Help! Is my rosy boa sick?

[pierino]

Hi guys, this is my very first snake and I'm not sure what to do here, maybe one of you can help?

Last night I caught my rosy acting pretty weird. He was opening mouth ever so slightly, almost as if he was trying to breathe or like something was agitating his mouth. I suspect this might be a respiratory infection but it's hard to tell.

I've had him for about 6 months and he's been eating great and shedding all in one piece, so I thought everything was going fine. He's been in his hide for a week and refuses to come out. I thought he was just going into shed, but then last night I noticed this behavior so now I'm worried something is wrong.

Any advice would be appreciated! I'm new to all of this!

[chairman]

Can you describe your cage setup? Size, substrate, number and placement of hides, heat sources, etc. There are a couple different things that can cause behavior like this and knowing the cage conditions would help narrow things down.

[pierino]

Update: found the problem. I managed to dislodge a small piece of substrate from his mouth this weekend and he is now a happy and healthy snake :) he even shed the next day and ate no problem. I’m still monitoring but all the symptoms of respiratory infection are gone as far as I can tell.