[Carlie]

Under what circumstances would you see a snake blow a bubble from it's nose, but have nothing come back from swabs? Has anybody ever come across this conundrum?

It's a riddle myself and my wonderful lovely vets are tackling with a Sanzinia, but I thought it might be interesting to see if anybody else has experienced this.

There has been mention of a part of the lung right at the very end/back where blood vessels are few and fare between. The suggestion was that an infection can occur here but antibiotics can't do their job as there are no blood vessels to carry them to the area. In this case, I'm assuming that the only way to penetrate the area is via gas exchange, which is where the use of a nebuliser comes in.

There's no goo and the snake is still eating, he's just a really noisy breather and I've seen him blow a bubble twice over the course of a few weeks. He has a narrowing of the nostrils due to past nose damage. Could this be contributing?

He has just finished a course of precautionary antibiotics and is in the process of shedding his skin, at which point his nostrils are down to a pin prick, so he's left well alone.

I can understand why he sounds noisy due to the narrowing of the nostrils, but the odd bubble?

What would you think?

 

[azza23]

if the snake had a past injury to the nose area, this could have contributed to it being a tad bubbly, also when snakes have just had a massive drink they can be a bit bubbly in the nasil area, but that being said, i have no idea :lol2:

 

[Carlie]

I'm really hoping it's something simple like that, as otherwise he'll have to undergo an anaesthetic and have a lung wash.

Nobody likes having their lungs washed. :shock:

 

[motorhead]

Under what circumstances would you see a snake blow a bubble from it's nose, but have nothing come back from swabs? Has anybody ever come across this conundrum?

It's a riddle myself and my wonderful lovely vets are tackling with a Sanzinia, but I thought it might be interesting to see if anybody else has experienced this.

There has been mention of a part of the lung right at the very end/back where blood vessels are few and fare between. The suggestion was that an infection can occur here but antibiotics can't do their job as there are no blood vessels to carry them to the area. In this case, I'm assuming that the only way to penetrate the area is via gas exchange, which is where the use of a nebuliser comes in.

There's no goo and the snake is still eating, he's just a really noisy breather and I've seen him blow a bubble twice over the course of a few weeks. He has a narrowing of the nostrils due to past nose damage. Could this be contributing?

He has just finished a course of precautionary antibiotics and is in the process of shedding his skin, at which point his nostrils are down to a pin prick, so he's left well alone.

I can understand why he sounds noisy due to the narrowing of the nostrils, but the odd bubble?

What would you think?

maybe its somesort of allergy,bedding could be a cause or some other thing!

 

[azza23]

maybe its somesort of allergy,bedding could be a cause or some other thing!

thats a very good answer,

here you go pal have a trofie :no1::no1:

 

[Carlie]

He has been on aspen and cardboard pellets, but currently on kitchen towel.

I shall put allurgey on the possibilities list, thank you. : victory:

 

[heather08]

we have noticed most of our Sanzinia can get a bit wheezy/snuffly around about thier sloughing,never seems to affect them,but have never seen bubbles though!
This disappears soon after slough,

 

[kelboy]

Not from experience, but I've heard of snakes becoming "mucusey" (real word?) from being too hot. I'd expect you'd see a lot of other behaviour related to that too though.

I think it was actually an article on Corallus spp. where I read this.

 

[Carlie]

I agree, Heather - they are noisy, and definitely more so around shedding time. My Green gives a good huff when he doesn't want to be bothered. It doesn't help that poor Treebs has a narrowing of the nostrils now from when he's had nose rub in the past. Fortunately, he hasn't done it here and he didn't do it with Fiona, so he's recovering, but his little nose is now a bit out of shape. I'll have to try to get some photos and see if we can compare them to some Sanzinia that have good noses.

kelboy, they can definitely get RIs from being too dry. I'm not sure if it's something like the mucous membranes drying out then they catch an infection? I'm sure somebody will be along to explain if I've got that wrong. It would definitely make sense with Corallus. Fortunately, Sanzinia don't need to be kept so humid, one thing that makes them so awesome , so would have thought they wouldn't be so susceptible to this? In any case, I've upped his humidity just as a matter of course and shall see what I can do about changing his heat source; ceramics really dry out the atmosphere.

 

[Carlie]

My little man has just had a good shed, ate dinner last night and is looking beautiful and healthy. :flrt: No noise, aside from the usual large snake stuff, and even that's minimum.

I could strangle him!! Making me worry like that. :devil: :lol: Still, it's made my day seeing him well.

I can't yet explain the bubbles. I'm actually wondering whether he's had a drink before being handled and has gotten himself so worked up from being disturbed that he's forced moisture out of his nose. One thing I did observe is that in the final stages of him shedding his skin, his nostrils completely sealed over and he had to breath out of his mouth, so his nose is definitely an issue.

Anyway, I'll keep an eye on him. I have a feeling that I've not heard the last of this. It's making me have a think about how I can make his life easier with the narrowing of the nostrils. Perhaps better ventilation?

Thanks for the replies and suggestions. It's definitely food for thought!

 

[wilkinss77]

we have noticed most of our Sanzinia can get a bit wheezy/snuffly around about thier sloughing,never seems to affect them,but have never seen bubbles though!
This disappears soon after slough,

corns can get like it too- & milks.