Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I own a albino redtail male who I notice has a urine trouble he goes every few days. Also he never puts on a pound. I am wondering what could be the trouble with him? Please help me as I am having a problem getting him to the vet right away. I am giving him some amoxiccian

Why are you giving him amoxicillin? If you don't know what's wrong with him you shouldn't be giving him any medications.

Now frequent urination could just mean he's drinking a lot of water. It is summer and they tend to drink a lot of water when the weather is hot. Also when you say he's urinating a lot... What exactly do you mean? Is he "soaking his cage" every few days or just leaving a small wet spot. As long as he's not dehydrated, I don't see a problem with frequent urination.

Next.... You say he's not "putting on weight". Are you saying he's very "thin" or he's looking malnourished? Well, if he's a young boa they don't put on a lot of weight. They mostly stay a bit lean and "GROW". They normally don't "bulk up" a lot until they start to get some size on him. Then they start to get more muscle mass and look fatter. Normally by the time they're 3 feet they start to have a more filled out appearance.

You need to stop self medicating your boa until you find out if there's actually something wrong with him. You could be doing more harm than good. Only a Vet can tell you if your boa needs to be medicated.

Due to the lack of vets in the area I have always treated my own collection. He seems fine eats and don't drink much water. Its a little amount but still werid compared to the other snakes in my collection. He has good tone just don't fattan up. Hes 5 yrs old weighs 15 pds and is about 6ft. I figured a infection or worms. Both I have treated in my retics.

He's a male, they will stay smaller. Does he have good muscle tone and have a good appetite? If so, he may just not be a huge snake. 6ft and 15lbs seems acceptible for an adult male, though without pictures it's impossible to tell. Boas shouldn't be allowed to become obese and they do have different body types. Some grow larger and longer than others, some stay smaller. You don't need to force the issue, and if the snake looks healthy, is probably just naturally on the petite side.

Some snakes have more liquid urine than others. One or two of my boas will have liquid urine when they release urates, others just have solid urates that are released when they defecate.

However, you are taking a lot of risks introducing medication when it might not be necessary. It's always good to find an exotic vet, especially if you have a large or expensive collection.
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com | CageMakers
1.0 Ball Python, 1.0 Hog Island Boa (RIP DeeDee), 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 0.1 Green Tree Python

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Far from being a expert on snakes I have still kept snakes for 20 yrs now. I had a vet teach me alot but not enough I have injected fluids into snakes and alot of other things. I dunno with this one this is my first that has these werid urine. How would I know if its worms? Is there a deworming product out that I could do my whole group safely.?

Well, the only way I know of to test for worms is to have a vet perform a fecal test.

I have never had to have a snake wormed, I believe the worming medication has to be prescribed by a vet (though I could be wrong - reptile importers must use something and it would probably become annoying to have to get prescriptions for all of that worming medication - I want to say Panacur might be one product). I've wormed my fair share of mammals, though, and unfortunately ALL the worming medications I've used (off the shelf Hartz-type and prescriptions) have said that worming should not be done to animals that are sick.

So, if your snake does have some sickness besides worms, worming it could possibly shock its system enough to do further harm.

Is this an imported snake? Because the only way a captive bred snake could get worms is from ingesting prey that has worms, such as if you catch wild mice/rats/frogs/etc, or from being in a dirty cage where another worm-infested snake has been housed (coming in contact with or ingesting little bits of the feces of another infected animal). People ask me if I feed field mice that my cats occasionally catch in my house to my snakes, and the answer is always no because I don't know what's in that mouse's guts.

Worms don't run rampant through collections like mites do, if you have decent sanitation.

I'm sure someone else will answer to what worming meds are commonly used with infested snakes, but worming isn't like "vitamin C" - you shouldn't do it unless your snake has them. Some people routinely worm dogs, cats, horses and other livestock as a preventative measure, but that's because these animals can and do ingest various things outdoors that have worms on/in them.

Does the urine and/or urates smell especially bad or strange? Seriously, no one can tell you what to do, I'm sure others will say to have a fecal test done as well, but caged snakes don't just "catch" worms out of nowhere. They might even come from live pet-store mice if the hygiene is questionable there or from the mice breeders source, which is why it's generally safer to use frozen/thawed, since freezing kills a lot of parasites.

So - could be worms, could be nothing but pee, could be something else. Doesn't sound like anything to me though.

Just my (fifty) two cents.
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Lauren Madar - OphidiaGems.com | CageMakers
1.0 Ball Python, 1.0 Hog Island Boa (RIP DeeDee), 1.1 Hypo BCI, 1.1 Surinam BCC, 0.1 Green Tree Python