Check His  mouth for cheeze looking Gunk .Turn his heat up a bit  and get him to a good herp vet  asap Better  to  bite this probem in the Budd

i would say take to your local vet just to make nothing else underlining ... and go from there as it is olny few weeks 

Vet tomorrow.  In the meantime

In the mean time  jack up the heat

and contact the seller !!!

How high?  Higher than 92?  93? 94??  I wrote him already... I just got this email.  What do I do? I wanted to take him in tomorrow morning, but...?

"hey kat just got your email the spots arnt anything to worry about looks like its just a little poop or something but the bubbles are, looks like respiratory he looks like he's in blue just keep the heat up and keep the humidity down see if it gos away after he sheds if it gets worst i'll take him back and work on him and will work something out i still got a bunch of balls and i have a clutch of albinos due to hatch in a month  keep me posted thanks eric"

make his hot spot  2 or 3 degrees  hotter then usual  I dont really know  tha temp ranges  for balls  but  as long as he  can get away from it  it cant hurt him

I wouldnt worrie about the dirty nose  Its the Bubbles that concern me

The nose could just be from her rubbing on the tank. What I would do is open the mouth like Doom said to check for cheese like gunk. Think of it almost like a cold in us humans- the clear mucus is "ok" when you are sick, but if it turns that bright neon green, it's bad news. Same with snakes- the clear mucus can be from a few different things (from stress to RI) but the cheese gunk is bad news. Once you get the mouth open, check around and see what is going on. Clean it out with QTips and if you have it, one of those bubble nose cleaner things for babies. Check the nostrils to see if they are blocked. Best thing to do right now in that regards is to make sure she can breathe.. Keep the temps at about where you have them for the hot spots- I wouldn't go more than 93. If you have a nebulizer, run a treatment through that as well.

If it's clear bubbles inside the mouth, it could be just from stress. Glad you are taking her to the vet tomorrow though. You've got it quarantined, correct?

what's the substrate? "poop" on the nose is atypical, IMO - snakes don't generally put their face into their feces unless the enclosure is just loaded with it, in which case it would be all over him....and he looks nice and clean otherwise. could be dirt /mulch/eco earth, but if you have him on aspen and he has that debris/dirt on his face, where's it coming from?  

but yeah, +1 to Doom and BBC. the heat pits don't look too bad, but are a little irritated. what did the vet say?

Thanks everyone.  The seller tod me this "ya and wait till he sheds out sometimes they can show some symptoms of resp. when there about to shed" but I went ahead and went to the vet this afternoon anyway. 

Aimee, I really don't think it's poop because he hasn't gone since I've had him and it's definitely not dirt because I have him on paper towels! 

The vet I went to did not specialize in ball pythons as I was led to believe, but it was the best I could do for a Sunday.  The things that made me question her was that she told me to bump up the hot spot, not ambient, to 85.... yeaaaah....  Anyway, she diagnosed him with respiratory illness so I was given Baytril (0.15 ml a day).  I know there are different strains that could possibly be immune to it but she said she would do a culture if by next week he's not feeling better.  She also said his mouth was enflamed so I was also given Metacam  (0.1 ml).  Does that sound rigth?  Baytril I have definitely heard of but the Metacam?  Just don't want over medicate. She said it didn't look too bad but I am still pretty concerned.  I've never seen it before and I just want to make sure he'll be okay. 

And to browncoatbreeding, I just ordered the zoomed fogger (per this video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJCnPfuqaBM) and F10.  Hopefully it'll help.  He is as quarantined as I can possibly get him, since I do live in a studio and everyone technically shares airspace.  I clean my hands like crazy after messing with him and he generally only stays in his tub except when I pulled him out to examine him.  I've been doing that since I've gotten him since that's what I do with all my new ones, at least for 3 mo. 

I hope he'll be okay.  Thanks again everyone.

They dont Blow bubbles from going into shed !!  clicking noise yes  but no bubbles !

Sometimes, and this is VERY RARE, they can do the clear mucus from going into shed. It is NORMALLY a sign of an underlying issue though such as RI. I wouldn't trust the breeder in that regards because if he is saying that this particular snake does it when it is going into shed, then he was aware of the issue and still sold the snake.

The ambient temp needs to be at 85 anyway so you'll want to bump it up to around 87. The temps in balls w/ RI are important. Best way to explain it is they will "give themselves a fever"; they will increase their body temp higher than normal so it is important to keep them warm.

