I picked up two female adult balls today from a breeder. Saw both in person and each looked fine other than one having a stuck eyecap from a recent shed. After about an hour and a half ride back to my place I noticed that when we (me and my bf) took them out (we had them in individual snake bags for the ride) each had issues that concerned me.
One (the stuck eye cap) had a very slight wheeze/whistle sound, for the time holding her we only heard it three times. Her mouth was clear of any bubbles or cheesy substance, and she has healthy scales/skin and clear eyes (besides the eye cap).
The second is what is worrying me the most: she has a very apparent wheeze/whistle as well as a rumbling that I could physically feel within her body as she breathed. It sounded/felt almost like when you have phlem in your throat and you're trying to clear it by coughing it up in your throat - it was very similar to that sound and feel. Opened her mouth and she had lots of bubbles in the back of her throat/near her windpipe but it wasn't so bad that the bubbles were gurgling out of the sides of her mouth. No cheesey substance, clear eyes, scales and belly.
So here's where I'm confused: these all sound like the start of an RI yet when we saw them in person there was NO signs of any of this what so ever. RIs don't happen in a one and a half hour transit of course. So what's going on?
Talked to the breeder and he didn't see or feel any of these signs before when he had them for sale or before we traveled down to pick them up earlier that day. He checked the rest of the snakes in his racks and none are having these issues. The rumbling/wheezing/bubbles seems to have happened in an hour but how is that possible?
I have since upped their temps and they are in quarantine. Show I raise or lower their humidity? (Both are at 61 degrees humidity currently).
Could these signs have been stress related from the move? Can someone shed some light on this for me?
Thanks
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