May have heard a couple pops/wheezing when handling BP today?

[ferrislongdog]

I had him out to check in on him and let him sniff about while I fixed some stuff up in his tank. The humidity has been a little on the low side (around 50%) recently, and I noticed what looked like some possibly dry scales on his head. And maybe it was just me, but his head looked a little sunken (head lumps more prominent) but no signs of dehydration on the rest of his body. I added some wet sphagnum into his warm hide. He was crawling around my neck when the wheeze-like sounds started, so I wondered if it could maybe be just him being so strained as he tightly held on to move? He did it a few times in a row as he attempted to move down towards my arm and was exerting himself to propel off my neck and move forward. When I took him down and held him still, I head a single pop from him. There's no sign of mucus on his nose or mouth, and his nostrils and heat pits are clear of debris, so if it IS a RI, it may just be early.

Precautionary vet visit a demand? I'm really leaning towards it anyway as he's never made these sounds before.

There hasn't been a change in his appetite lately, he's still been on the lookout for food since I fed him on Saturday when it gets dark, and he always enthusiastically takes the meal in seconds. He has not pooped in a couple weeks, presumably because he needs a food upgrade.

[Kcl]

If I were you, I'd take him out and just hold him up to your ear briefly and listen to him once a day for a week or so and see if it continues. Everything will make noise every once in a while. If it's an RI, you'll hear more. While RI treatment should be fairly urgent, it's not urgent on the scale of days, nor are any of the other potential issues you mentioned. No need to subject him to the stress of a vet visit quite yet.

[ferrislongdog]

I was thinking I'd wait a few days, just wasn't sure if I'd seem ignorant to wait, ha. I'll make sure to keep up with checking in on him and balancing out his humidity. Fingers crossed it doesn't continue.

[Kcl]

It's a great question to ask, especially immediately after it happened! I think where people get down on posters asking whether or not to take their pets to the vet is either after the poster has already waited for weeks and weeks, or occasionally when it is a really obvious emergency (e.g. large gaping wounds). Many people do wait too long and allow things to get worse, which is definitely worse for the animal than going in unnecessarily.

However, different symptoms definitely have different urgencies based on what they could be. I believe that a decent number of vet offices are willing to advise owners on whether they should book an appointment immediately or wait and monitor as well, so sometimes that is an option too. In your case, making sure husbandry is all set and monitoring to see if it continues or worsens should be just fine. Hopefully it's nothing at all, which it very well may be.