My Garter Snake is making a strange noise.

[chris-uk]

If he's eating, growing and shedding, don't worry too much. As already said, the clicking is normal, most do it to some degree, some click louder and more frequently than others.
Just keep him in good conditions (it sounds like your temps and humidity are good) and enjoy watching him grow.

[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.

[Brittany26]

Okay, thank you. I will turn his heat lamp off for short periods of time throughout the day to lower temperatures. Also I recently bought him a UV light that is placed directly above his cool side, which gives off a little heat. He has also been in the water bowl quite a lot from time to time (from being too warm i'm guessing) I'm also having trouble keeping his humidity up during the day. I pretty much spray his leaves/hide every hour, but i'm afraid too much water will produce fungis/bacteria growth.

[EasternGirl]

Spray the leaves, but not the hide. Spraying the leaves several times a day should not cause any problems with bacteria growth. If you have plastic plants...they should just dry off. Make sure to gently mist the plants and try to stay away from misting the substrate...you don't want wet/moist substrate...that isn't good for the snake's skin. I often take a towel and cover 3/4 of the tank top to increase humidity. I cover the top up until the point where I have the lamp on the warm side...to decrease air circulation. You can also try making a moist hide. Get some sphagnum moss and moisten it and put it inside one of his hides...spagnum moss can be kept moist without problems with bacteria growth.

[ConcinusMan]

Okay, thank you. I will turn his heat lamp off for short periods of time throughout the day to lower temperatures.

Just use the right heat sources / wattages so you don't have to turn them on and off.

[EasternGirl]

You could also get a thermostat. I always recommend using one. Set the thermostat to the desired temp and then it will switch the lamp off if it should go above that temp. It's a good idea to have one anyway so that you don't have a situation in which your temps get too high when you aren't around or your lamp shorts out and gets too hot causing your temps in your enclosure to get too hot.