Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My common red tail is having issues. Ive had him for 9 years with NO problems, so I guess Im due.

It started about 4 -> 6 weeks ago where he would not eat. Ive had him on frozen rats for a while now. I tried to feed him 4 weeks in a row with no luck. 2 week ago I bought a live rat and all he did was make friends with it.

around the same time I noticed that he looked like he was going to shed, so I waited a few days and he didnt shed. So I put him in a bath tub with some warm water, which Ive done many times with no issues. This time he acted weird. Started opening his mouth and putting his open mouth under water. At one point he pushed a bunch of foamy mucas-ey stuff out of his mouth. After that I took him out. He was in his cage with his mouth open for an hour or so after that. Eventually he shut it, and never did it since. My local vet prescribed some antibiotics thinking he might have a chest infection. I gave the injections, and I started helping him shed. He was having a lot of problems getting his shed skin off, and kept pushing his nose into the glass of his enclosure. After a couple days of this, I pulled the remaining shed skin off for him, or started it. His eye caps did come off.

Now, here is the weird thing. He is now 99% shed for about a week. His eye caps (both) have that dented look to them, like he has a retained cap, but I know 100% they came off. He still will not eat, but is pretty active at night, moving around in his enclosure and what not.

any suggestions??

thanks,
clay

Your humidity is probably too low. This causes those dents in the ocular scales.
Plus this maybe what contributed or is contributing to your Boas
chest RI which leads to the feeding problems.
I'm guessing this could all be related.
. . . . Lar M
-----
Boas By Klevitz
Boas By Klevitz

if the appetite doesn't come back and he still shows signs of RI even after you raise the humidity for a week or so, you may need to try a different antibiotic. However, make sure the humidity is elevated, and defintely during the treatment regimen. What was the antibiotic that was prescribed earlier?

Kelly

the antibiotic was Batril. 5 injections, 1 per day, IM

While Baytril (enrofloxacin) is a good first choice for an antibiotic in most cases, there have been reports over the last few years of an increase in bacterial resistance to it. A cephalosporin or aminoglycoside class antibiotic may be in order if symptoms return after the Baytril treatment, provided the environmental issues were able to be corrected. Good luck,

Kelly