Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hey all, I got ahold of two BCI's 6 footers, both with what seems like upper respiratory infections. The person I got them from didnt have heat on them and they were room temperature, which is probably in the high 60's right now. The female, has mouth rot, mild, and discharges bubbles from her mouth....The male just wheezes every once in a while. I immediately put them in a sterile enclosure with newspaper, put the heat on 87 and cleaned the necrotic tissue from her mouth with Chlorihexidine cotton swabs. her mouth is much better, but my question is should the heat be enough. He stated that a vet gave him Tylan some time ago but he never administered it to them. Should I go ahead and inject the Tylan or give them a few days to see if they improve? Not had a sick Boa before so looking to the pros for their advice. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated....thanks.

If it were me, I would treat them. And I think you said the temp is 87. Seems to me it should be warmer.....at least 90 on a belly heated area. Best of Luck with them.

Hi I recieved a snake that had a respitory infection and mouth rot, she was to the point that she wasn't even shedding on her own .I took her to the vet and he gave me Baytril I used it as directed and it wasn't getting any better so someone suggested Amikacin. He prescribed that for me and within a few days of injecting her she was much better, I also used a soft brush with peroxcide on her mouth rot. She's perfectly fine now, eating up a storm and shedding on her own. Hope this helps!
Best of luck!

Guessing at the right treatment might do more harm than good. The cause needs to be identified. The particular bacteria will have it's own antibiotic.

with raising the temps and cleaning with chlorhexadine. I would pursue this with veterinary help as the history on these snakes seems pretty sketchy. While the Tylan will likely help, I don't really trust the previous owner to be passing the information given by the vet he saw. It's best to start fresh, bring the med's you have, and the vet may or may not decide it's appropriate therapy at this time.

Ian

Thanks to you all so far. She is no longer oozing out of her mouth. I bumped the heat up to 90 on the hot side of the enclosure and they both have been curled up there all day. I did not remove them today, as I wanted them to just settle in. Tomorrow I will re-examine her mouth. I am placing a call to my fav reptile vet tomorrow as well. She is the pink one on the left in the photo.

Not sure if she is a normal BCI, any opinions?

n/p
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Caden Chapman
slithering.serpents@gmail.com
slithering-serpents.com

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