Dec 31 2008
My Snake has the Sniffles
Around March of last year I noticed a funny whistling sound coming from the tank where my Ball Python Eva lived. It didn’t happen all the time, but seemed to occur most often in the early morning or late at night. I had never experienced this problem with my first Ball Python, Apophis, and wasn’t sure it if was a cold or a respiratory problem or had to do with the environment. When I discussed it with my partner, he said it could be a humidity issue and I should remove Eva’s water dish for most of the day so that it wouldn’t cause more moisture in the tank. I began trying this immediately, taking the water bowl out except for an hour or so a day, and within a few weeks the whistling seemed to disappear.
This winter we had a new Ball Python, Esper, come up with some whistling, which quickly progressed into actually runny sniffling. We moved her into a tank that did not hold in humidity to see if a drier climate would help but she just worsened. When nothing we tried worked, and when her problem progressed to the point that she couldn’t eat or breathe without releasing a large amount of snot, we took her in to the vet. There we learned that Esper had a respiratory infection and the only way to get her better would be to inject her on a daily basis with antibiotics. This was not an easy task, or a particularly pleasant one, but we managed to make it through all eight of the at-home injection treatments. And now I’m happy to say that Esper is no longer sniffling, wheezing, or whistling.
All reptiles are very different in their requirements for habitat, temperature, and humidity level. If you have just one of these things off you could end up with a sick animal. Be sure to keep track of the habitat your herp lives in, and if you see any signs of illness you need to speak with a reptile expert or a vet as soon as possible. 
