. =)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by starmom

:rolleyes: I'm still thinking het for canine.... :8:

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You should install a fire hydrant in it's cage and see what happens :D

LOL, I like the het for canine thing. She's about as sweet as a puppy...

Well, I took her to my guy and he said she looked really good despite having been in that guy's care, and that the bubble blowing could be either trying to clear pieces of shed or trying to clear her airways (very early mild RI in that case). To be safe, I now have her in a 41qt tub with good temp gradient of 94-84 ambient 80. Humidity is a bit high(75%), but I think if I add a few more holes to the tub it should go down.

Oh, and get this... I learned something about my snake-giving neighbor that I wish I hadn't:

A few months ago, I was at the shop and my friend was answering an apparently frustrating call. All I heard was him trying to give BP care advice, then him saying 'WHAT did you put on its nose??'. Well, turns out the guy that called, who always took his snake everywhere he went draped over his shoulders...in a Denver winter... had put VICKS VAPORUB on the snake's nose when he heard it wheezing a bit. My friend insisted on seeing the snake and got it cleaned up and warmed (and rescued), and that guy picked out another snake - the one I currently have.
Yep, that guy is my upstairs neighbor! OMFG... I knew he was clueless about snake care, but I had no idea HOW clueless, and stubborn. Now I'm really glad that snake is here with me...

I bet you that snake is happy to be in your home now...
I try to educate ppl when they say they want a reptile. I say are you prepared for them?

After I go through everything, most of the time, they say.. ohh wow i didn't know that..

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Argentra

LOL, I like the het for canine thing. She's about as sweet as a puppy...

Well, I took her to my guy and he said she looked really good despite having been in that guy's care, and that the bubble blowing could be either trying to clear pieces of shed or trying to clear her airways (very early mild RI in that case). To be safe, I now have her in a 41qt tub with good temp gradient of 94-84 ambient 80. Humidity is a bit high(75%), but I think if I add a few more holes to the tub it should go down.

Oh, and get this... I learned something about my snake-giving neighbor that I wish I hadn't:

A few months ago, I was at the shop and my friend was answering an apparently frustrating call. All I heard was him trying to give BP care advice, then him saying 'WHAT did you put on its nose??'. Well, turns out the guy that called, who always took his snake everywhere he went draped over his shoulders...in a Denver winter... had put VICKS VAPORUB on the snake's nose when he heard it wheezing a bit. My friend insisted on seeing the snake and got it cleaned up and warmed (and rescued), and that guy picked out another snake - the one I currently have.
Yep, that guy is my upstairs neighbor! OMFG... I knew he was clueless about snake care, but I had no idea HOW clueless, and stubborn. Now I'm really glad that snake is here with me...

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I don't think my Jack likes sharing his genetics with a reptile.... But he's happy to help with your neighbor ;)
http://i259.photobucket.com/albums/h...0/DSCN5415.jpg

ahahaha cool dog =]

*GRIN* hehehe... would be cool, and thanks for the offer, but not necessary. And he IS a nice looker...always liked Rotties.

The guy is really nice, just ignorant and stubborn. When I gave him those lessons on keeping, he realized just how much work snakes could be and decided to give her to someone who knew what they were doing. At least he came to his senses eventually.

Oh... and did I mention that she hasn't eaten in 5 weeks (the amount of time he's had her)? I found out today that he'd been trying to feed FT rats, probably not heated up, to a snake that was used to pre-killed. She probably didn't even know what was being dangled in front of her...

I'll be giving her the basic week to settle, then seeing how she does with a PK rat. SIGH...some people...

Oh jeez- At least he knew he was in over his head and had the good sense to bail!! Lucky snake to have met up with you ;)