Respiratory infection questions

[Miko]

I've had my ball python for two weeks and I just started hearing him squeak a couple of times? I JUST took him to the vet today and they said he was fine but then when I brought him home he started to squeak! He has always seemed to rub his head on things oddly but not his nose in particular.

While reading some things I heard that humidity can cause respiratory infection, I don't think it's true but I couldn't find anything contradicting it. Or are you supposed to up the humidity for respiratory infection? I know you're supposed to raise the heat but my ball python's tank has never been below 75 degrees so I was wondering if maybe I bought him right before he started getting it? I will bring him to the vet again if it starts getting worse but I was also wondering if he could have gotten it from the eco-earth coconut husk substrate, maybe I should switch to reptibark or a mix of the two?

Thanks for reading.

[BPelizabeth]

aspen is a good substrate but honestly I use paper towels...much easier clean up and personally I like it best. As for the squeak...it sounds like maybe your snake is getting ready to go into shed...especially if he is rubbing his head. Look for a blue phase...(sometimes it is easy to miss) but their eyes look a little blue/silver/milky prior to a shed. Make sure during this time you up the humidity to around 70%.

A good sign to look for with resp. infections is bubbles in the mouth, wheezing, open mouth breathing is a very bad sign.

[Miko]

aspen is a good substrate but honestly I use paper towels...much easier clean up and personally I like it best. As for the squeak...it sounds like maybe your snake is getting ready to go into shed...especially if he is rubbing his head. Look for a blue phase...(sometimes it is easy to miss) but their eyes look a little blue/silver/milky prior to a shed. Make sure during this time you up the humidity to around 70%.

A good sign to look for with resp. infections is bubbles in the mouth, wheezing, open mouth breathing is a very bad sign.

Oh, I did actually notice I could see the slit in his eye because his eyes are more silver but I thought I just didn't notice before hand. I just don't like the look of aspen, I like the brown and more natural looking substrates. They go with how my tank looks, but if I had to switch I definitely would.

I was really worried about the little guy. Thanks for helping me since I am a new ball python owner and I don't have much first hand experience.

[Miko]

Today he seemed to squeak a few more times but this time it sounded kind of like whistling more than squeaking? I really hope I'm being paranoid and he is just getting ready to shed.

[maverickgtr]

Today he seemed to squeak a few more times but this time it sounded kind of like whistling more than squeaking? I really hope I'm being paranoid and he is just getting ready to shed.

This happened with our female bp when we first brought her home. We took her to the vet and they said it was just a piece of stuck shed in her nose. It sounded like a whistling sound that was more prominent when we were handling her to change substrate/clean the enclosure. After her next shed it was gone and she was just fine.