Quote Originally Posted by firedoug View Post
The last week my 2 feet male is acting very odd. Started leaving head + 4" of neck sticking erect out of hide? He was due for a meal, so I fed him and he ate fine as always. Now for the last 2 days instead of his usual reclusive behavior of hiding all day he has been sitting in his bowl with his head and neck straight up in the air about 6" erect, and yawning every once in a while?

So today, 2 days after he ate I thought I would get him out and give him the once over. Normally when I take him out he is totally chill. As I approached he was a touch aggressive.... neck s and focused on my hand.... never his style..... he is always very shy curling up in withdraw as i give him touch on his back coils before picking him up.

So I take him out and he is mad dogging me? As I settle down in the chair to observe him he goes into a cobra stance mad dogging me and then yawns and half hisses half squeak out of his fully open mouth? So I put him back in his cage.

Any thoughts?

Doug
By the things I bolded, there is some evidence that it could be a respiratory infection.

When a Ball python (or any snake) has RI it will stick its head straight up in the air to clear their nose and mouth of the mucus, so it goes straight down into their throat. Sometimes snakes will act aggressive when sick because they are stressed out.

What do you mean by mad dogging you? Normally, if they do that cobra stance, that would be called parascoping (sp?). Ball pythons do this to look around the area they are in. So if the snake's neck is straight up in the air but the head is looking straight forward, then that is most likely parascoping.

When a Ball python opens its mouth and yawns A LOT, that could also be a sign of RI. When the snake cannot breathe out of its nose, it will open up the mouth so it can breathe (open mouth breathing).

The half hiss and half squeek thing seems very odd. If I remember, I was watching a video of pythontricker's (I think) and his albino had a very severe case of RI and when it opened its mouth it made this hissing/squeeking noise.

So, to me, it CAN be an RI. I would definitely keep an eye out, this doesn't seem right. You may want to take him to a vet to get him checked out, this could be something extremely severe or it could be nothing.

To check if your Ball python has RI, check inside the mouth for any large or even small bubbles that may spot the entire mouth and throat. If so, try to get the saliva on the tip of your index finger and once you do press it against your thumb and slowly spread them apart. If you see a strand in between your fingers, that can most likely be mucus, which means your BP may have RI. Also check for open mouth breathing, wheezing, sneezing, oozing from mouth or nose, large bubbles in the mouth (that have a greenish tint to them), two ends of tongue stuck together, and clicking/popping noises when the snake exhales.