As far as the meds; those are both legit. My concern is whether or not you've given a shot to a snake before. It can be haunting for first timers, especially if you don't have anyone to help you hold the snake. There are some who will suggest putting the dose into the nebulizer/fogger. I personally have not done this so I cannot talk about the success/failure of it.

some snakes show signs that can be mistaken for RI in shed, but most dont. My bp definitely doesnt. My sand boas both puff out their throats when in shed to loosen the skin (which they also did way back when they had RI's) so i always get a little nervous around shedding time. However, they do not have crusty noses, bubbles, or irritation so i know they are just in shed :)

I'm also kind of leery of your breeder saying that this is normal.

Hey, thanks for the advice.  I've never even seen the mucus thing before, even before a shed, and I've had my other two guys for a year and some already.  Also, he told me that he's not the breeder... he's just the seller. 

I gave Zeus his second dose of meds today.  It's not shots though, they're oral.  And I do have help so it's not too bad, but I'm sure it still causes him some stress.  Poor little guy.  He's so miserable :(  I hope he'll be okay though. 

So Baytril is a very strong antibiotic that covers lots of gram neg and gram + bacteria. Metacam is an NSAID, a non-steriodal anti-inflammatory drug. They are used both at the same time for lots of species of patients for lots of different things. The metacam does have a little pain properties to it, but is mainly for inflammation. Try to get to a qualified herp vet established, and get the records transferred over from where you currently were. Just say something along the lines of you want a second opinion. And obviously continue all rx like instructed, you don't want to cause antibiotic resistant bacteria to start brewing.

"He's not the breeder, he's just the seller" ?? that doesn't speak well.. even as a seller, he should know when an animal is sick. *sigh* I guess I'm just hard on him because I went through a similar situation.

have you looked in his mouth yet? And what Tracy says about Baytril is true; a lot of people hate it for that very reason. Finding a good, qualified herp vet is hard though. Talk to someo f the breeders (not sellers) in your area and find out who they go too. That's how I found my vet.

Taking your ball python to the vet is always recommended when there are any signs of RI.  Asking the breeder will only help in some cases, and it sounds like yours was not one of those.  Raising the temp in ambient and hot side by a couple of degrees will help your ball python cope as it will provide a warmer environment promoting healing.  Good luck and make sure you use the medications as prescribed, so that the problem will clear up fully.

I agree with browncoatbreeding. Finding a herp vet by contacting breeders or if you have a herpetological society in your area thats even better. Baytril used to be the drug of choice and some vets still use it, but ceftazidime(fortaz) seems to be better. Only problem with ceftazidime is it smells like tom cat urine and I think it is injectable only. Never seen or used it in an oral form. As for metacam, I've used it on dogs and ferrets, and the human form on myself,  but I have not used it on snakes. Good luck. 

Baytril is a very very strong antibiotic as explained in the above very well. I do believe if you did put the dosage on here correctly that your snake was definately given too high of a dose. Unless as so many others have said you have a snake that weighs in @ the hundreds of lbs. mark. Of which I definately want to see pictures. I'm sorry for your loss. And do hope you will follow up with another vet, and do hope this does not carry onto your other ones. Your seller is just that a seller I wouldnt buy from him again, he obviously knew what was going on and sold you a sick snake. Sometimes like everyone has said a clicking from shedding nothing else. Weakness and obvious signs of sickness and all that other b.s. that the "seller" said no way! The 2 baytril and metacam you were given are an ideal combination but the doses have to be right. Baytril does have a reputation because it is sooo strong, so many vets are not so quick to use it anymore and choose to use other. because it can have some severe side effects when used on puppies.

If you got bubbles it's mucus. Mucus is naturally produced to fight infection. More mucus then normal means he is fighting an infection. Put the warm side of your heat gradient to 90 and your ambient cage temp 80. Remove all cage items and wash with water containing 2% beach and 5% antibacterial dish soap. Replace with a substrate that can hold humidity, cypress mulch is fine if you can't find anything else. Fill up your spray bottle with warm water, mist the substrate, walls, ect. Wet but not soak. Too much water = bacteria mess, too little = low humidity. If you have an open top like a screen top for a tank, cover it with a dry towell. Make sure to have a hide on the warm and cool side of the enclosure. You want a nice warm humid sauna type enviromnent that dries out some then gets the warm mist again. Mist 2 times a day with warm water you should be fine. Keep the cage shaded. Less light the better but not total darkness. If you did everything right he will go into his hide, warm up, and then come out to cool down, and then go back in to repeat the process. They cycle their heat like this to regulate their metabolism so that's why you need 90 and 80-85 in two different spots. He needs to spend most of his time resting in his hot house relaxing. No stress, no light movements, no noises ect. Calm happy sauna place. Put a live plant in the cage for extra improvement. Once you see a great improvement adjust the environment back to it's standard conditons. Keep everything sterile. Use the baytril as directed and reduce doses as improvement increases. If improvement does not increase you will need a ball python specialist. Contact me for any questions. Good luck! :)