Reptile & Amphibian Forums

infections please. Several of my alterna have what appears to be URT infections. Ive been advised that the dust from pine shavings could be the cause. Has anyone successfully treated this problem. Id really appreciate hearing any attempts, successful or not.
Thanks in advance.

One of my male thayeri breeders had a URI this past winter, all I did was up the heat a little, removed the moist hide, and kept my eye on him, it didn't get to the point I felt he needed a vet, no mucous discharge, just a slight wheeze and open mouth breathing. He was fine about 2 weeks later, feeding normally. He also had a pretty bad shed during this time, but his next shed was normal. None of my alterna have had a URI. Best of luck.
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Todd Hughes

Hey Collin
I tx a bad resp. infection in one of my anacondas with levaquin and cured it. I couldn't even guess at a dose for an alterna. Good luck. Maureen and I will be out your way middle late April. Maybe we could hook up for beers, steaks, snakes....whatever. Hope alls well. (Tom)

The oils in pine and cedar shavings could exaggerate the symptoms of the URI, so I would stick with clean newspaper while they are on the mend. More likely wet/cold conditions are the cause. I agree with the above suggestion of raising the temps and drying them out. Try that first then move to antibiotics etc.

DAN

when youll be around.

What you've discribed sounds exactly what I just went through with my collection. Mucus discharge, weezing, open mouth breathing and a rapid decline in health. Antibiotics administered oraly brought my snakes back but a fecal exam confirmed the cause, parasites! Spicifically, lungworms.
Roger Klingenberg's book Understanding Reptile Parasites states that these are all symtoms of lungworms.(bean farm sells it and its really worth reading!)
I've been dosing all my snakes with panacur as recomended by my vet and have probably saved more than a few snakes. How'd it happen? Don't know, all I have is captive bred and kept separate. I'm anal about cleanliness and feed frozen thawed.
Go figure.
It may be a smart move to get a fecal exam done to see if its the cause. You don't want it to get to far.
Good luck with it.
Mike.

be better after some antibiotics, so Ill keep my fingers crossed. That is a mystery with the origin of the lung worms. If your snakes are seperated how did it get to several. Do you put food from one cage to the other? Maybe your mice you feed had the worms?
Good luck and keep us informed about their progress.