ball python question.

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Arachnoknight
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Oct 14, 2010
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my brother has a ball python and he's worried it may be having respatory problems. he does have the enclosure a bit humid. well basically, the snake is just sitting there, after he handled it, he put it back in the enclosure and it didn't move, it just sat there for at least half an hour. [he normally goes strait to his hide] could there be a problem? please let me know.
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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Feb 13, 2006
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Breathing problems with BPs are pretty obvious. RI (respiratory infection) is very easy to spot. When they have RI you can hear them breathing because of the mucus building up in their mouth. You can spot them keeping their heads tilted upward to keep their airway clear. They will yawn a lot more and when they do you can see the mucus build up in their mouth. In the latter stages they can blow snot bubbles, they have their mouths hanging open and their breathing can be heard across a room. A vet visit for some meds is the course of action if anything like I just spoke of is observed.

You say he is keeping it humid, how humid is humid? And how is he providing that humidity? What are the temps in the setup? What kind of setup is she in? What does she eat and how often?
 

EndlessForms

Arachnoknight
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Oct 14, 2010
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ok, well he's got him [it's a male] on some fresh coco fiber bedding and it's still moist and causing slight condensation on the inside of the hide over the heat pad.and he's using a ruber maid tub [a clear one] it's about 25 gallons and provides a nice amount of space. and i have no idea when it eats, he's had it for about 3-4 days and it had just eaten when he got it. and yeah it has been breathing a bit noisily [he told me that was because it's getting ready to shed, which it is.] and it does yawn more than any other snake I've seen. so yeah I'll tel him to take it to a vet. would this condition heal on it's own without meds, if he just got a dryer substrate? or would it be better to see a vet?
 

Talkenlate04

ArachnoGod
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Feb 13, 2006
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SOMETIMES you can get rid of a mild case of RI by bumping the temps up into the lower 90s. But this requires the owner pay special attention to the snake for signs that it is getting worse. Since this is his first snake, and he thinks it is breathing loud because its about to shed, (which is wrong by the way) then I would skip home remedies and go to the vet.
 
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