Can slight wheezes be normal?

[jplehmann]

A couple months ago I got a 1350g bp that been off heat for at least a few days, maybe longer. At that time, she had a significant wheeze and I quarantined her in ideal conditions to try to get her back to health. By significant I mean you could hear her breathing most of the time when she was in her cage. She also had some diarrhea a couple times.

After a couple weeks the wheeze had become very minor, and she also began eating very aggressively. She's eaten 3x in a row, and had a nice full clean shed. Great muscle tone and strength. However, when I hold her I still notice a slight wheeze sometimes. Usually it's if her belly is pressed on something like my hand, or maybe after she's slid around a bit and is breathing a bit "harder" you can hear a little wheeze if your head is close. If she's resting she can be totally silent.

Otherwise, AFAIK all signs are healthy. No holding head up, no bubbles (never saw any then either), etc. I don't believe it's a "piece of shed" because it's just gone on too long. Everything looks good to me and I feel pretty good about calling her well.

Which leads to my primary question: do any of your snakes have a persistent very slight wheeze like this? I'm starting to think this is just the way she is and frankly, was about to see if she wanted to hook up with my spinner blast (yes, I know she's on the light side). But I certainly don't want to expose him if this is some kind of ongoing contagious condition.

Thanks!

[EasiGregory]

Honestly I wouldn't take a chance. Especially if you are wanting to breed her I would not attempt unless she had a clean bill of health. There is always going to be what ifs but doing your best as the care takers of these amazing animals to eliminate as many of them as possible. Take her to vet and get her checked out to be sure.

Just my opinion of course

Good luck.

Greg

[KMG]

Without knowing for sure I would not take the chance.

[Sauzo]

My advice is raise her temps a few degrees for a month or so to help immune system if she does have a slight RI. Also I would be sure to wash your hands inbetween handling other animals and keeping everything sterile but that should be regular practice regardless. You can sometimes hear my big BCI girl breathing when she gets excited from exercising. As long as you don't see mucous or bubbles or crusty stuff around their mouth or nostrils and they seem to be behaving normal and eating food, I probably wouldn't worry. Just raise the temps like I said and keep a close eye for a couple months. As for breeding her, I would say no, not until you access whether she is just a noisy breather when she gets excited or she does have RI. Most of the time if the RI is slight and you got the husbandry right and raise the temps, their immune system will fight it off. Most RIs start from bad or wrong husbandry.

[Mr. Misha]

I think you definitely shouldn't take a chance and make sure that's it's nothing serious. However, my Normal girl has been "wheezing" for about three years. It's just something that she does. At first I was freaking out because I thought she might have an RI, but I never saw one single sign besides the wheezing. To this day she still does it. I'm not sure what it is but she's been happily eating and shedding and being a happy snake. I realize that i'm the exception and not the rule. Take it how you will.

[Skiploder]

Slight wheezes in snakes is normal and is usually stress related. The noise is a function of the breath being expelled at a quicker velocity through the glottis and is a function of the irregular shape of the glottis x the speed of the expelled respiration.

I'd forego the vet visit as long as she continues to eat, shed and crap normally. On it's own, the occasional slight wheeze is normal.