Some questions about my BP

[Whodinidunit]

OK, so I know with reptiles in general a big problem is RI's. Now My BP when I am handling him he seems fine and all and I don't hear any wheezing sounds or anything that sounds continuos. But every now and then I'll hear him make a puff/hiss sound. he's not actually hissing but it's like he did a sigh and force air out his nose. almost like he was trying to blow his noseor force something out. Is this something I should be concerned about?

Also I have never been bit or struck at by my BP, but one day as he was going on the side of my neck and I felt him rub against it and then felt like a scale got caught. it turned out to be a tooth as if he rubbed and one of his fangs must have exposed and snagged on my skin. Anyone ever have this happen to them?

[JLC]

The sound you're describing sounds normal. They'll do a little huff or sigh now and then. Especially if startled or just forced to move in a direction that wasn't their idea.


I've never gotten a tooth snagged on me, but she got her own lip caught on her own teeth once. Freaked me out because I thought she'd broken her jaw or something. But it was all scary looking for several minutes...and then all of a sudden it was normal again. Silly creatures!

[Swingline0.0.1]

Yeah, I almost had a fit when Milton caught his own teeth on his belly... that was when the mouse came to right when he started swallowing it and pulled away... He finally got unhooked from himself and refused to eat the mouse!

[Whodinidunit]

Like I said in a couple of my first few post this is my first BP and honestly I have not had luck with reptiles in the past. I had a veiled chameleon and it died about a month and a half after getting it. Worst part is what ever killed it, killed it fast he was fine one day then the next was a nightmare and of course it happened on a sunday. Good luck finding a vet on a sunday. His replacement was a bearded dragon. He actually was healthy and he was going strong, but my significant other wanted a Mangrove monitor. So we traded the Beardie in for the monitor (I miss the beardie). the monitor we got already had a defect in it's one eye. The monitor was alive until 2 months ago and on sat he was alive and well and sunday afternoon he was lifeless and smelled like a dead fish. So reptiles have not been good to me lately. I am hoping to change my luck with my BP.

[Kagez28]

have you tried fish?

[frankykeno]

I wouldn't say most ball pythons have "a big problem" with RI's. Most of the time the big problem is owners that don't research first and have the snakes set up improperly. A properly cared for BP isn't very likely to have an RI. We have 18 of them, and I've never seen even a whiff of an RI even in the rescues we've taken in (or mites either *knock wood*).

[Nikki0326]

If you think something might be wrong you might want to just take him in to the vets to be on the safe side. If nothing else you will get a vet to tell you that you have a healthy happy snake, and worst case you get any possible health issues caught early on.