My bp drooled on me....

[tiny_tiger60978]

I was eating with my bp on my shoulder yesterday and she started drooling on me...a lot. I looked on the internet for answers which all led to upper respiratory infection (URI) links. Since then, she hasn't drooled on me when I handle her (and has never done so in the past). There's not gurgling or clicking sound from her nose (except when she soaks and dunks her head under the water) and she's not holding her mouth open to get more air or anything like the other articles mentioned as symptoms. I don't really know if she's actually breathing harder than normal, or if I'm just freaking out but it was really weird and I'm worried about her. Does anyone have any advice?

[herekitkitty]

maybe she wanted some of ur food!

[tiny_tiger60978]

lol. Well she just ate the day before that...Idk. Am I just freaking out for no reason?

[herekitkitty]

i honestly dont know. im very new to the whole thing myself, I've only had my little girl for a week and a half. But she seems to be interested in my food when i eat, all stickin her tongue out and stuff. They have a strong sense of smell right? maybe she was overwhelmed by your food? did she do that again? or just that one time?

[tiny_tiger60978]

just the once...but she'd never done it before which is what worried me (i've had Nagi almost a year)

[Freakie_frog]

It could have just drank some water and it drained out. However excess mucus discharge is a sign of respiratory distress like RI or some form of particle in the respiratory trac.

[loonunit]

Yes, I've had them frighten me by letting a drinking water and letting a mouthful of it out onto the table/the sofa/me. I bet that's what it was...

If you're comfortable holding her head/neck, you can use a q-tip to do a quick oral check of her mouth. Hold it sideways like you're doing the limbo with her nose, push her upper lip upwards with the middle of the q-tip, and then let her gnaw on it while you check for bubbles and extra fluid.

[tiny_tiger60978]

that sounds do-able. thanks! should I be looking for anything other than fluid / bubbles? like a specific color change from pink-ish to ...whatever?

[DJ_Bizarre]

all you have to do is get her mouth open with a qtip like stated earlier, you are not going to look for color change, look for excess mucus or bubbline, which would be a sign of RI, if that is what it happens to be (I hope it isnt), take your BP to the vet immediately for some antibiotics.

1 more question to help us all out, how is your husbandry? what are you temps and humidity levels in the enclosure?

[tiny_tiger60978]

I'm really new to all of this, as in she's my first ever reptile pet...aka - idk what "husbandry" is. She's in a glass terrarium with Zoo-Med Aspen snake bedding. She has a "pool" on the cool side of her tank and I had a heating rock on the opposite side. Recently, found out that's not really a great idea, so I got a heat mat that's under her tank to warm the bedding. She has a log tunnel thing that has bark on the outside (she likes to rub against while shedding) as well a branch that spans the entire length of her cage at a diagonal. I try to keep the tank at least in the low 80s ('F) but i don't really know how hot the new heating pad is making the warm side of her tank since it’s pretty new. The humidity is pretty low...I honestly don't really know how to raise it except that I kind of mist her tank and keep the pool filled (usually makes it bump up to about 40-60%). She does like to swim though, so I let her have fun in the bath a couple times a week.

Does this help? Also, any suggestions for improvements are more than welcome!