Would Blocked Nostrils (from shedding) Cause Heavy Breathing

[DeweysMom]

Ok guys, I'm dealing with my first Ember crisis. I went to work and she was fine. This afternoon when I went home on my lunch hour she was breathing rather heavily and slightly puffing out her beard. I picked her up and saw her face around her mouth was shedding and it looks like both nostrils are also blocked. Would this cause heavier than normal breathing? As I said, she was fine this morning. Temps are good. Humidity is only at 22% right now. She ate some crickets just now and had two normal poops waiting for me when I got home.

 

[CooperDragon]

It could cause a breathing issue. How loose are the sheds around the nose? If the sheds are unattached but just sticking there you may be able to gently remove the shed using a clean safety pin or similar if it's causing a big bother.

 

[timisimaginary]

when i was beardie shopping, one of the ones i was looking at was constantly puffing up and gaping. we told the breeder who looked him over, and found some stuck shed blocking his nostril. he scraped it out with his fingernail and the beardie instantly improved. ended up buying a different beardie, but yes, a blocked nostril will definitely cause some gaping. gotta breathe through the mouth if you can't breath through your nose.

i would try moistening the shed and scraping at it with a fingernail, or a q-tip. even if it doesn't come off, you can hopefully at least unclog the nostril. i would be wary of using a safety pin or anything sharp, these guys can turn their head on a dime, and i wouldn't want to accidentally stab him in the nostril.

 

[Brezzy99]

Mine has done that a few times when he sheds around his nose. I wet a q-tip and lightly brushed over the area and it fell off.

 

[DeweysMom]

Thanks guys! It seems it was definitely the nose plugs. When I came home tonight one of them had come out on it's own, but she was breathing normally again. I gave her a nice warm soak and got the other one out with no problems. She seems to be perfectly fine now and has chased down a few crickets.

 

[CooperDragon]

Excellent, I'm glad it worked out well. =)

 

[Brezzy99]

So glad it was just a shedding issue!

 

[sammmycakes]

glad you figured it out!

one of my beardies doesn't shed on her own very well and i've taken her to the vet twice thinking she had an URI! my vet would use some tweezers and pop out two nose plugs and she would go back to normal (thank goodness he didn't charge me) Now I wait until they look loose and gently pull them out myself!

My male gets over excited when he sees me and breathes deep and shoots them out of his nose like little rockets..

funny reptiles....