RI or no?

[AndrewGeibel]

I have had my BP since about February. Soon after I got him I thought he might have had a RI. I took him to the vet and they said he had a very slight RI and they gave him the shots to take care of it. At this same time I bought a new thermometer and fixed all of my husbandry problems so now my temps and humidity are all right on. The thing that worries me is that sometimes when he breathes it mikes a slight whistling sound. However, he has done this ever since I have had him and it only happens when he is flexing like hanging off of my arm and bring his head back up or anything that takes some effort on his part. When he is just sitting around or not flexing his muscles, he doesn't make the whistling noise. Is there something else that could be causing this? Its been going on for several months. Is my snake just a loud breather? Is this an on going RI? I hadn't been too concerned because he hides just like a normal BP and eats every week. What do you guys think?

[xdeus]

Snakes will often make a whistling sound if they have loose skin in their nostrils that may not have come off during a shed.

A couple questions, though... Did you take him to a reptile vet? Did the vet give him a series of shots or just one shot? Typically, respiratory infections are treated with a series of antibiotic shots. I've never heard of just one being given.

You may want to just watch him to make sure it doesn't get worse or that he doesn't experience other URI symptoms, but I would still suggest that you take him back for a followup visit to rule out a chronic URI.

[KIBPLOVER]

Baby one of our balls, sure almost everyone here has heard of her, she had an ri about a month and a half ago, she showed no sign except for weezing and clicking, no mucuas or boogys, but our 1st vet gave her baytril, it was one injection every 3 days, by the 2nd injection she got worse, i got videos on here you can watch i will find them and post the link here, but when you watch them she was suppose to get her 3rd injection that day, instead we dropped that vet and found our new one, baby was put on a 10 injection fortaz, 1 injec tion every 3 days, we gave it to her, but by the 3rd injection she cleared up.. but let me find the videos...

[KIBPLOVER]

remember these were originally posted om March 11, 2007....

here is todays video at the bottom, is she getting better you make the call and help me decide... the open mouth and sneezing together is gone....

well here is the first 2 videos again...


video 1-- at 13 second mark 3/9/2007




video 2-- at 31 second mark on 3/9/2007



here is video 3 taken 3/11/2007-- its boring due to she roaming around but weezinh and popping has lessened it seems you can not here it on video, but the only thing i will point out -- at the 2min 30 sec mark is is religning/yawn or open mouth??????

[SatanicIntention]

Did you finish the antibiotic shots? All 10 of them? If not, then she still has an infection brewing in there.

The ideal thing to do is to have your vet do a culture and send it off to a lab. They will run the culture and the results will be sent back. Lab reports will show what bacteria is present and what antibiotics that certain bacteria is resistant or susceptible to. Then the vet will prescribe an antibiotic injection regimen that should last about a month(more or less depending on severity of the infection).

Sometimes enrofloxacin(Baytril) works better, sometimes ceftazidime(Fortaz) works better, and sometimes others work better for that specific bacterial infection. Only your vet can determine this through testing.

[KIBPLOVER]

yes all 10 were given.. and already been rechecked... that was back in march and early april.

[AndrewGeibel]

Ya my BP definitely isn't doing that. No mouth breathing or sneezing or bubbles or anything. Just very slight whistling ocassionally but not all the time. And it has been going on for several months. He eats every week no problem and his temperatures and humidity are spot on. I will take him to the vet again just to get checked out. I just wanted to hear what some people thought about it and if they thought it was something serious.

[twiztard]

My IJ carpet python is also weezing, no other symptoms but I think I am going to take him to vet to be sure

[KIBPLOVER]

good choice.

[MeMe]

That video is a great reference Kib! I have not seen that before. thanks for sharing.