Our BP is squeaking when it breathes, possible cause?

Hey. I'm new to this forum in general, and i'm not so new to snakes as a person. We already have a garter, and just got a BP this week given to us from someone who couldn't afford to take care of it. The bad thing is that we have very limited history on it, since it seemed like the snake had been a pass down through owners.

Before we got it, it had already ate a big meal and it is currently shedding. This morning when I was changing out the water, I noticed that when it breathes, it emits a little squeaking noise with every exhale. It's not loud, but very faint. It wasn't making that noise yesterday.

I've been reading around the internet for some causes as to why our BP is doing this, but I haven't been so great on finding accurate information or if it applies to our BP. I read somewhere that squeaking usually happens when they shed, but there isn't any dead shed skin by or around our BP's nose. Would they still squeak even if there isn't lose skin around their nose?

Could it possibly be RI? I read somewhere that BPs with RI will usually yawn on occasion. I haven't seen our BP yawn occasionally, but it has yawned once yesterday afternoon.

Hopefully this is the right place to post this, and if there is another topic that was already posted about this somewhere else, I apologize if I didn't get to read on that first before I posted this. Like I said, i'm pretty new here, there's lots of reading still need to be done!

Thank you for any advice given! :snake:

My first thought would be a piece of skin making the noise. It can be there without you being able to see it. This could also be an early sign of an RI. Raise the heat and humidity, this wont hurt either way. If it is an RI you will start noticing yawning, liquid and/or bubbles in the mouth, and it will lay with it's head propped up on the side of the tub, water dish, or hide, to help it breath easier. Sounds like after the shed you need a good vet visit just for a check up and possible RI.

Probably nothing. If you dont see any mucus around the nostrils then dont worry.

I've been paying close attention to our BP since my first initial post, and I noticed that the squeaking was more prominent when I was changing out its water, but since then the squeaking comes and goes, and is super faint now, or it won't squeak at all and is just normally breathing.

It seems to be shedding in stages, most of its tail and middle portion has been shed, but it looks like the skin around its head region is a little dull and chipped, so i'm thinking that still has some time to take.

From what I noticed, there isn't any mucous around it's nostrils, pits, and mouth. We're going to up the heat and humidity to see if there's any significant changes or not.

Thank you for the advice!

Hi,

How long has it been since it started shedding its skin?

It sounds as though it might be having a hard time shedding - have a look at this sticky and see if it helps.


dr del

What is the humidity and temperatures inside of the enclosure?

The warmer end of the tank we keep at about 80-87, and the cooler end of the tank is at around 77-80 degrees. We also keep the temperature in our house around anywhere from 71-77 degrees as well. The humidity is at just about 50%, what we usually keep it at. Our tank is also next to our window, so usually the morning sun will heat up the tank a couple degrees higher as well.

I'm not sure just how long its been shedding for, the person who gave it to us said it "just started to shed". Unfortunately we only have limited history on it, and the person who gave it to us really doesn't know too much history about the BP itself. Thank you for the advice thread though, i'll consider using it if I feel that the shedding process is taking longer than it should (the BP is still a little rough around the edges, it has shed some more within the past night, but there are still chunks of dead skin that are still left to be peeled off in different areas around its body).

You need to move the tank away from the window. If its getting direct light, you could cook your snake.


Sounds like an RI

Is he still squeaking when he breathes?

Even if he isn't, you might want to raise the warm and cool side a few degrees each. I don't know if you live in a cold climate, but keeping the enclosure next to a window can expose it to drafts.

Also, you say that the morning sun warms the tank a couple of degrees...Temperature swings can be stressful to bp's, even if it is only a couple of degrees. That's why most people will recommend a proportional t-stat as opposed to an on/off one.

I see. I thought the sun would also aid in keeping it comfortable too, but I guess not. I don't live in a cold climate in general, and lately its been a bit unseasonably warm for the past couple of weeks (we live in Southern Nevada). We don't let the snake bask in the sun all morning, we cut the blinds on it after about 45 minutes to an hour or so.

So far since my observations between yesterday afternoon and night and this morning, there hasn't been any noticable squeaking emitting from our Python anymore. Normal and constant breathing. There's parts of its head region that's showing shedding signs, so we're watching closely for that to see when it happenes/finally peels off.

I will definitely up the temperature on both sides of the tank, thank you. Also, would the room temperature have any effect whatsoever? We have our BP in a standard glass tank.

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Originally Posted by Shadowolf

I will definitely up the temperature on both sides of the tank, thank you. Also, would the room temperature have any effect whatsoever? We have our BP in a standard glass tank.

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The room temperature will affect the tank temperature unless you are controlling your heat source with a thermostat. Otherwise, it doesn't matter.

I see, thank you for the info.

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Originally Posted by Shadowolf

I see, thank you for the info.

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You got it. :)

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Originally Posted by lmartelli77

The room temperature will affect the tank temperature unless you are controlling your heat source with a thermostat. Otherwise, it doesn't matter.

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Room temperature definitely matter even with a thermostat, especially in a glass tank.

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Originally Posted by DutchHerp

Room temperature definitely matter even with a thermostat, especially in a glass tank.

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How so? As long as the probe is on the heat source the temp should remain constant, no?

At least mine do...

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Originally Posted by lmartelli77

How so? As long as the probe is on the heat source the temp should remain constant, no?

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True, the temperature on the heat source will remain constant.

The cool side and ambient air temperatures are somewhat affected by a heat source (more so by overhead heat sources) but the air in the room will enter the cage and cool it down quite significantly.

Even with a 1/2" plastic cage with a heat panel, the cool side and ambients are still lowered a few degrees each night in my house (gets down to the 60's).

Quote:

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Originally Posted by DutchHerp

True, the temperature on the heat source will remain constant.

The cool side and ambient air temperatures are somewhat affected by a heat source (more so by overhead heat sources) but the air in the room will enter the cage and cool it down quite significantly.

Even with a 1/2" plastic cage with a heat panel, the cool side and ambients are still lowered a few degrees each night in my house (gets down to the 60's).

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I wasn't counting on the house temps dropping so much. My house stays between 68 and 72 year round, that's why my enclosure temps don't fluctuate barely. I guess it certainly would affect the tank if your house dropped to the low 60's. My bad for assuming.....

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Originally Posted by lmartelli77

I wasn't counting on the house temps dropping so much. My house stays between 68 and 72 year round, that's why my enclosure temps don't fluctuate barely. I guess it certainly would affect the tank if your house dropped to the low 60's. My bad for assuming.....

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Yeah the room temperature in my house definitely fluctuates a lot... it sucks.

Hm. Interesting. Sometimes our house temperature will go down to 68, but that's only when we don't pay attention to heat flow in our house. We've been keeping it especially in the mid to high 70s just in case it has even the smallest effect on our snake (and we also have another snake, and two lizards).

I'm not sure if this topic has already been created somewhere, but has anyone ever heard of using "human" heating pads underneith tanks? What I mean by "human heat pads" are ones that aren't "certified" for reptile tanks so to speak, but the heating pads that humans use (you know, those heating pads that are flat and have a cloth outer layer to them)?

This might sound like a silly question, but my mother-in-law said it could also be a great substitute as well for under tanks, they used one for a little while with a lizard they had. Has anyone tried this before?