Kara, question about BCI and RI's....

[frankykeno]

Well Adam tells me you are the go to girl on BCI's Kara so here goes LOL.

This rescue BCI we've taken in has this odd breathing thing (mentioned in Jamie's thread but I thought it well worth a specific thread since I noticed Jamie's snake is also breathing funny too). He doesn't obviously wheeze loud, click, whistle, drool or anything like that and we do know he's had a least one RI in the past. Information is VERY sketchy on the treatment given but confirmed this snake did not see our herp vet and since she's one of the only vets in the area that will treat snakes I doubt Rauri got much real help.

Prior to taking in Rauri we insisted his previous owner have him seen by our vet. Rauri was cleared medically though she got a lecture on the poor condition of his belly (beginnings of a thermal burn from a huge heat rock plus he was kept on a very damp substrate). His belly is now fine. We are just concerned that when out for exercise he will occasionally breath in a slightly wheezy, heavy sounding manner. It reminds me of my husband's asthma acting up on exercise if that makes sense. It's not all the time or very loud but it does occur. We will be following up with the vet on this.

Do boa's that have RI's get left with some sort of lung scarring? If so is this permanent or just slow to heal fully? We'd just like to do the best for this great snake.

Our only other question is feeding schedules with BCI's. He's 5.5 feet and about 2 years old and a confirmed male. He's been fed a jumbo rat every week but we are thinking of offering appropriate sized bunnies. Should he eat every 7 days or is this incorrect for him? I see a lot of variance in this and we really didn't get time to learn as much as we'd have liked before Rauri sort of dropped in our laps.

Thanks as always...

~~Jo~~

[frankykeno]

Ooops sorry just double checked rat sizes. According to RodentPro's standards the rats we are feeding are considered Large or slightly bigger NOT jumbo. Excuse the confusion (freakin things look jumbo to me LOL)....they are about 8 or 9 inches not counting the tail and heavy rats so classed as large I guess.


~~Jo~~

[ladywhipple02]

I have a 6 ft. female that I adopted. She is probably 4 or 5 years old and has multiple spine deformities (which is probably why she won't get much bigger). Anyway, she takes a large rat---also bought from Rodentpro---every two weeks. Her foster mom was the one that told me to keep her on this schedule, and, as this woman has fifty or so of her own boas, I trust her judgement. Hope this helps...

[jglass38]

Just to clarify I would describe the sound as an exhaling of air like a tire losing air. Like a hiss without the mouth open. Its not every breath but when she is crawling around the floor she seems to do it. I figured it was because she is a load!

[Kara]

I would keep an eye on it, but it doesn't sound serious to me. Many snakes will breathe heavy from time to time, whether they're being active or not. Open mouth breathing would worry me, as would consistent raspy or heavy breathing, or if you could feel a deep gurgle in the snake's body while holding it...but a "once-in-a-while" thing is not uncommon, especially in boid species.

K~

[Kara]

Also, on feeding...every 7 days is fine for a male, but you don't need to do huge meals. A medium or large rat is fine if you're feeding on a weekly basis.

[jglass38]

Thanks Kara!

[frankykeno]

Thanks Kara! It's definitely not open mouth breathing - just as Jamie describes sort of a wierd exhalation sound almost exactly like a tire losing air. Glad to know it's probably nothing and I'm just being my usual "new snake" worry wort LOL.







~~Jo~~