Reptile & Amphibian Forums

ok it seems (and i seriously do not know how) i have a female that is gravid, but seems to have a RI.
now she has been being kept at the proper temps, and very dry so as to heal her all natural, but am beginning to think i need to do something else.
i am very familiar with giving shots and administering antibiotics, but was curious what i should do.
i have read that baytril injections can cause birth defects, or for females to slug out....... is there anything i can do for her that would be considered not as detrimental as baytril to the babies she's cookin'?
any help would be of GREAT appreciation!
i just cannot understand this as i breed alot of boas and colubrids, and it has been forever since i have had even a sign of an RI in my entire collection, and the first time a gravid female has had one in my care.
thanx in advance.
proper dose of whatever is best for around a 20lb female?

matthew

Thomas:

It's ironic that I am reading this question tonight just before going to bed. Today I took a gravid clown ball python to the vet because I felt she was showing symptoms of RI. The Vet examined her and told me that she had a very slight case of an infection. After I had mentioned to the vet that she was ovulating he explained that it might be a good idea to just take her home, heat things up a little bit and watch her for a few weeks. He explained to me that there has not been a lot of study showing the effects of giving antibiotics to gravid snakes. His concern seemed to be more for the babies sake than the mother. Even though this is exciting project and the babies are very valuable. I felt the health of the clown was by far more important than the value of the babies.

I chose to put her on antibiotics. The antibiotic of choice was Piperacillin. I'm giving her one sub coetaneous injection per day for ten days.

I don't know what the effects will be on the eggs, but feel good about doing everything I can to protect the adult female.

Don't beat yourself about your boa getting RI. Our snakes are under a lot of stress this time of year and their defenses are weakened.

My guess is that there are others reading this post that are in the same boat.

Some things that can be done to minimze the onset of RI is to maintain a balance between the right temperature, humidity and ventalation.

I worked for a vet for 9 years and keep imaculate care of my animals. Sometimes they just get sick.

I don't know if any of this will help you, but know that I feel your pain.

Good luck

Brian
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Brian Gundy

www.for-goodness-snakes.com

Same thing happened to me about 6 weeks ago with my argentine boa. She developed an RI then ovulated. Ill I did was turn the temps up in her cage. It took about three week but it seems to have cleared up.

Good Luck

Me too!
I dont know for sure if my girl had one or was getting one but her nose was whistling a little. I raised her temps and I also bought cypress mulch, I put the cypress in a 15qt tub in her cage and just kept it moist by misting it once in a while. She curled up in the box for about 3 days and the whisteling stopped.
Good luck with her.
I actually added cypress to all my cages since she liked it so much.

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www.JerseySerpents.com Renovating

You are what you repeated to do, excelence is not an act, but a habit......... (Aristole)

I agree. Whistling is from too dry an environment.
jsc
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"As hard as I've tried, just can't NOT do this"
John Crickmer