Breathing heavy

[Kansasalicia]

My 4 month old female python just ate a 27 day old rat pup this past Sunday evening. I noticed today that she is breathing heavy, nostrils are clear and tongue flicks occasionally. The breathing is so heavy her head goes up and down a little. Is it normal? Too much food? She usually eats hoppers.

[dr del]

Hi,

To be honest the breathing rate probably has more to do with the fact you are looking at her than the meal.

Youngsters also tend to wobble about a bit more than adults owing to the strength of the muscles in their body - I wouldn't worry about it given the descrition you gave.

[Kansasalicia]

Thanks for the advice! My fiance and I are taking her to the vet Wednesday. She's (snake) has some of her sensory holes plugged and one nostril on top her head. Still some shed left on the too of her head. She was making a clicking noise too.

[Bogertophis]

Thanks for the advice! My fiance and I are taking her to the vet Wednesday. She's (snake) has some of her sensory holes plugged and one nostril on top her head. Still some shed left on the too of her head. She was making a clicking noise too.

Well hopefully it's not an RI, only that some shed is remaining that's causing the trouble. Raising her humidity, you should be able to help her finish her shed, & if you
just walk into the vet (with the dried-on shed), he or she won't have time* to do that sort of thing anyway, at least that's my guess. *Or it will cost a lot for something
you can do at home? If that was me, I'd have held off on the feeding so as not to have a negative impact on her digestion, but you should be able to contain** her with a
very damp towel for a while...maybe in the cage where it's plenty warm, so she can "multi-task"- digest & clear the old shed off in peace- then help manually after all the
old shed is moist & easily removed, if any is left. **By "contain her with towel" I mean in a smaller plastic 'critter cottage' that she can just fit comfortably in with towel.

Has the humidity in her cage been too low? This really sounds like a home/husbandry issue that you hopefully don't need a vet for?

As far as her recent meal, it should be mostly digested by now. You aren't still seeing a bulge, are you? For future reference, don't feed items that are
larger than where they are going (her mid-body- stomach); slightly less in width is preferable.