Twitching,jumping and sneezing

[Terranaut]

Ok so my female JCP has started to do this twitch thing. Only when coiled up resting. She jumps like a hickup and even sometimes give out a little pfff of air when she jumps. Very wierd. She does it a lot. She is eating fine. Active in the evening and otherwise seems fine. Anyone ever seen this? Its new behavior for her and us.

Also I took her out and tried to flip her over. But she is 100% right side up right away. She doesn't miss prey when striking or act wierd in any other respect.
Any ideas??

[shaunyboy]

sorry mate i've never witnessed,or heard of anything quite like what your describing ?

cheers shaun

[Snakefood]

is this "puff of air" the sneeze in your title??

is there ANY wet or juicy sound to her "sneezes" or breathing??

is there any discharge (clear or otherwise) coming from the corners of his mouth??

is there any discoloration on his lips, especially where his toung comes out??

montitor for "mouth breating" my B/P did all the things you are describing during the first stages of his RI, the questions I asked above are the symptoms that followed these behaviors by the next day.

[shaunyboy]

the way your describing it,could it be some sort of muscle spasms ?

imo,that would account for the jumping and expulsion of air

cheers shaun

[Terranaut]

I just had her mouth open( that was fun) and yes the pfff is the sneeze. No sign of rti at all.
I also noticed it seems to only to be when asleep ( when I assume she is anyway) almost like a dreaming dog.

[Snakefood]

weird!!!!!

[alessia55]

That is very strange :hmm:

[Terranaut]

I took some video but it will be tomorrow before I have time to upload.
Wierd is why I am asking. As soon as she moves it stops 100%. Not one sign until she coils up and "sleeps". The jump-pfff 20 sec jump 15 sec jump. Ect.

[CDN_Blood]

Sounds to me like it's a little dry and what you're seeing is the snake trying to blow it's nose, for lack of a better term. The twitch is it exhaling with as much force as possible to blow it's nasal passages clear of dried mucus. This often comes with face rubbing, again in an effort to dislodge dried mucus.

It's easily remedied by raising the humidity for a day or two to help loosen the dried stuff, and just make sure it's got something nice and solid to rub it's face against to help it be able to eject the snake boogers by pushing against it while giving that big exhale.

That otta do the trick, but if it comes back, it's an indicator that the snake needs a higher humidity level full-time.

[Terranaut]

Sounds to me like it's a little dry and what you're seeing is the snake trying to blow it's nose, for lack of a better term. The twitch is it exhaling with as much force as possible to blow it's nasal passages clear of dried mucus. This often comes with face rubbing, again in an effort to dislodge dried mucus.

It's easily remedied by raising the humidity for a day or two to help loosen the dried stuff, and just make sure it's got something nice and solid to rub it's face against to help it be able to eject the snake boogers by pushing against it while giving that big exhale.

That otta do the trick, but if it comes back, it's an indicator that the snake needs a higher humidity level full-time.
Ding ding ding!!! We have a winner !!!
The room I keep my snakes in is about 40% humidity right now. I mist my boas and royal daily and keep them around 75-80% occasionaly falling to 65-70% but never for more than a couple hours. The Carpets were housed together until a few days before she dropped her clutch. When she did this I rearanged her viv a bit and changed the location of the water dish. Before I did this the humidity sat at 50%+ with no misting and carpets are fine with that so I never controlled it. Now I moved the water dish away from her basking area not thinking that the light on the water kept the humidity up. I checked before work and it was at 40%. I misted and put the water dish back to its original location. Sitting at 65% now and sleeping beauty hasn't budged. Her new viv Will be ready next week sometime and humidity will never be an issue again. (watch for the DIY 4x4x2 aerboreal viv thread) Thanks Todd. Much appreciated!!

