He wants to eat the box?!

[Unstable3lement]

It was feeding time and I was monitoring my boa before I fed him because his behavior was peculiar. He kept pushing his nose up against the tub hard and then would open his mouth wide as if he wanted to take a bite out of the tub. He continued to do this several times. What does this mean????

[llovelace]

could be jaw alignment

[Wh00h0069]

I'm not really sure, I have never seen any of mine do this.

[Skittles1101]

Was he yawning?

[Unstable3lement]

If he was yawning, he must have been super tired cause he did it like 5 times. I have never seen any of my other snakes do this before. It was kind of weird. I don't think he was stressed out at all. Is there any behaviors or physical characteristics I should be looking for?

[Skittles1101]

Excessive yawning and holding the head upright can be signs of an RI, but if it was just before feeding he may have just been aligning his jaw. Have you noticed any other signs of RI like slim across his tub walls/lid or bubbles from the nose or mouth? If not I'd keep an eye out and see how he reacts next feeding. He may have just been anticipating food and aligning his jaw...

[Unstable3lement]

I will take a look at his cage in more detail and see if I notice anything such as "slim." If he does have an RI....what do I do?

I didn't notice any weird behavior after the feeding except the "I am still hungry, feed me" movements, which aren't out of the oridinary.

[Skittles1101]

I will take a look at his cage in more detail and see if I notice anything such as "slim." If he does have an RI....what do I do?

I didn't notice any weird behavior after the feeding except the "I am still hungry, feed me" movements, which aren't out of the oridinary.

Sorry I meant "slime" lol, pretty much boogers slid across the sides...it's hard to miss for an RI. If he has an RI he'll need a vet appointment to have a culture and prescribed antibiotics. It honestly sounds like he was aligning his jaw at this point, it's hard to miss signs of RI, so I'd just keep an eye out just in case.

[Alexandra V]

If he was only doing it around mealtime, then it's jaw alignment, I'm almost certain. Pushing their faces against hard surfaces and yawning are both ways to realign the jaws after putting them out of whack to eat. Maybe he was just multitasking a little by yawning and pushing at the same time

I've seen my snakes yawn A LOT after a meal, sometimes they just have a tougher time getting their jaws back. They usually stopped doing it by the day after.

If he stops doing it then it's just jaw stuff, but if he continues to do it after a day, then definitely keep an eye out for signs of a respiratory infection (mucous in the mouth, and bubbling around the mouth and nose, as well as wheezing and excessive yawning).