Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Dear fellow herpers,
I have a 7' columbian common Boa. She had a nasty RI and we had no luck treating it with amakacin or pennicillin. 4 days ago I gave he an inital injection of Tylan 2.5 mL, she showed the normal response (as I've read here) incredible improvement in the first 48 hrs. Waiting an additional 48 hrs I (now i think foolisly) I gave her an additional dose of 2.5 mL before going to work. Upon returning home Ive found her limp but breathing, she is basically non responsive however she will curl her tail around my hand and like i said she is breathing. I gave the injection subcutaneously
like the first time. Perhaps an overdose, she weighs 35 lbs so I dont think I OD'd her the dosing is .1 mL per pound right? Does anone know of something that is antidotal to Tylan? Any ideas?
I really feel like crap right now any ideas are eagerlly awaited.
Thanks in advance.....AJ

Unfortunately there is a rather large discrepency between the recommended tylosin dosages for reptiles and nothing on adverse reactions. I've seen both 5 mg/kg daily and 25 mg/kg daily recommended. It is usually given orally or by intra-muscular injection. It also comes in several concentrations. If you were using the Tylan 200 then your dosage may have been a bit high. The calculated dosage for a 35 lb snake would be 2.0 ml for that concentration. Adverse drug reactions are both frightening and frustrating but reptiles do frequently recover just with time and supportive care. Good luck.

T.B

>>Dear fellow herpers,
>> I have a 7' columbian common Boa. She had a nasty RI and we had no luck treating it with amakacin or pennicillin. 4 days ago I gave he an inital injection of Tylan 2.5 mL, she showed the normal response (as I've read here) incredible improvement in the first 48 hrs. Waiting an additional 48 hrs I (now i think foolisly) I gave her an additional dose of 2.5 mL before going to work. Upon returning home Ive found her limp but breathing, she is basically non responsive however she will curl her tail around my hand and like i said she is breathing. I gave the injection subcutaneously
>>like the first time. Perhaps an overdose, she weighs 35 lbs so I dont think I OD'd her the dosing is .1 mL per pound right? Does anone know of something that is antidotal to Tylan? Any ideas?
>>I really feel like crap right now any ideas are eagerlly awaited.
>>Thanks in advance.....AJ

Dear fellow herpers,
The tylan I have is tylan 50 (for calves less than 200 lbs it says). I belive that maybe my snake hadn't metabolized the initial dose of 2.5mL after 4 days. This is just an opinion based on her activity level due to the RI and my close watching of her. I guess i just got so caught up in the holy cow effect that the tylan provided with the first dose!However...the snake quietly passed during the night , hadnt moved I believe I saw her last breath almost like a sigh of relief. The 2nd dose of Tylan was Paralytic to this particular snake at the given dosage, an unintentional euthanasia. Please be extremly careful using this drug. I am familiar with many pharmaceuticals due to my profession ( I'm a Chem E ) In retrospect I might have tried some epinephrine had i access to any. Perhaps in the future we may be able to construct a table with approximate dosages of commonly used drugs in snakes, including not only antibiotics but also anti parasitics vitamins the whole deal...ya know start a whole online herp health database..constructed from accurate experimental data from those who know the animals the best..those who have taken them into their homes. Please excuse my rambling Im really wrecked bout losing one of my babies.

Sorry to hear of your loss.

I have not used Tylosin to treat reptiles, and have found very little data indicating the use of it. What I have found varied wildly in formulary data, ranging from 5 mg/kg SID SC x7d, to 25 mg/kg SID IM x7d. I have seen no test data, no contraindication data, no data on side effects, no toxicity data, and no morbidity/mortality data for reptiles. I can see that it could be used in cases where Mycoplasma sp. (RI)or Vibrio sp. (Enteritis) were isolated as the pathogens, but I think that is actually not common in reptiles. Mycoplasma as a cause of RI is difficult to detect, culture mediums and reagents for it's growth and detection are not commercially available and culturing it can be somewhat dangerous, so positive ID has to be made by a lab. Tylosin is a Erythromycin class macrolide and may have some efficacy against some other bacterium, particularly g species, but there are other drugs available to treat those which have been proven in reptiles. One such drug is a broad-spectrum antibiotic called Enrofloxacin (Baytril). It is not without it's potential problems, but it's generally safe if properly dosed and administered. One problem is injection site sterile ulcers from IM delivery, but it can also be administered PO just as effectively.

I don't know of any antidotal treatment for OD with antibiotics/antimicrobials in reptiles. Sometimes, as pointed out earlier, the animal will recover with supportive therapy. Usually, by the time symptoms of overdose or toxicity are noted the damage is pretty much done, and the question becomes whether or not the animal's body can repair itself. Normally toxicity in these types of drugs will cause liver, kidney or neurological damage.