My Garter Snake is making a strange noise.

[Brittany26]

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I have a few questions (sorry if this is a little late)
Since after my snakes 2 week medication was over with (~ a month ago), I bought him a temperature and humidity reader, added aspen bedding, and have been spraying his cage/leaves several times a day. He still continues to click, some days more vigorously than others. Once a day I have been putting Steavy inside a small carrier cage along with a hot/damp wash clothe inside for about 10-15 minutes, and after those 15 minutes his clicking stops momentarily. The temperatures during the day are usually in the low 90's and the cool side around 85 degrees. Steavy continues to make the noise (varying) roughly twice a night, sometimes more. After seeing the disappointing results of 2 weeks of oral baytril, it seemed as if it helped little to non (I'm sure it did to some degree) As only being 14, it's hard to say I will be able to take my snake back to the vet, considering my parents. He still eats like a champ and continues to thrive and be active when I take him out. Also, when he makes the squirting noise, I see what looks like water (most likely mucus), just a drop or so come out and he drinks it back down. Oh and by the way, the humidity reads only 30-50 max during the day time, regardless if I spray it or not, though it may go up to 60 for a short time If I spray near the thermometer. But during the night the humidity goes up to a soild 70. I am just wondering If there is anything else I can do to make Steavy's life a little bit easier. If it comes to me using my own money and convincing my parents to take him back to the vet, I will. But with the results of last time, what would they do? It did virtually nothing to Steavy, clicking continued, sound never went away. I don't want to "waste" another 50 dollars to find it went to no use. Thank you for taking your time to read this, and thank you for your kind advice it was/is very helpful.

[ConcinusMan]

The temperatures during the day are usually in the low 90's and the cool side around 85 degrees. .

Seems a bit too hot. While low 90's on the warm side or an isolated basking spot isn't really a problem, I would try not to have the cool end ambient air temperature exceed 75.

Don't worry about a clicking noise when they breathe. That's nothing to be concerned about. Wheezing, rattling, gaping (opening mouth to breathe in) labored breathing, nasal discharge.... those are bad. Also, even if the antibiotics have worked for clearing up a R.I., it usually takes a while longer for the lung / upper respiratory tract to completely clear up. Some minor residual symptoms can remain for several weeks. It doesn't necessarily mean the snake is still sick.

And just for the record, if your substrate is very dusty, about the only thing that's going to cause is quick sneezing when the snake clears it's nostrils. In most cases, dust is not going to actually be the primary cause of R.I. What little bit of dust you may find in your aspen, is not going to cause major issues or infections.

The main causes of R.I. in snakes is common household bacteria and lack of a proper temperature gradient. A lowered immune system response (even if it's only brief) allows the bacteria to take hold. Lowered immune response can be caused by as I said, improper gradient. Keeping them too warm (for example 85 on the cool end, 90's on the other) or uniformly hot, will cause problems faster than keeping them too cool. Other causes of lowered immunity are becoming gravid, internal parasite infections, old age, social stress, etc. Anything that leaves the immune system overtaxed or weakened, at any given time, including fighting a "harmless" virus for which there are often no symptoms.

There just seems to be this sense that keeping them overly warm is going to help. The opposite is true. It may seem to relive the symptoms temporarily, but is actually very harmful and could be the cause of the R.I. in the first place. Also, it's highly unlikely that dusty aspen is the cause so quit worrying about that.

Get that gradient right. It's too warm. A basking area of low 90's is just fine but not if you have to warm the entire tank to achieve that. Ambient air temperature on the cool side, and throughout most of the enclosure shouldn't be that high. Low to mid 70's is where it should be.

Using warmer temperatures temporarily is fine for relieving symptoms and helping out during the antibiotic therapy but it should only be temporary. Just for a couple of weeks at the most. Keeping them continuously warmer than they should be actually causes infections, it doesn't help them.