One big sneeze

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Menidia
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One big sneeze

Postby Menidia » Sun Nov 10, 2019 6:21 am

Hello all, I am deathly afraid of respiratory infections and literally every noise my skunk makes concerns me. I have a 6 month old northern and just heard a louder than normal sneeze that sounded kinda wet. I misted overzealously yesterday and am now concerned. The humidity has been at 40-50 for the last month or so, but took a drop to 30% yesterday so I misted pretty heavily and brought it up to 65%, which it had been at all summer.

I don’t see or hear anything unusual when I hold it up to my ear, but stuff like this really concerns me. I haven’t heard anything else yet, but is one big sneeze a concern?

Cool side 77, warm 88 with basking of 98-100. Current humidity 60%. Thanks!
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Janella
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Re: One big sneeze

Postby Janella » Sun Nov 10, 2019 6:59 pm

Should be fine. One large sneeze could have been just from substrate or something else tickling the nose. No need to worry
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splashy07
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Re: One big sneeze

Postby splashy07 » Mon Nov 11, 2019 5:40 am

Agree. Northerns seldom get RIs, and I personally have never seen one with such. Heavy misting is unnecessary though, I do not mist my cages at all unless it's shedding time or excessively dry.
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Re: One big sneeze

Postby Menidia » Mon Nov 11, 2019 4:52 pm

Thank you for the responses! I just worry so much about RI’s because of how quickly they seem to go downhill. He has been acting normal ever since, he did it about 10 minutes after surfacing in the morning.

The humidity is holding in the mid-high 50’s now. What would you say the low point is to start getting concerned about humidity?
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splashy07
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Re: One big sneeze

Postby splashy07 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 6:10 am

Northerns are not very sensitive to low humidity. That is more of an issue with the Indonesian species. I live on Long Island, and the humidity here is high in summer and with the heat on in winter it gets very dry, sometimes my cages go down to 20 percent. At that time they are brumating anyway and it is less of a concern. If you start to notice shedding problems make him a little humid hide for that period.
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Re: One big sneeze

Postby mb606587 » Tue Nov 12, 2019 8:27 pm

Yep exactly what everybody just told you. If you know for a fact yours is indeed a Northern, I wouldn't worry too much about your humidity unless it starts dropping under 20% regularly. Now if you are one of the many who was told your skink was Northern when in fact it's Irian Jaya or Indonesian, you're going to have a big problem. If you bought from a reputable breeder or you are knowledgeable enough to know the visual differences in species, then disregard. If you have even the slightest doubt it's an Australian skink, any one of us would be more than glad to confirm that for you through pictures.
Menidia
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Re: One big sneeze

Postby Menidia » Thu Nov 14, 2019 3:47 pm

Thank you guys! Now I just need to convince myself that every little huff isn’t something serious haha. I do trust it is a northern, I purchased from KO exotics!
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mb606587
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Re: One big sneeze

Postby mb606587 » Thu Nov 14, 2019 7:46 pm

Oh yes beautiful Northern. Very reputable breeder.
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splashy07
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Re: One big sneeze

Postby splashy07 » Fri Nov 15, 2019 5:49 am

Yes, enough said! Gorgeous!

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