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HELP!!!

wink0083 Jun 25, 2006 08:47 PM

I had posted earlier about a possible resperatory infection in my young curtus who had made a gurgling sound with slight discharge and began to refuse food. Since then, I have raised my humidity to around 75-80%, have lowered my temp slightly (almost 90 hot and 75 on the cool side), and have offered a frozen and then 2 days later a live rat pup which I left in the covered cage for 48 hours until it died.

This evening when I went to check and found the rat pup dead, I also saw my blood leaning up against the glass with thick mucus coming out of his nostrils. I am at a loss at this point, is there anything else anyone can think of to try? I really don't want to lose him, but there are no vets in my area that deal with snakes (or any reptiles for that matter).
Image
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Ball Pythons 1.1
Blood Python 1.0
Corn Snakes 2.2
Leopard Geckos 1.2
Central Painted Turtle 1.0
Red-Eared Slider 0.0.1

www.geocities.com/wink0083

Replies (10)

wink0083 Jun 25, 2006 08:47 PM

pic 2
Image
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Ball Pythons 1.1
Blood Python 1.0
Corn Snakes 2.2
Leopard Geckos 1.2
Central Painted Turtle 1.0
Red-Eared Slider 0.0.1

www.geocities.com/wink0083

billstevenson Jun 25, 2006 09:18 PM

Sorry to hear that conditions have worsened so dramatically. I think that you're going to need a Vet's help. If your local Vet(s) don't treat reptiles, you going to have to find one that does ( I sense that won't be easy...you mentioned before being remote). Another option is to talk a local Vet into doing a little homework and providing you with injectable antibiotics. Baytril is one most Vets are familiar with and my experince is it works well with R.I. Others are not so happy with that course of Tx, but you have little time to explore options.
I don't think any home remedy will help. If you can advise your location, maybe someone can recc a Vet.

billstevenson Jun 25, 2006 09:27 PM

on the kingsnake.com Main Page, the heading of "Recommended" for a 2006 Directory of Herp Vets.

googo151 Jun 25, 2006 11:53 PM

Hey,
Without saying much about the other replies, which I have not read, I will say this! Get your blood to the vet fast and don't walk run. It is not going to go away by its self that is the RI. It needs immediate medical care and intervention and you must be responsible enough to know that infections such as RI, just don't go away in and of them selves each time we crank up the heat. The heat should be turned up and humidity turned down and not the other way around.
A course of Baytril or Amikacin will probably work to rid the RI, but you should get it to the vet soon or you won't have this guy for much longer. I can't stress that enough.
-Angel
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In life you can fall many times, but you're only a failure, if you don't try to get back up!
Evil Canevil

AshLopez Jun 26, 2006 01:26 AM

Yeah,sorry to hear your delema.Just like Ethan said(GooGoo)You must RAISE the TEMPS so that the animal gets hotter and has more energy to fight the R.I.Ambient temps should be at least 80' on the coolside and 90' on the hot side.You also should LOWER the HUMIDITY so that it dries up the mucouse.By lowering temps and raising humidity you inadvertantly boosted the infection.We have all made mistakes and I myself am still learning so hang in there and do all that is suggested and get your animal to a vet.
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Ashley Lopez's Black Forest Constrictors.
blackforestconstrictors@gmail.com
website

wink0083 Jun 26, 2006 04:54 PM

Well, things are at least looking promising.

Leuk spent the night hot and dry and after talking to a vet on the phone, got some baytril sent that should be here by Wed. at the latest.

After "cooking" Leuk for nearly 20 hours at 40% humidity, he was looking so much better (little gurgling sound, but no discharge) that I figured what the hell and threw a pinky mouse in his cage (I didn't want to waste anything bigger figuring I had no chance).

I walked by 20 minutes later and no more mouse! Sure that's the equivalent of me eating a chicken nugget for a meal, but it's something.

When double checking to make sure that he didn't just push the mouse somewhere, I did find 2 little yellow balls that must be feces. They are rock hard and about the size of a large pea. I broke one in half and it is like chalk but stinks to high heaven. I went to take a pic to post, but my wife has the camera today. Any ideas? I was going to try and contact the vet again tomorrow, but for all I know this is normal sick snake dung and I'll just be wasting another hour on the phone on hold and long distance.
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Ball Pythons 1.1
Blood Python 1.0
Corn Snakes 2.2
Leopard Geckos 1.2
Central Painted Turtle 1.0
Red-Eared Slider 0.0.1

www.geocities.com/wink0083

billstevenson Jun 26, 2006 06:36 PM

The chalky matter consists of urates...nothing to fret over. Good news otherwise. Hang in there.

fuscusking Jun 26, 2006 11:16 PM

One thing that I think might help for the future is to get him out of a tank. They are not really ideal for a blood python and usually lead to nothing but problems. They do not hold heat or humidity well and make it difficult to provide the ideal conditions these snakes require. Obliviously you wouldnt get a whole rack system for one snake, but there are alot of options available on here and other sites that are tailored to the needs of snakes. Also a hide or something it can bury itself in is essential. Stressed snakes are much more prone to getting resp infections and other problems. The closer to ideal conditions and the least stress possible will give the snake what it needs to fight off the infection. Just curiously what did the vet reccomend as a dose, and how often? And do you know the strength of the baytril he/she is sending you? I keep my borneos in plastic "shoe boxes" in my snake room. They are on coconut fiber and have large water dishes. They will usually bury themselves until I throw their rat crawlers in there and then they appear. They eat well and have never had any problems that way, but the temp in that room stays perfect for them. They are fairly young too, im guessing around a similar age to yours. They are late 05's and such nice borneos, never struck or bit at all. Best of luck and keep everyone updated on the progress. Dan Fuscusking@yahoo.com

fuscusking Jun 26, 2006 11:23 PM

Here are some pics of my borneos for you. The male is so out of it and could care less, while the fmale is curious and always exploring.

wink0083 Jul 07, 2006 09:11 AM

Well, no dice...

After he had started to look and act much better, including eating twice, I came home one day to find a dead python. Thanks for all of the suggestions, but I guess that sometimes it's not meant to be...

...I've definitely learned my lesson about buying a snake without knowing anything of its history...the better the deal it seems at a show, the more questions that should be asked...
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Ball Pythons 1.1 (Morty & Mary)
Amazon Tree Boas 1.1 (Orville & Aeme)
Corn Snakes 2.2 (Bob, Sandy, Candy, and Tye)
Leopard Geckos 1.2 (Leo, Spaz, and Spot)
Central Painted Turtle 1.0 (Swim)
Red-Eared Slider 0.0.1 (Harold)

www.geocities.com/wink0083

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