What do I do?

[TheReptileCyka]

He does that noise quite often though, and he keeps half of his mouth open quite often as well. Does that happen with your retics as well?

[Bogertophis]

...But he still “coughs” (I know snakes can’t cough). He breathes with his mouth open and he wheezes...

What might be happening is that he has damaged his nostrils, so he has to breathe with his mouth open. I had a bull snake that did some of this...he was another "pusher". The "wheezing" might just be the resulting sound of his breathing this way...especially since your vet found no mucus or bubbling in his mouth.

[bcr229]

He does that noise quite often though, and he keeps half of his mouth open quite often as well. Does that happen with your retics as well?

The behavior comes and goes, and yes, they will occasionally lay mouth-open for a while. I usually take advantage and have a good look inside for mucous/bubbles just to reassure myself that there is nothing going on.

Now, what I won't do is tell you to take your snake to the vet, but I would not be surprised if you get various tests done for RI, and the vet finds nothing is wrong, other than your retic is being a typical male retic.

[TheReptileCyka]

I took him to the vet this morning. And he did a checkup, he said he was a VERY healthy snake with no problems. He said he was very strong and there were no bubbles or excess saliva in his mouth or anything.

All in all I’m very happy he’s perfectly okay and that nothing’s wrong. =)

[Bogertophis]

That's wonderful news! It's really hard to tell sometimes [when to worry & what to ignore] but good on you for paying attention, caring & making sure he's OK.

[Reptile$ 4 Life]

I took him to the vet this morning. And he did a checkup, he said he was a VERY healthy snake with no problems. He said he was very strong and there were no bubbles or excess saliva in his mouth or anything.

All in all I’m very happy he’s perfectly okay and that nothing’s wrong. =)

That's great! Hopefully you can get the pushing to stop as well.

[CloudtheBoa]

Hopefully there's nothing wrong with him! Retics, especially as they get bigger, just get noisy. If there's no mucus or anything, an RI is not very likely.

My SO has a bullsnake (I believe), and he can be a pusher. His face healed cleanly except the nares are nearly completely closed, but he often sleeps with his mouth wide open and will randomly let out a loud whistling sound that could be mistaken as an RI. So if your retic is a pusher and has damaged his face, that could certainly be another cause. As mentioned, larger enclosures can help, as well as adding some hides and things to climb around in/hide behind.

[Bogertophis]

...
My SO has a bullsnake (I believe), and he can be a pusher. His face healed cleanly except the nares are nearly completely closed, but he often sleeps with his mouth wide open and will randomly let out a loud whistling sound that could be mistaken as an RI. So if your retic is a pusher and has damaged his face, that could certainly be another cause. As mentioned, larger enclosures can help, as well as adding some hides and things to climb around in/hide behind.

Same exact thing with that male bull snake I had... They're active diurnal snakes in the wild, not always the best in captivity so no enclosure is big enough
in their opinion, lol. Cool snakes though, & not all of them "push".

[TheReptileCyka]

So the vet told me to not add humidity at all because it causes illnesses. But at the same time, he had a rough shed. I want to hear from you guys if I should add humidity or should I just keep it how it is with a large water bowl he can soak in?

[jmcrook]

Type of enclosure? Size of enclosure? Means of heating? Thermostat? Type of thermometer and hygrometer? Substrate? Size of water bowl? Cage furnishings?

None of this has been mentioned and will be helpful in giving advice


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