Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I have a yearling ball that unfortunately either had an upper respiratory infection when I bought her or developed one shortly after. Finally got her into the only herp vet in town on tuesday and she perscribed an antibiotic called Enrofloxacin, 5mg/ml liquid. The vet seemed to think that it was nothing serious so long as I administered the antibiotic once a day for two weeks and raised the tank temp to 100 on the hot side and about 85 on the cool side. I was just wondering if anyone has delt with a UPI or has heard of this drug? My ball, Bodhi seems to be doing fine and her simptoms have lessened in only a few short days, just wanted some more experienced opinions. Thanks!
-Bryce

That's "URI" dude: Upper Respiratory Infection

And YES, you want to use antibiotics to kill the INFECTION! Just like in human medicine, KEEP TREATING AFTER THE SYMPTOMS GO AWAY!! Use the ENTIRE prescription that the vet gave you!

I'm not yelling at you, but I don't want to leave any room for misinterpretation here. URI's happen when something about the environmental conditions the snake was (or is) kept in caused the perfect environment in the tissues of the respiratory tract for a bacterial bloom (infection) to occur. Antibiotics are very good things, eventhough a lot of people like to try to paint them as evil - there's a whole other reasoning there, and it's not worth getting into here. The point of finishing the medication, even when symptoms have gone away, is that even without symptoms being apparent, the infection (blooming bacteria colony) can still exist - and will bounce back if the treatment stops early. If the infection relapses like that, then the remaining antibiotic won't be enough to treat the subsequent infection, and there is a fair chance that the bacteria will become slightly resistant to that medication. That is why you need to keep treating even after the symptoms go away.

Once you've killed this infection with antibiotics, you'll need to make sure that this doesn't happen again... unless you enjoy paying the vet. The way you ensure your snake stays healthy is to know what temperatures it is being kept at and what the relative humidity in the cage is. If the temps are too low, and/or the humidity is either too high or too low, another URI could occur once the antibiotics metabolize out of the snake's system. If you've already checked and re-checked your temps and humidity and they are not at fault (and post a thread here and ask if you aren't sure), then you should be able to console yourself that your snake didn't get sick because of something you did, and you should be able to look forward to many years of health in your pet.

I hope this helps.
~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

Thanks, I absolutely was planning to finish the medication after the symptoms dissapear and as the vet suggested I will probably extend the treatment for an extra two weeks just to be sure the infection is entirely gone. The antibiotics are only 8 or 9 bucks which is definately worth the extra piece of mind that the infection is wiped out in my opinion. I have checked temps and humidity in the cage and kept a daily log of these and all other details involving bodhi from the moment she came home with me. So I am pretty confident that nothing I did was responsible for this trouble. The only thing that I can figure is that stress form the move and new cage could have worsened an already existing problem, but like I said I am doing every thing I can to treat this and other than the URI, which of course is huge, the snake is in great shape and has a wonderful temperament. Thanks for your help, the main reason I posted in the first place was because a guy who's knowlege I trust kind of turned me off of antibiotics due to bad experiences in of his in the past. I do have one more question though, is it possible for humidity to be too high? I have never heard it said, just wondering, mine is always between 40-70%, usually around 55. Thanks again. I will keep you posted.
-Bryce

Humidity too high can be just as bad as humidity too low.

Both can cause infections. If the humidity gets too high, you risk skin infections as well as respiratory infections.

Shame on ME for not knowing proper humidity levels off the top of my head, but 70% is pretty daggone high. I want to say 30-50% would be closer to ideal. You would only want to have higher humidity levels when you know the snake is close to shedding. There are probably some Care Sheets out there somewhere that will say I'm wrong in some way or another, but you can't believe all of them, and Ball Pythons don't need too much in the way of humidity.

OK, I actually just found a care sheet that says they shouldn't be kept below 60% humidity, and I can tell you that is WRONG! A BP that is constantly kept at 60% humidity or higher will get sick!!

I feel pretty comfortable saying that you should aim for 30-50%. Somebody somewhere will disagree, and I welcome the discussion.

Good luck to you!
~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)

I may be wrong, but I agree. I have never kept a BP above 30-50% unless shedding and that is usualy due to the larger waterbowl. I have had one sick ball and that was due to a temp issue.
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Quitters never win, winners never quit, but those who never win and never quit are idiots

FYI....
Enrofloxacin is Baytril, one in the same.

I agree with the Vet. On all she said but you can go as high as 105 on the hot side .the abject is to cook the virus out of them . The heat and the Baytril given as directed will do the job OK.. David
Of DS Reptile Rescue , Removal & Rehabilitation

except it isn't a virus, or the vet wouldn't prescribe an ANTIBIOTIC...

and people will SAY that the object is to "cook the 'bug' out of the snake" but it isn't really - NEVER TO COOK - just to raise temps to the higher end of the spectrum to prevent the snake getting too cool while it is sick, which could delay healing and the snake's innate immune response

higher temps = (generally) higher metabolism and other biological processes for the animal

~Rebecca
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0.1 Dumeril's Boa '04 (Courtney)
1.2 Ball Pythons
[1.0 '05 Orange Hypo (Specter)]
[0.1 '05 Het Orange Hypo (Sylvia)]
[0.1 '03 Normal (Sue)]
0.2 American Pit Bull Terriers (40lb darling lap dogs:Brandy&Mara)