Reptile & Amphibian Forums

One of my female BP's has an RI. I do not know if she has had it for a while or just got it. I noticed bubbles coming out of her mouth and sniffle-like sound on Wed night and took her to the vet on Thur. I have her in another room on the other side of my house and so far, I cannot hear or see any other RI's on my other 9 BP's that were in the same rack as her.

The vet gave her an injection of fluids to rehydrate her (she hasn't eaten since I got her 7 weeks ago and has lost 100g's) and he gave her a shot of Baytril. He also gave me 4 Baytril shots to give to her every other day, which I gave her one today. I upped her hot spot temp to 93-94 and the only water in her tub is her water bowl. Humidity is about 50% and the cool side of the tub is 77-78 (I cannot get it any warmer).

I understand RI's are life threatening, but since I did get her to the vet, on meds, and I am doing everything I can as far as good husbandry for RI's......is it very likely she will be ok? The vet was an older gentleman and he kind of had the attitude, "if" she survives. I know NOT to put her back in the rack for at least a month and after her symptoms are gone for at least 2-3 weeks.

Oh yeah, she is a pastel female, 1625g's (was 1720 when I got her) and an 07.

You are doing things right. You may want to see if you can get the humidity up without it being wet in the tub. That is the real trick. If you can keep your humidity up all year round you will get rid of 99% of ri's in bp's. Some people spray their animals with water, others reduce ventilation, but humidity is much more important than I think most people realize. It is so common for people to think that Africa is dry and sandy but balls come from grass lands near the ocean and other large bodies of water.

It is a good sign that your snake did not have a really advanced infection or you would have heard her weezing and she would have had fluid coming out of the mouth. The baytril is good stuff, old school, reliable. If it does not solve the problem there are newer, stronger antibiotics that can be used next. Good luck and big thing, dont freak out. If you are going to keep a bunch of snakes you have to get used to handling their health concerns. You will get through it. E
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Evan Stahl Reptiles
www.evanstahl.com

Actually, she was weezing and had bubbles coming out of her mouth, which makes me think she had it for a while. I turned the fan off in the room where I keep my rack and my humidity has been 60-75%. The vet gave me 4 shots of Baytril so hopefully that does the trick. She will get her 3rd injection tomorrow (Mon 8/2) so she should get her last one on Friday. That will be a 10 day span of Baytril. Is this enough?

Unfortunetely, the top 3 or 4 herp vets that were recommended were either off or on vacation. I went with the recommendation from one of the recommended vets. He was older and did not do a culture (which I just read about that he should have done). I guess I have no choice at this point but to continue the injections and if she does not stop weezing and has bubble in her mouth, I will take her to one of the recommended vets to start all over. I just hope 5 Baytril injections every other day is enough. What humidity do you guys keep your BP's at (your normal BP humidity)? Thanks.

in your prior posts you said that she had a little bubble coming out of the nose and had a little noise when breathing. Now you are wheezing when breathing and bubbles out of the mouth. The fact that the vet did not take a culture means they are not a reptiles vet. If it is a virus antibiotics are not going to help.
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Evan Stahl Reptiles
www.evanstahl.com

Sorry for the confusion. She had some bubbles on her mouth and about every minute or so, I could hear her make a sniffle-like sound. I guess it wasn't really weasing, just her breathing hard because of stress from my presence. I did find this vet was recommended on a few other Kingsnake.com forums so that makes me feel a little better. I guess I have no choice but to see how she is doing in a week. Should the liquid and sniffle-like breathing be gone after 8-10 days on Baytril?

Did your vet do a culture?
If not, the meds that were prescribed to you could be entirely, 100% useless.
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www.strictlyballs.ca

Put the snake in a hot box meaning tank or box something.With high heat sounds like its not bad you can get rid of most ri with high heat for 2-3 days it dries the moisture out of the snakes lung.Then put back in rack and keep eye on it.Keep water bowl clean everyday cause it can reinfect.
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1.0 100%het albino
0.1 100%het albino
1.0 pastel
0.1 spider
0.1 pastel
1.0 butter
0.1 albino hc
1.0 orange ghost
0.1 100%het pied poss het albino ringer
1.0 med pied
0.1 pewter
1.0 pinstripe
1.0 pastel

I have an UTH right now so its hard to work with temps. My new thermostat is scheduled to arrive Thursday. My hot spot ranges from 92-96 throughout the day. The cool end is 78-80 and I cannot seem to get it any higher. The only thing I can really do is move the UTH to the middle of the tub (it covers about 1/3 of the tub) or move her to a 28q tub and it will cover 1/2 the tub.....keeping the ambient temps in the mid 80's. Should I do that when the thermostat arrives or now? She gets her 4th injection of Baytril tomorrow (Wed) morning and #5 (final) shot on Friday.