Greetings:

Sorry to be a buzz-kill when most of the conversation here is about the amazing new clutches.....
I've just put a post up in the Herp Health and Breeding Forum, but I was wondering about getting some input here as well, please? (feel free to check out the thread on IBD and Respiratory Infections)

My bf and I have 3 adult red-tails, one of which was diagnoses with IBD, so all are presumed, and all three are presenting with an upper respiratory infection. We also have a ball python who has not been to the vet, and seems healthy. Fortaz has not worked, we're on to amikacin, and we've just been told that it's likely a fungal infection and we'll need to start nebulizing some other drug.

Other than heavy breathing, all are eating and otherwise acting normal. All the red-tails are rescues and only 1 is salmon, the others are nice normals. We had one accidental clutch, but we're not planning on being breeders, and at this point aren't bringing in other snakes.

So my questions are: given the bad prognosis, when should we seriously consider euthanasia? How do snakes with these diseases show pain and suffering? What are the most humane ways to end it?

Thank you all for your time.

Antigone

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