Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My 4 and an half foot long, female boa has been having slightly noisy breathing. She will be two in July. Her appetite is great and she is lively. My question is which antibiotic can I give her..oral...injectable? I am trying to save a huge vet bill (and trip) by doing the medication myself. Do I use Baytril? Any help will be much appreciated. The little moose weighs around 8-9 pounds.

Marilyn

Either Baytril or Amikacin are the prefered treatments for URI's. Dosages are given in the "Boa Manual" or Mader's "Reptile Medicine and Surgery". I would first look into causes of the disease.. proper set-up and husbandry. I understand your desire to run to antibiotics, but these infections should fix themselves if the heat is raised(constant 86-90 ambient temp), along with an increase in humidity. This way the boa will get over it on their own, strenthening their immunities. Unless it is accompanied by a discharge- then you will need to find out if the infection is gram pos or gram neg.. that decides which antibiotic would best serve the disease. That requires a vet.. no one ever told you a boa wouldn't cost you money(maybe $80). Good luck.
Later-
Matt Schubarth
Pet Nebula
2100 Stephens # 116
Missoula, Montana 59801
406 541 9929

Thanks for the info..is that sphagnum moss in the boa's box? Great idea for elevated humidity. I was putting a damp sponge in her cage along with her water bowl for added humidity. I did raise her temps too and she improved up to a point but I still hear an occasional breathy respiration from her. Living on a farm and raising all kinds of animals you have to study and know how to treat common problems yourself otherwise you would be out of business tout suite.

I much appreciate your post!

Marilyn

about becoming your own vet. If you're not right on top of a problem it can escalate quickly. I do use unmilled spagnum in my hide boxes and newspaper everywhere else. The humidity here is very low and the humid hide box works well.

Marilyn,
I agree with Matt on the decision to try heat therapy before antibiotics. This usually works well if the RI is in the beginning stages. However, if it does not show some improvement in a week or so, and you are certain about the diagnosis, I would think about antibiotic therapy. From your description it does not sound like advanced RI, as it is still feeding, and it could probably be treated effectively with ceftazidime, ciprofloxacin, or Baytril. However, I would discourage the use of Baytril. While both ciprofloxacin and Baytril are fluoroquinolone antibiotics, Cipro has a broad spectrum of activity against both gram positive and gram negative bacteria and has proven to be more effective than Baytril. Cipro is a tablet and this works great if the snake is still feeding like yours is. Just partition off the tablet in sections based on the needed dosage per weight of the snake. The safety factor of Cipro is large and an estimate like this is not a problem. Just insert the sectioned piece into the smallest food item the snake will eat. If the RI becomes advanced, it is unlikely that any of these antibiotics will be effective and your best bet then is an aminoglycoside antibiotic such as amikacin or tobramycin. Although they are not as safe as the first group, they can be used safely with the proper dosage. Contrary to popular belief, it is not necessary to manually hydrate the snake when using aminoglycosides, but you must always have fresh water readily available at all times. Preferably in a low sided bowl. Just keep the humidity fairly high, ( 70 to 80 % ), but not overly high, and temps in the upper 80’s to 90 with no cool side. I hope this will give you a little more information to work with. Good luck.

Kelly

With the added heat and humidity she seems to making many less breathy exhalations. I would rather just use this instead of socking her with antibiotics. That was a very informative post! Thanks so much.

Marilyn

I agree, as I only recommend antibiotics if all other options fail. Thanks,

Kelly