Quote Originally Posted by Kaorte View Post
Just because Skip talks himself up doesn't mean he is 100% right all the time. Take his teachings with a grain of salt, as you would with anyones advice off the internet.

I think a vet visit is the only way to know for sure. If it was an isolated incident and you never see it happen again, perhaps the snake was spooked by something or angry.. who knows. I wasn't there for sure, but it could have just been a very angry snake, no necessarily a sick one.

Just my opinion. I'm no vet!
I always do my own research when offered any opinion by someone else. I was strongly against pine until Skiploder presented me with good reasons to question my current beliefs. So I did a lot of research, and was unable to find anything except hypothetical information about the possible toxicity of kiln dried pine. I found a few resources that suggested that kiln dried pine is not harmful, and I found many threads on different websites where people stated they had been using pine for x number of years without any issues.

I have yet to personally meet or hear of anyone that had issues caused by kiln dried pine. I have kept rats (which have very sensitive respiratory systems) on it for years, with no issues. My own experience and research have taught me that there is no reason to fear pine. I simply cited Skiploder on this one because he has far more experience in the herp community than I do, and I hoped that it would bring a quick end to the debate.

I don't believe that she was angry. In the 9+ months I've owned her, she has never hissed at me and never behaved aggressively. Even when she was first rescued she was tame as could be, which is why I named her Dolly.

I could accept the theory about her being spooked if not for the extremely loud squelching/scraping sound that came from her. It was nothing like an RI gurgle, it was so loud that I could have heard it from outside the room with the door closed.

The impression I got was one of pain, almost. Like she was hissing from the pain and then the tensing of her body caused the sound to occur.