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I took my wild caught yellow rat to the vet for a general check up and de- parasiting regimen. It cost me 67$ my wife wasn't too happy. She feels any money spent on snakes is a waste of money.
He got 6 days of a mixture of panacur and 2 other things For other parasites. He seems to be doing well and ate a frozen thawed mouse this morning. Now I have to see if he keeps it down.
I'll post a photo after the next shed. Buddy.

Well, for my part, I have to give you kudos. I've only done that with one WC that I kept and it cost me about the same. I haven't gone to the vet with any others that I've caught, but haven't kept them for very long. I keep them away from my CB snakes and don't use the same utensils with them, but I probably should forego keeping WC's in the future... there's no real reason for me to keep WC's... except for the rare coachwhip that I find.

Congrats! And, explain to your wife that the $67 is really not bad. Taking a dog to the vet... or even an $8.00 gerbil (from my experience) can cost even more. Really wasn't too bad of a hit, when you think about it.
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0.1 Blotched King Snake - Relena
1.0 Amelanistic Corn Snake - Peek-a-Boo
1.0 Snow Corn - Hiro
1.0 Albino Bull X Albino Pine - Sven
0.0.1 Western Coachwhip - REALLY RED!
0.1 Vietnamese Blue Beauty - Kokoro (Heart)
1.0 Bearded Dragon - King Kamehameha

I'm glad to hear that you were able to get your snake looked at. Hopefully at least several days have gone by since it was medicated, as the medication has a tendency to "dilute" the snake's acid/enzyme, and bacterial flora content in the stomach and intestinal tract. You certainly don't want to risk a chance of any regurgitation because of this.

What were the names of the other medications the vet gave you?,.....was one of them "Flagyl"(Metronidazole)?.

Another question would be....did the vet do a "fecal exam"(fecal floatation) of the stool to verify that it did indeed warrant medication?. I'm certainly not knocking you for being concerned about keeping your snake healthy, I'm just mentioning this because sometimes certain vet's like to do a little "something" so it seems like it justifies the money they can charge. If it indeed had pathogens/parasites of some sort then I certainly agree with it being treated, otherwise, it's usually best to go by the old addage....."if it ain't broke, don't fix it" theory.

In any case, good luck with your Yellow Rat, and I hope it thrives for many more years to come!..

~Doug

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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Was the snake regurging in the first place, and this is why you brought it to the vet's?...that part is a little unclear from your other post. Because if it was being kept at temps in the low to mid eighties, and you weren't stressing it from handling just after meals, it does sound like it could have very well had intestinal problems that would cause the snake to not be able to digest it's prey properly. This is certainly not unheard of with W/C snakes.

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

Nothing to do with the topic at hand, but Doug, that is a classic textbook yellow rat. What a beauty.
Steve

"I got a Rock"
Charlie Brown

I appreciate the compliment,....and in all honesty, I couldn't agree with you more!

I captured this dude a couple years back on the coast of central Florida. One thing I've certainly noticed over the many years, is the fact that this area has some of the most beautiful Yellows there is on the planet. This is certainly due to the fact that they have ZERO geneflow from any other neighboring obsoleta complex whatsoever. They are totally isolated, and are their own "entity" in this area.

Anyway, thanks again for the kind words, and I'm glad you also can appreciate his textbook classic natural beauty. I want to find a nice looking locality female in this same area to breed him with,......one day I guess it will happen eventually..LOL!

Oh!,.....about twenty years ago, I caught a KILLER looking Yellow female only about one mile from where I captured this one!....no doubt this area has some SWEET ones. Sadly, I've also seen a few DOR's that were nice looking too!..

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

I've always thought the yellow rats from Florida had more of a brighter, butter yellow then many of the yellow rats from the coastal areas of NC, SC, etc. Here's a yellow rat that is a West coast Florida locality ( photo taken at Busch Gardens a few years ago)Like you said, no influence from other obsoleta to muddy up these guys.

Also Doug, with you being in Florida, you can really appreciate the beauty in these guys. Here's an 07 Captive Bred t.s.similis The blue on this girl is amazing.

WOW!!!!,....geeeez!, both those snakes are absolute SCREAMER'S man!....they just don't come any better than that! I'm tellin' ya', I hope one day I can find a locality female for mine that looks like that!!!!.

Thanks for sharing those two beauties, those are just stunning!

~Doug
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"Better to be silent and thought a fool, than to open mouth and remove any doubt!"

It would be a good idea to run the full cycle of meds before trying to feed the snake. All the money you spent on meds will be for not if/when the snake regurges the food item you just fed him/her.
Russ

Good luck with your Ratsnake Buddy. Glad you got it to a vet. Post some pics when it's well on the road to recovery.
Steve
"I got a Rock"
Charlie Brown

Good job taking your snake to the vet. I have taken all my snakes (a graybanded king, thayeri, and a trans pecos ratsnake), which are all cb, samples to the vet for parasite checks. I was pretty shocked when I heard that he didn't see many colubrids because they weren't as "expensive" as some boids and pythons. I feel that if you decide to keep a pet, you are responsible for its health. IMHO taking a sick pet to the vet (of any species, be it snake, dog, lizard etc) is never a waste of money and is necessary if you decide to keep a pet.

Hope he does well!!!