Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Does anyone know the dose for flagyl being administered to a snake thats about 15 inches long?

You need a book but I personaly use 25 mg per kg.Then in a week I hit it again the same you need a scale and a little math.I have only used the mexican liquid good stuff.On the pills I have no idea
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Archie Bottoms

I will be using the liquid, injected into a f/t. I have a scale and will weigh the snake. What book are you speaking of??

Have you run a fecal on the animal for? Just wondering if you don't know the dosage if you know the reasons for giving the meds.

the fecals pointed to amebiasis, my vet suggested 40 mg/kg but seemed somewhat inexperienced with dealing with snakes, but he is the only vet who would do the fecals in my area. just trying to see if I could get matching amounts from someone who has done this before.

Mader's Reptile Medicine and Surgery claims that the dosages prescribed are highly variable, but 50mg/kg seems to be what is used in snakes and doesn't cause problems for most species even when administered for up to 14 days straight. Some species have problems with dosages over 100 mg/kg (such as indigo snakes) and Uracoan Rattlesnakes have had problems with dosages as low as 40 mg/kg.

Thank you, thats helpful and reassuring. Its a gaboon viper and Im gonna go with 40 mg/kg then.

It can and has caused tumors.If a snake is regurging partial digested meals injecting in to a mouse is worthless. Flagylites amebas need the medication given directly to the snake via a tube to be most effective ...
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Archie Bottoms

......and the risk of a regurgitation BEFORE the medication has been able to do anything would be EXTREMELY counter-productive!. Also, Flagyl kills most(if not all) of the beneficial flora needed to properly digest meals too, as well as the acids and electrolytes being expelled as well from a regurge. Snakes need a good week or so to build up all these things AFTER the last dose of Flagyl is administered, or else you run the very serious risk of creating more compounded regurgitation problems than you started with in the first place. A small snake cannot afford this to happen.

Only administer flagyl by itself! If you use the 250 mg pill form, a small 1/16th piece is the proper dose for a 300 gram snake. So if some basic math is applied, you can figure out the proper amount for your snake as well.

The tablet powder doesn't mix well though, no matter how much it is crushed and stirred in a little shot glass with a tad of water, so just before drawing it up in a syringe with a thin stainless ball-tip tube at the end, I give it one last quick stir before drawing it up, then everything is fine. Flagyl is very forgiving to most all snakes, so don't stress over what your estimation actually is.

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

If this is the Gaboon that is regurgitating you should probably have additional fecals run to confirm amebiasis. Cysts and trophozoites of parasitic amoebas of the genus Entamoeba are very difficult to ID in fecal samples, and more difficult to distinguish from other non-pathogenic amebic cysts. Additionally, regurgitation is not a typical symptom of amebiasis. Dehydration and watery and/or bloody feces are the typical symptoms.

Personally, after hearing about the symptoms this snake is showing, I would try a different approach and administer Cipro orally at 10 mg/kg. I have seen it work well on regurgitation syndrome in other Bitis sp. It is a very safe antibiotic and does not pose the risk of metronidazole administration. E-mail me and I can give you the details if you are interested.

Kelly

I take 500 mg three times daily. Really! Due to a powerful antibiotic I recieved a month ago for a tooth, I developed pseudomembranous colitis. The benificial flora in my gut was destroyed by the Clindamycin and the oppertunistic bacteria Chlostridium difficile took over. When you think of the genus Clostridium, think of C. tetani (tetanus) and C. botulinum (botulism)as a reference. Yikes! Bad bugs!
Life threatening situation and NO FUN. Feeling a little better now. Won't go into the gruesome details...unless y'all want to hear them. Please don't let me die on the toilet.

But in snakes the dosage is 40-125 mg/kg every week for three weeks. It is very safe and overdosing is hard to do. Always go higher than lower except in certain species like Indigo Snakes and a few others that don't come to mind.

Cheers,

Terry Vandeventer

with the use of lincosamide class antibiotics, ie: clindamycin, lincomycin, and pirlimycin. You are absolutely correct in that they frequently cause pseudomembranous colitis due to the rapid overgrowth of Clostridium sp. within the colon by the wiping out of the competing anaerobic bacteria. Metronidazole is the preferred drug to counter the situation. Herbivores and especially multigastric mammals are at higher risk and cattle, horses, and rabbits have been killed by the overgrowth of Clostridium and the subsequent massive diarrhea. I believe even a few humans have died as well.

Apparently about one out of ten humans treated with clindamycin develop the severe diarrhea, so I guess you were one of the 10 percenters unfortunate enough to experience the severe side effects. I'm sure it was a memorable experience.

Kelly

The snake has held a meal now for 12 days, his last bm was 6 days ago, it was runny and small and the urea was greenish in color. That was when the fecals were run. The lateral folds on his skin are pointing to dehydration so I've been keeping my humidity at about 90% and "leading" him to water every other day. That doesn't seem to be helping, and my biggest concern now is that he my dry up. I have been careful not to cause any unnecessary stress on him but he is becoming a handful, I purchased him at the show in san antonio in june and am starting to wonder if he wasn't already infected...

Give him just a small amount of Gatorade once a day for several days.

This will be rapidly absorbed into it's system and contains electrolytes as well.

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

Who did you buy it from at the San Antonio show?

Randal Berry

Im not sure on the name but it was the only table there with any gaboon babies.

Brance,
I had 3 vendors at that show that had farm-ranched Gaboons.I thought if you remembered who, it would save me some time.
I'll do a search through my data base, it will tell me which vendor you bought the snake from, as the vendors have to fill out a waiver with the purchaser's name on it.
Thanks,
Randal Berry