Is this an RI??

[Tig]

I just got my first Ball Python yesterday, he's a male about 3.5' long from a place called Parrots of the World in Long Island NY. He was steadily eating frozen food at the store, and his enclosure at the store was fine... not overly humid and it was nice and warm. Since I got him home last night, I have heard him make a "fffffffsssss" sound say, 4 or 5 times. I held my ear to his face and listened to him breathe for 5 minutes straight, and there was no sound and the breathing wasn't irregular, but when I put him back in the tank, he made a loud wheezing sound. He ONLY seems to do it when I put him back in the tank or if he's uncomfortable with the way I'm holding him. He's also opaque, if that means anything. If it helps, the enclosure is a 20 long, with a 60watt red heat lamp and a heat pad, substrate is aspen shavings, a big water dish in the middle, and obviously a hide on both ends. The humidity is around 30. I would be surprised if the Snake was sick, because that store has a very very good track record and guarentees all their animals for a year. What do you guys think?



PS My first Snake died of a respiratory infection, and he did all kinds of weird stuff... gaping, drooling, discharge on the tongue, and eventually not even flickering his tongue, breathing deeply, and sunken in eyes. This guy is showing none of that... no gaping, normal flickering of the tongue, no tongue discharge, no drooling, eyes are fine (milky because of being opaque), just the occasional wheeze when he's off-balance.

[sarahlovesmiike]

He was more than likely just hissing, they get kinda crabby while in shed. You can check his mouth for signs of an infection if you feel it's necessary. You do need to significantly increase your humidity, he will probably have a bad shed at this point, don't worry theres a sticky for that! But you should up it to about 70% for the duration of the shed. You should have a look at the caresheet if you haven't already.

[Tig]

I looked around his mouth, didn't see anything abnormal. He does seem a bit jumpy. My sis was holding him yesterday and he kinda cocked his head back like he was gonna strike. I know I'm not supposed to bother him while he's opaque, so... yeah. The reason I have the humidity low is the possibility of an RI (I get very paranoid when I bring new animals home)

[ballpythonluvr]

More then likely he was just hissing as was already stated. I have a male normal that is a complete sweetheart until he goes into shed. He hisses at me all the time when he is in shed.

[Tig]

Sahweet, thanks guys. If he keeps doing it after he sheds I'll look more into it.

[Tig]

I might have just heard it coming from inside the tank once, it sounded like a sqeaky sigh, I'm not touching him, is it possible that it has something to do with being in shed? Maybe he has a loose scale around his nostril or something?

[sarahlovesmiike]

Just so you know, it's not the humidity that causes respiratory infections, its condensation. And yes, they will wheeze when there is skin covering their nostrils, and it's not going to come off if you don't get the humidity back up.

[Jacob Pfaller]

humidity to low or too high will cause a RI.

I know this because I allowed mine to get to low and I am now treating a RI.

Thanks Jacob

[Elise.m]

My male het pied will wheeze occasionally, but he doesn't have a RI. Sometimes when they're out and about, they can let out a wheeze or two. If you're concerned with it, just keep a close eye on the snake in question and you'll eventually find out if something is or isn't wrong.