Possible RI?

[Steven PAyette]

Hello, I have a jungle x iriyan jaya. she is 2kg, 6 feet long, and about 2 years old. She's relatively cage aggressive.

She has always been known to hiss and 'click' whenever she's out of her cage, which i have read is a normal behaviour. However, 2 months ago she began wheezing, coughing and bubbling at the mouth. Assuming it was an RI, I took her to a vet (an hour drive, really difficult to find time to go.) and was given antibiotics (Gentramicin) for Sub-Q every 4 days, a total of 4 doses.

It seemed to help quite a bit, and she showed no more symptoms until now, 1 month after completion of the antibiotics. She is showing the exact same symptoms as before: wheezing, bubbling and throat-puffing), but they only appear when she is being handled; this is where my question arises..

Are these kind of 'symptoms' just normal behaviour of an excited carpet?

I'm aware that these snakes often make noises when curious/pissed off, but this seems quite excessive.

Extra info: She's in a wooden terrarium, 4'Wx2'Dx3'H, with lots of branches and climbing perches. She has a temp gradient from 79/80 to 90, with a basking perch of 92-95. Humidity fluctuates as I mist her, but is never above 60% and rarely falls below 20%. She has a large water dish with a small particle filter.

Please reply, and feel free to ask more information of me. Thank you

[MDT]

Steven, hey...interesting indeed...I gotta say though, I've kept carpets for a long time, and none of mine have really been that excitable, I've never seen that type of behavior in a healthy snake...Perhaps others can jump in a add some info/experience.

I can say that *if* this is infectious, you either A) have a reinfection w the same bacteria, B) potentially have infection with new, diff bacteria C) infection from a virus or D) some weird infxn (fungal, parasitic,etc)....
Regardless, I would recommend NOT blindly giving antibiotics, especially since symptoms returned so quickly. You need a culture done to identify whether you have a pathogen or not and if so, what best to treat it with.

Just my 2 cents.... Do with it what you will. Best of luck

[reptiledude987]

I agree with MDT. It sounds like your husbandry is good. It seems as if the meds given masked the issue but didnt cure it. I would also reccommend getting a culture done to see exactaly the issue is and treat it with the proper medication for the result of the culture. As said the hissing/wheezing sound is normal. My 9' jcp sounds like shes hissing sometimes when im handling her but its not aggression its just her breathing. However the gurgling sound and mucus is not normal and not at all a good sign. You also stated that you only notice these symptoms when handling her. I'd reccommend leaving her in her enclosure and closely listening and observing her. Normally the symptoms will still be present just less noticable when in the viv.