[shaunyboy]

room humidity in the uk is 40% to 60%

i keep carpets into double figures at that humidity with NO problems

they all shed 100% perfect and complete every time

with NO misting

has she shed recently ?

if she is trying to expell something,it may be a piece of stuck shed

a few baths,submerging her head for 20 to 30 seconds at a time,can dislodge any stuck shed from a nostril

do you see an obstruction in any of her nostrils ?

please let us know if raising the humidity,cures these symptoms permantly (good call Todd)

cheers shaun

[CDN_Blood]

Thanks Todd. Much appreciated!!

No problem, I'm here to help. If only I could do something about this Canadian climate - it does cause this problem with some Carpets from time to time.

[Terranaut]

Well humidity is at 65% an she is at it again.
This is the vid. I don't like it :(
iMIb4yqSgDk

[CDN_Blood]

Hmmm. That's interesting. It looks more like the contractions a female makes when on a pile of eggs. I'm stumped <scratches head>...

[Terranaut]

Her body temp is 92 right now measured on her head.
Eggs are long removed. I'm stumped too.

[CDN_Blood]

Ooooh, she did lay eggs? That's what's happening. That can go on for weeks.

[Lankyrob]

Never seen that before, wonder what shauny makes of it? Looks like hiccups :)

[Trent]

My female blood python did this when she layed.I removed the eggs and she did the same thing for a day or two after.Then she stopped,but I removed all traces of the egg laying.Substrate removed,tank scrubbed out and gave her a bath with a mild soap and scrubbed her down.

[CDN_Blood]

My female blood python did this when she layed.I removed the eggs and she did the same thing for a day or two after...

The one time Sol laid eggs, I took them away and she kept doing that contracting for a couple of days straight, but she'd go into little episodes for the next 2 (almost 3) weeks. Go figure <shrugs> :)

[Terranaut]

Thanks for the help guys. Big clean out and bath will happen when she gets her new viv. I will give her a nice bath the day of. My wife said "awwwe" when I told her what it might be :)

[shaunyboy]

shes in such a perfect looking bee hive,it looks like she's actually sitting on eggs at the moment

like she's using friction to create body heat,or movement in her oviducts

interesting video mate

any updates ?

cheers shaun

[Terranaut]

Well is she still smells her eggs and thinks she is warming them this will go away as soon as I finish this
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/general-enclosure-discussion/92054-diy-4x4x2-jcp-enclosure-budget-2.html

Before going in she is gonna get a nice bath. Which is always exciting. Try bathing a 7+ ft carpet that does not want a bath. She flies out of the tub like a rocket. Maybe video that too ;)

[shaunyboy]

Well is she still smells her eggs and thinks she is warming them this will go away as soon as I finish this
http://www.ssnakess.com/forums/general-enclosure-discussion/92054-diy-4x4x2-jcp-enclosure-budget-2.html

Before going in she is gonna get a nice bath. Which is always exciting. Try bathing a 7+ ft carpet that does not want a bath. She flies out of the tub like a rocket. Maybe video that too ;)

i have to admit its pretty hard keeping a carpet in the bath,they shoot out like excocet missles,as soon as they feel the water:laugh:

have fun at bath time mate:D

cheers shaun

[jaleely]

A vet told me once to put a drop of mineral oil on the snakes' nose-tip, while holding the head tipped back..so that it drained into the nostril, to moisten the nostril because there was a stuck shed inside one nostril.

In this case, my snake wasn't twitching, but she did snort out violently, and sneeze, and even opened her mouth! It wasn't an RI at all..it really was stuck shed *lol*

[millertime89]

I've heard of mom's doing this after laying for a few weeks. The best way I heard to break them out of it is either give her some time, or take her out of the viv, clean it REALLY well, and put her back and try and feed her.

[Terranaut]

The new viv will be ready Monday. She goes in Tuesday after 24hrs with heat on and some temp tuning. She eats like a champ and has had some jumbos and a rabbit since dropping the eggs. I think it will go away after she has her move.

[millertime89]

Wouldn't surprise me. She looks like she thinks she's still sitting on eggs too. I recently heard about this in both a retic and a burm, wouldn't surprise me in the least.