Wheezing

[hungba]

I have this one ball python that has an occasional wheeze or two when breathing. I already know that wheezing is an early sign of RI. Please read this entire post as there is more to this.

I must admit that as my collection grew, I do not handle my snakes as often as I should. I raised his snake from baby to breeding size (male) in about a year, and I never noticed any wheezing. Then again I only just cleaned, fed, changed substrate and water and did not handle much.

So, since last October, breeding season came, and he went off feed, and I started rotating him with three females. He locked well. After one pairing, he did not get along with the female, they fought, were covered in pee and I gave him a warm bath. Afterwards, I noticed he wheezed a few times. I noticed that there WAS stuck shed in the nose, and also know that after baths there may be water in the nose causing a sound. I put him back and he stopped wheezing.

A few days later, he shed, and I still heard a couple more wheezes and he went straight to the vet.

The vet did a full examination, and said there was nothing outwardly wrong with him. Nothing heard in the lungs from stethoscope (sp.), nothing in the lungs from X ray etc etc. A barage of tests causing me a lot of money, but not knowing what was wrong. He said the only anomaly was that the white blood cell count was high, which may mean it has an unknown infection of some kind. He decided to give him a course of broad spectrum anti-biotic injections of fortum for 5 shots once every 3rd day.

The wheezing did not go away, nor did it worsen. Nor did he show any other symptoms. Despite being off feed for several months, he has lost no weight. 2 more weeks went on (total 4 weeks after anti-biotics). I decided to go to another vet, and he got the first vet to give the records. Again, tests tests tests and nothing was wrong with him. He just wheezed now and then for a few breaths when handled and when first put back into the box. The vet said that some snakes just make a wheezing sound, and from what he heard it did not seem "wet" and he may just not be sick at all, that some snakes are just like that. He said that all tests have been done and if I wanted to do anything else it would be a "lung wash" to get a sample from deep within the lung, and send it off overseas for testing, but recommended I do not do that because he was confident the snake is healthy and that this would actually stress the snake possibly causing a problem. I asked him about the white blood cell count found in the first blood test and he said that birds and reptiles can raise their white blood cell count very quickly, and the stress from the trip from my house to the vet clinic alone may have raised it. I took him home and while skeptical at first, but decided to trust him, yet, I kept him in a separate room anyway.

Now, some time has passed. It's been over 3 almost 4 months since this all started. He still wheezes. It is not worse, nor better. He has not lost any weight still. He has no discharge from nose nor mouth nor anything. Nothing left on the walls of the box. Good healthy tongue flicking. He just wheezes when I take him out, handle him for a while, then I hear it a few times, then it stops again. When I put him back he always wheezes a few times again the stops. I would think if it is an RI that it would have gotten a lot worse by now? Something that my vet said as well. But everytime I hear the wheeze I get very uncomfortable.

So, I've been to two vets, and the result is as I described already. The first vet I had never used before. The second one was one I trust and had helped me with several animals over the years. Now I guess I ask here. Anyone with experience please chime in.