Open Mouth & Clicking; RI?

[Lusiphera]

Brief backstory:

At a recent expo a girl bought a female spider. Breeder didn’t disclose wobble. After an hour of walking around buyer sees wobble, points it out, someone tells her it’s the wobble, she googles, doesn’t like the idea of supporting the wobble, tries to return snake. Breeder won’t take her back. Girl decides she truly doesn’t want the snake and leaves her on a table for anyone. I come across her just as a very young couple were laughing at her poor balance and saying they were taking her so they could smoke her up and see her balance then. Needless to say, I took her so that didn’t happen.


Mouth Opening:

I’ve had her two weeks yesterday. She was due to eat the day after I got her but I couldn’t get her to eat until last night, which I was quite happy about! Today however, I noticed on three occasions that she would open her mouth. Not wide, just a bit, I’ll add a picture. She did it once in her enclosure. I took her out to have a look and as I was sitting down she did it again. I pulled out my phone to get a picture and a couple of minutes later she did it and I got a pic. Once after that my fiancé saw her do it. That was around three this afternoon, nine hours ago, and we haven’t seen it since. She’s not holding it open, nor is she opening her mouth as wide as she can. Here’s a couple pics:




I thought maybe it had something to do with her finally eating but because I’m a overly scared snek mom I was also worried about an RI. So I put her face up to my ear and while I don’t hear any wheezing, whistling or crackling I can hear a click. It’s a clear and definitive click. Well, it’s actually two small clicks. Every time I hear it it’s the same two small clicks. I checked her mouth and I don’t see any salvia or bubbles and her mouth is clean. I’m just at a loss.


Question:

Are these signs of RI? Something caused by her feeding last night? I was told she was on rat pups. I tried a couple of those throughout the week - one on Sunday and one on Wednesday - and when I decided on a whim to try last night I only had large mice left so I tried that and she did take it.


Husbandry:

She’s in a 20 gallon long on coco fiber with an UTH and a thermostat controlling it. Humidity is usually around 70% after I mist 3x a day but lingers around 50%. I had planned on moving her to a tub once she’s bigger but have recently been considering setting her up in one now. She’s 143g as of Thursday. Her warm spot is at 92 on top of the substrate using a temp gun, middle is 82 cool side is 79. I have cardstock sheets wrapped in foil covering most of the screen top and a heat bulb in the center to keep the temp up - my home is always cold. She has hides on the warm and cool side. She stays in them all day unless she pops her head out to look around.





She does wander at night. Quite a bit. As soon as the moonlite bulb goes on she’s out. Last night when I fed her she actually stayed in until about six am and then came out for a few hours. She was a bit head shy when I got her but she’s not so much now, so long as you run your finger up her neck to her head so she can feel it coming. She’ll still jerk away if you come at her from the front. She’s not aggressive, I was able to check her for salvia bubbles with what I would think (with my minimal knowledge of BP’s of course) was just the right amount of resistant. She wasn’t lethargic and allowing it but she didn’t tag me either.

Now I will say my daughter and I both have a cold. My daughter doesn’t handle the snakes without washing her hands regardless, but she also hasn’t handled the spider yet - save for touching her back with her finger twice. I have handled her with my cold. I read in another thread someone say short of feeding your snake your snot when you have a cold you’re not going to get them sick but as I said I’m new to BP’s and I don’t want to assume anything!

Last question, if people do think this is the early stages of an RI does anything know much about the home treatment using vapor rub and eucalyptus oil? I will without a doubt make a vet appointment for her if need be but I was just curious if anyone had experience with that RI treatment as I do have those ingredients handy.

Sorry for such a long post, I wanted to try to provide info that I’ve seen others ask for. I know I’m forgetting something but any advice is greatly appreciated! I am new to keeping BP’s and I know that I don’t know better than many people here, so if I’m doing something glaringly wrong please let me know! Keeping this girl healthy and safe comes long before my ego.


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