Respitory Infections

[UnFazedSlim]

First of all I just wanted to say hello to all as I am a new member on this forum. (Although I have participated frequently on a similar forum hosted by Jeff Ronne) Anyway I have a question for you guys. I just purchased a 5 1/2 ft BCI from a gentleman in my neighborhood. He had been keeping this poor snake in a 20H glass aquarium, with pine shavings as a substrate, and the only heat source it had was a dome heater set on top of the screen top of the enclosure. I felt so bad for the snake that I had to buy it (even though he was asking way to much for the poor animal). Here is my question the snake makes hissing sounds while trying to breath. He is not coiled back, or in any type of defensive posture while doing this, on top of this hissing he opens his mouth occasionaly and again makes this hissing sound. I figure this is a respitory infection from his poor caging and heating environment. I have since placed hime in a 55 gal. aquarium (only until my boaphile cages arrive) where I have an undertank heater covering half of the enclosures floor, and I have a basking light on the warm side, and finally a full spectrum flour. bulb running the length of the cage. Is this all I need to get him feeling better, or is this not a respitory infection at all. One last thing, what do you do when you try to soak your boa in the tub to help with his partial shed, and the boa wants out very badly? Yes, on top of the above mentioned problems the humidity level was way less than needed and he still has about half a shed in need of being coaxed off, but he hates the tub!! Thanks to all that reply to this one. I guess I have been lucky, up to this point I have never had these problems with the other boas in my collection!!
~Slim

PS- At least one good thing came out of this I think I found a perfect name for him...I was thinking his breaths sounded raspy so I had thought of calling him rasp, but have since settled on Rasputin...seems a fitting name to me. Let me know what you think.

[ClayEnglish]

Re: Respitory Infections

Hey Slim,

The best thing to do immediately is to raise the temperature in the enclosure during what I would consider would be a rehab period.

Ambient temps of 84 or 85 will defiantely help the boa during this rehab period.

If the respiratory infection is bad, it may strictly take antiboitics from a vet to help him kick it. Look for any sign of fluid or bubbles around the mouth and nose area.

The heat increase is an immediate requirement so try to solve that first. Also if you have other boas, make sure this one is completely quarantined away from the others.

Welcome to the ORIGINAL forum. ;D ;D ;D

[UnFazedSlim]

Re: Respitory Infections

Thanks Clay,

Any advice on soaking a boa that hates the tub?

[ClayEnglish]

Re: Respitory Infections

My only option for you here is to Double check the water temperature.

The bathing water should be lukewarm 80-85 degrees. This results in water that feels a little cool to us. (Because our temperature is 98.6, so water in the 80's may feel a little cool to us, but be very comfortable to the boa.)

If the water feels very warm to you, then it is more than likely too hot for the boa.

Of course the other extreme would be bad as well, being too cold.

Try to double check the water temps. My boas love the water. True, some may be more active in the water, but they really like it.

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re: Respitory Infections

I don't know Clay, I have the same problem with one of my large girls. I actually measured the temp of the water once and it was it the mid 80's, about room Temp. I had a whole lot of water jugs that sat in the room for a couple of days to warm up to room temp because I have very hard water and don't want to soak the girl in that stuff. And she absolutly hated it. All she wanted to do was get out of the tub and roam around. She loves being out of her tank. I had to basicly coax her into the water and very lightly force her body down and keep bringing her back to the tub. And with the fact that she's about 6.5 feet and pure muscle, that's not an easy task. But the rest of my Snakes, who are much smaller, love the water!!! If they had their choice they'd spend there entire life in the water!!!!!!! LOL!! But they have to share!!! I have 3 snakes in one tank, and they all take turns soaking in the water. The discovered awhile ago, 3's a crowd!!!!!!!! LOL!!! :P

[UnFazedSlim]

Re: Respitory Infections

Well I coaxed Rasputin into the water and helped rid him of his shed. I have another question in regards to him. At first glance he seems like a very dark BCI, he has dark reddish brown in his tail, and what I would say to be darker than normal coloration along the rest of his body. What I noticed is that he has a very high iridescent glow to him. Is it possible to breed a Rainbow and a BCI together? I seriously doubt it, but he has a glow unlike anything I have ever seen. I realize he has just shed, but as I look into his enclosure I see a faint rainbow glow over his entire body. Let me know if this is possible because it is the only thing I can think that would explain it.

~Slim

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re: Respitory Infections

Actually you only got rid of the Old Shed. It is very possible that he is getting ready to shed again. Just keep the humidity up for the next few days to help him out. All my snakes get an irrodesant (spell?) look to them a week before they are getting ready to shed. I also have one that gets very dark colored and that rainbow glow to her before she sheds. then lightens up afterwards.

[LORI]

Re: Respitory Infections

Ok..First thing... The "RI"...
You said that the snake had been kept on pine shavings right ? UGH..
Some snakes can actually get something like an allergic reaction to the pine, if it doesn't kill them that is. They could also present like an RI is going on with them in such cases too possibly. Soooo, Now ya gotta determine if the snake is like this due to an RI or from the pine shavings it was on.

Just do like Clay said and raise the temps, even ambient ones for the snake right now. 85 ambient is fine...WITH something a bit higher for an RI on cool/warm sides also. I go about 88 on high and no lower than like 84 on low for an RI here with rescues that have RI's. Also lower the humidity at this time too. The snake , if it has an RI, does NOT have the ability to "cough/expel" the mucous out/up from the lung at all. The humidity will cause the mucous to loosen up and the snake could drown in it's own mucous if you give it a high enough humidity for that to happen. I go with about a 45% humidity rate for snakes like a boa with an RI here. Definately nothing like the normal 55% range thing for humidity when dealing with an RI in a boa at all.

CLAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! IF I lose this post..I am going to KILL you !!! You have that dang timer thing on the site AND NOW you also have that html script so I can't copy my posting as I go along to insure that i don't lose it all !!??????? ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH You really NEED to lose one or the other here ya know............. s5.gif cwm23.gif s3.gif s21a.gif

[eViL_KaRoT]

Re: Respitory Infections

Yeah, I would have to agree Lori, I usually copy and pasted my post to do a spell check on Hotmail, and now I can't even do that!!!! s3.gif s21a.gif s3.gif s21a.gif s3.gif GRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

[LORI]

Re: Respitory Infections

As I was saying.....

If it is the "allergic" thing that is going on. Just taking the snake off of that pine and providing proper type substrate should reverse what is going on ..with time.

What are the temps that you have the snake housed at now ?

As for the soaking thing, some snakes HATE being soaked. Just place those ones into a tote with a lid AND airholes also for soaking them. Works same as tubbie but they can not get out like they can from a tub. We have a 11' boa here that HATES the soaking, walmart sells HUGE totes that she gets her soaks in. We also have a 16'+ burm that loves the tubbie and freaks when we try to remove her from it. Just take the cues from your snake, they are all individuals and ya need to treat certain things with them as such also. ;D

[ClayEnglish]

Re: Respitory Infections

Hey guys,

I removed the protection script.

You could STILL copy and paste in several different ways, including CTRL-C = Copy CTRL-V = Paste

And through the pull down menus
Edit -> Copy
Edit -> Paste

But it seems that a lot of people use right click to do so.

It was in effort to protect some images/logos etc that I and some other people were concerned about, but hopefully it will not be a major problem.

But Alas! I have removed it AND the refresh timer.....

[LORI]

Re: Respitory Infections

THANX! ;D

Umm...

You could STILL copy and paste in several different ways

WHAT??? AND do "more work" ya mean actually ? Your joking right ? hahahahahahahaa