New BP a bit "whistley"

[Hypancistrus]

Went to the local Petsmart today looking for a 30 gallon screen lid, which they did not have. They did have a lovely little pied ball python though, and my fiance loved her, and when my not-so-snakey fiance says "Hey we should get this snake," you've gotta jump on that, right?

Got her home and set her up in a QT 10 gallon with UTH in our bedroom, three floors away from my other reptiles. Simple wooden hides, aspen and a small water bowl. My fiance was holding her while I set her viv up and noticed that she whistles occasionally when she breathes. It's not frequent and she isn't laboring to breathe. She has some shed stuck around her head and face and I thought at the store it was likely because the viv was so dry. I put a humid hide with damp moss into her viv for her if she'd like to use it.

Do you think this is a RI? I have a reptile vet and will take her if need be, but I do not want to stress her unnecessarily. Should I wait, watch and worry? I got her full feeding record and she has been eating well roughly every week, with very few skipped meals when she was in blue. We are pretty excited to have her, and at a very good price, so I want her to do well.

[Albert Clark]

Beautiful pied! Congrats. You cant go wrong taking her in for a wellness checkup and getting a baseline history started on her. What you can do at home is monitor her closely and triple check your husbandry numbers. Temps and humidity. Ambient, hot spot. Substrate. Make sure you are spot on with that. Imo, if she is feeding that is a plus. If all your husbandry is ok and you still feel her "whistley" is problematic then bump up her ambient temperature a couple of degrees until you can get a appointment for a wellness visit with your herp vet. Hope this helped a little.

[Hypancistrus]

Okay, I will double check all of that and keep an "ear" on her through the weekend. It's never an issue getting an appt with my exotics vet, so perhaps I will make one for next week and cancel if all seems well.

She is currently feeding on f/t fuzzy mice. I think she needs to step up soon to rats of some sort. I was thinking fuzzy rats or maybe peach fuzzy rats. Thoughts? I don't think mice cut it with baby BP's.

[Lady mkrj58]

Congrats your baby is so cute I would make an appointment with the Vet , meanwhile ehat was posted above on the care. Some times we think we are helping the stress level the Situation of being sick is very stressful in it's own way, If this was me I would get an appointment asap. Now you do know we love pictures on here so you must post pictures. lol

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[IsmQui718]

I'd watch her very carefully over the next few days. It's much better to nip it in he bud early on if it's an RI. As Albert said, it wouldn't hurt to bring her to a reptile vet for w checkup. An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure.

Things to look out for are neck stretching (not to get confused with ambush position when ready to eat), nose constantly pointed up, bubbly discharge from the nose or he mouth, "bubble blowing", crackles, wheezing or popping. Not all snakes have the discharge, but will be bubbly when they yawn.

Depending on what your vet says, he/she may recommend a culture and sensitivity to see what antibiotics the bacteria is susceptible to. If she does need antibiotics, she may be on them for awhile, as RI's can be stubborn.

RI's can also be viral in nature, but it's not common.

Hope this helps.


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[Mr. Misha]

Congratulations on getting a beautiful Pied girl! The whistling sound is probably from the stuck shed. Personally, I'd up the humidity and see how she does. I dont think her whistling justifies a vet visit quite yet. However, you should definitely keep your eyes on her for a couple of weeks just in case.

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[Hypancistrus]

Okay, thanks everyone. A friend of mine stopped by after work, as she has more BP experience. She thinks it is stuck shed making the whistle noise. I am going to try and get her feeding here (her records indicate she has no issues in this regard) and then see what I can do about the shed stuck to her neck and snout. It doesn't appear to be affecting her vision.

Petsmart, incidentally, has very strange policies with snakes. They are "Required" to hold them a certain amount of time per week to "keep them tame," and they often do this right before feeding, during which the snake is placed in a feeding bin. I didn't argue with the woman about the feeding bin. I myself have been feeding in my animals enclosures for more than 9 years now and have not seen any increased frequency of bites... except from my female blue tongue skink, oddly enough. lol

[AKA Dave]

Great looking Pied, and from Petsmart!!! Won't rehash what was already said here. As far as feeding goes, and it's hard to tell just how large she is in the picture, I'd definitely up the size. I have a newish BP that looks to be about her size and I have him on rat fuzzies or crawlers in the 25-30g range. Takes them no problem.

Dave

[Hypancistrus]

Thanks, Dave! I was definitely impressed to find such a good looking snake at Petsmart. They had a pied earlier this year, but it was extremely low white.

[Hypancistrus]

Wanted to show an update on this girl (assumed-- since she is a pied... and males tend to be more valuable... not actually sexed). When we got her Petsmart was feeding her fuzzy mice and she was near to starvation. You could clearly see her spine. She was alert and healthy and very calm so we took a chance on her.

That was August. 7 months later...


We are still having some shedding problems with her. She refuses to use a humid hide. I have her in a 20L with a screen lid. Humidity hangs around 50% in my basement due to an open turtle aquarium that evaporates like crazy. My normal BP has no issue with it and sheds just fine. But she always has terrible sheds. We've been putting her into a small shoe box with tepid water and a towel, which brings most of it off. A run through a slightly damp towel gets most of the rest. Any other thoughts on how to improve her shedding? I know a bin/rack would help... but I hate not being able to see them.

Anyhow... she's still sweet as pie and eats as often as we let her-- currently every 7-10 days on rat pups or small adult mice.