A little nervous about wheezing

[ThenewBlack]

i just took Fry out of his tank and noticed that he is wheezing, iv read on other threads that its nothing really to get to concerned about but he has also yawned about 5 or 6 times since i took him out about a half hour ago.

heres his info:

Hes in a 30x12x12 tank. hes got two hides on each side of the tank. hot side has a UTH and above light (50w) large water dish and fake plant. his temp on the hot side is at 90* constantly humidity at 50%. hes also currently coming out of the in-blue stage of shed.

please help.

[stratus_020202]

can you tell if it's wheezing through his nose, or his throat? It sounds like he's loosening up his skin to shed, but I would keep an eye on it. From my experience the first skin breaks around the nose. If he's coming out of blue he should be shed in a few days. I would probably wait until after the shed. If there isn't any mucos it shouldn't be RI. If it continues I would see a vet asap.

[ThenewBlack]

can you tell if it's wheezing through his nose, or his throat? It sounds like he's loosening up his skin to shed, but I would keep an eye on it. From my experience the first skin breaks around the nose. If he's coming out of blue he should be shed in a few days. I would probably wait until after the shed. If there isn't any mucos it shouldn't be RI. If it continues I would see a vet asap.

i just put him back home and he went almost straight for his cool hide.... hes been spending most of his time there. i cant tell if its through his nose or throat. theres also no mucus that i can see.

any tips on what can cause RI? also what is used to cure it, antibiotics from the vet?

[stratus_020202]

there are a lot of things that can cause it, but you're setup looks good. Sometimes they just catch it, the same what we get a cold. It really doesn't sound like RI, but it is usually treated with injectables from the vet I think. I've never had one catch it, but my oldest bp i've only had for 3 months. Mine stays on her cold side a lot to during shed. I think it helps. I would try and bump that humidity up to 70% though. It will make it easier for her to shed.

[kc261]

Wheezing IS something to be concerned about, but considering that he is just about to shed, I agree with Stratus that is likely the source of the wheezing sound. Bump up the humidity to help him get through the shed.

If the wheezing sound continues after the shed, gets worse, or other signs of RI appear, I'd head to the vet.

[ThenewBlack]

wow, thanks everyone. i feel better about Fry. im gonna get that humidity up to 70 tonight when im home from work. any tips for keeping it up? im using cypress substrate, misting once a day with a towel covering the majority of the lid with just enough room for the light so nothing catches fire. should i just mist more often? ive also heard about humidity boxes... what is that exactly?

[ThenewBlack]

one more thing. Fry seems to be good with being handled when in shed, ive seen people saying they get quite defensive. his feeding day is coming up, would it be ok to feed him or should i wait until the next one?

[kc261]

What are you using to measure the humidity? Maybe the reason you can't get it to read above 50% is because the gauge is inaccurate. Those dial things aren't very good. I'd recommend a digital one if you don't have it already.

If you can't get the humidity above 50% in the enclosure, a humid hide is an excellent option. Take a plastic container such as a rubbermaid with the lid on. Cut a hole big enough for your snake to go in and out, and put some wet paper towels inside.

[stratus_020202]

You can make a humid hide by putting some moss inside one of the ones he has already.

If you really want to keep that humidity up, get rid of that light. Unless your room is cold, you don't need it. You could also hook it up to a dimmer, to tone it down a bit.

Or, take a glass and fill it with about 1/4 C of water. Then cut a papertowel into strips and hang them on the cup, with one end in the water. I do this because I have a big tank at the moment, and humidity is hard to keep up. But you have to change it at least once a week, so it doesn't grow things.

Bigger water bowls will put out more humidity also. I hope this helps, let me know how he is doing after the shed.

[stratus_020202]

Go ahead and try to feed him. KC is giving really good advise too. paper towels or moss. lol. Mine eat fine during shed, but others don't. It's really the snakes preference, but only leave the mouse in for a few min, and I wouldn't leave the room just in case.