Weird breathing in corn snake

[Sylphie]

Hello,
Today I noticed that my blizzard female is really weird breathing. She seems to gulp with every breath, like when drinking or swallowing. She also seems to open her mouth a little with every breath, not fully open, just small slit. She's not giving any noises while breathing, just that weird swallowing and delicate gaping. Any ideas what it could be?

She was given Metronidazol 2 months ago, as she was having protozoa. I'm really afraid that it could be RI, but then it's weird that she's not hissing while breathing.

And she was in her hospital tank with water bowl, hides, paper towels and heat pad.

[reptiledude987]

A respatory dosent nessacarily cause wheezing. with what your describing with the open mouth and swallowing while breathing sounds like a respatory is a possibility. Best bet is to get it checked out by a vet.

[Sylphie]

Yeah, I will go to the vet for sure, just wanted to know what it could be. She's really the unlucky one :(

[reptiledude987]

Well hopefully its nothing but better to err on the side of caution.

[Sylphie]

It seems that she was just stressed. Everything is fine, so I'm happy :D I'm really glad that it was just me overreacting and not an RI.

[Charis]

I have a male Phantom that tends to do that when stressed too, so frustrating! Poor guy has been to the vet so many times and even treated once for a RI and still every so often he does it. It's especially bad during breeding season, he gets himself into such a frenzy over all the pheromones floating around the reptile room. He also wheezes and sneezes too, so sounds very alarming but so far we haven't actually found anything wrong with him. I've wondered if it's possible his airways-nostrils are not quite right, abnormally small? something like a deviated septum? or maybe he has the reptile equivalent to asthma.

But he's otherwise to all appearances healthy and always stops doing it eventually, sometimes for months. So just try to keep him as stress free as possible.

[Sylphie]

Charis, thank you! That may be similiar case then :D