Reptile & Amphibian Forums

last week, my nerodia fasciata ate a few danios. anyway, one of them was swallowed backwards (tail first). now, its very lethargic and wont eat. it is also hanging out with its mouth open at times. im wondering if it maybe scraped up its stomache on the backwards danio. ive also read that it could be a resperitory illness but, im thinking that the backwards eaten fish is the culprit. although, i think a few of them had some form of mouthrot as their mouths were kind of eaten away.

any input or ideas would be greatly appreciated.

paul

i forgot to add: it is only about 12-13 inches long and still a juvenile.

I've had very small snakes injured, and one died, after eating fish backwards. But the fish that cause problems typically have spines, like sticklebacks and bullheads. Danios are almost spineless aren't they? At anyrate, unless it was a relatively large fish compared to the snake it isn't likely the problem is with the fish.

Did the fish appear to go "all the way down" or did it seem to get stuck in the snake's neck region? Its unlikely any health problems with the fish would get transferred to the snake.

How's the snake's enclosure? Is it captive born?

actually, it was a rescue. i found it in my moms pool filter screen. it was exhausted and had a cut on its head. i think my moms cat had gotten ahold of it and it escaped only to get caught in the pool.

anyway, i swabbed the cut daily and it healed up really nice. that was about 5-6 months ago. its rather suspect that he started acting like this less than a week after feeding him those danios. im beginning to think that it either has a respritory infection or maybe the danios had been treated with some sort of medication that the snake is having a bad reaction from. hes definitely not getting any better.

waddya think?

Well, could it be thiamin deficiancy? Most likely it is respiratory infection. You are not keeping the environment moist are you?? Just a small water dish is needed
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Justin

no. its actually a terrarium that has a very dry side ane a water side with live plant growing out of a small pot. the plants are: peace lily and a variegated philodendron. should i try to force feed him with some dusted guppies or something? i really havent found very many antibiotics and antibacterials that are available in the pet trade. any suggestions? how much do you think itll cost for an exotic animals vet visit?

sorry for all the questions, i kinda want to save this little guy (again).

paul

also, the terrarium has a heat lamp that doesnt get any hotter than 80 degrees and the water side has a sand shark submersible filter that i keep cycled.

Sounds like a good set up. Let me double check though. Is there a warm and DRY area of the cage? Most water snakes are best kept in a dry enclosure with a water dish, as Justin said.

If its holding its mouth open it may have had some injury. If you can, a vet visit would be the best, especially if you know of one that is familiar with exotics like herps. Even a small snake like yours can be treated with anti-biotics. Are its nostril clear? Does it wheeze when it breaths? Try to keep it un-stressed - don't handle it or disturb it any more than neccessary. If its a nervous snake tape newspaper over the front of the enclosure so it can't see your movements.

Generally a snake that is weak from disease will just expire when force fed. Although it could be thiamine problems I personally doubt it - watersnakes don't succumb as quickly as garters do - although I don't know about danois. If there is bait store in your area you can feed bait minnows - I've had fasciaata live a long time on minnows.

thanks for the reply.

the dry side is indeed "bone dry" and stays that way. i also have a small light that keeps a basking rock at about 75-80 f.

he doesnt wheeze when he breathes. he basically sits around very lazily and doesnt seem to have enough energy to do much else. he kind of shakey (exhausted) when i go to pick him up. about every other day, i notice that hes got his mouth wide open but, its not all the time. truthfully, it seems like hes got the snake equivelent of a flu or cold. but without any excess mucous or any other symptoms for that matter.

does anybody have any idea how much its going to cost me to bring him to an exotic pets vet? if its too much for my budget, i would rather humanely euthanize him than to keep him in this state hoping hell get better (only to die a slow agonizing death)

thanks in advance for any further advice i may recieve.

paul

Sounds like a vet visit is very important. What it costs depends on where you live, etc. Here's an idea. Look in the yellow pages or ask at your local or state herp society. Call the exotic vet and just explain the situation. Tell them you don't want to spend a lot of money (or any) and ask if they can take a look at the snake and just tell you what it would cost to treat it.

Some may take this case on pro bono (with out cost) or they may be at least willing to take a look. It won't hurt to try!

Thanks for caring - thats important too...

Joe