Hey all,
I've had my python Sneaker for about 4 months, she's my first reptile. I adopted her from a friend who wasn't all that interested in taking care of her, and so I'm really anxious to be the best snake mom ever. Sneaker is almost 5 years old and about 3 1/2 feet long. I'm pretty sure she's not any kind of morph.
Yesterday I had her out of the tank, and I noticed she's making a squeaky, wheezy sound when she breathes. She also yawned a few times, but I'm not sure if that's usual. Her last shed was clean, and although the humidity in the tank has been a bit low lately I don't see any loose skin. Her facial scales look "bluer" than usual though. I took her to the vet this morning, the vet said the wheeze can be an early sign of respiratory infection, and so we're doing a course of antibiotics injections. She (the vet) also recommended I up the cage temp, so I got a ceramic heat lamp to supplement my UTH. The ambient temp is only 22*C on the warm side, currently.
I've been googling and saw that some snakes are just squeaky when they breathe, but also that if you ignore an early sign of respiratory distress, the snake could die! I don't want to look like an idiot either way, and I especially want my snake to be healthy. I also don't want to hurt her with unnecessary antibiotics and stress though. Is this a "better safe than sorry" sort of thing? She seems even more wheezy today.
-- an anxious n00b
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