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I have a LARGE-4.5’ female W.A. gaboon viper that has not been doing well for the last month or so. She has always been a little “huffy”, but I have been noticing her wheeze like she has a cold or is congested. Also, about a month ago, I noticed a small amount of blood coming out of one of her nostrils. About a week later, I came home to find her cage splattered with blood…it appeared to have come from her mouth. Since then she has had a healthy BM, but has refused food, which is unlike her, and the wheezing has gotten worse, but no more blood.

I keep her in a 4’ NP cage with aspen bedding and a silk leaf “hide box”. Ambient room temp is around 78 to 80 with an 88 to 90 degree hot spot from a heating pad below the cage. I have tubes and another experienced hot keeper that said he will help administer any meds if need be.

Thanks for your time,
Adam Stockton

Adam:

Sorry your Gabby is not well. May be (hard to tell from here) flukes or other paracytes. Try Pancur available from any livestock store. Next stool sample take it to a Vet and have it checked, only way to tell whats going on in there. Email me directly and I can give you the dosage mg/KG.

Good Luck

Al

>>I have a LARGE-4.5’ female W.A. gaboon viper that has not been doing well for the last month or so. She has always been a little “huffy”, but I have been noticing her wheeze like she has a cold or is congested. Also, about a month ago, I noticed a small amount of blood coming out of one of her nostrils. About a week later, I came home to find her cage splattered with blood…it appeared to have come from her mouth. Since then she has had a healthy BM, but has refused food, which is unlike her, and the wheezing has gotten worse, but no more blood.
>>
>>I keep her in a 4’ NP cage with aspen bedding and a silk leaf “hide box”. Ambient room temp is around 78 to 80 with an 88 to 90 degree hot spot from a heating pad below the cage. I have tubes and another experienced hot keeper that said he will help administer any meds if need be.
>>
>>Thanks for your time,
>>Adam Stockton

The aspen may be bringing the ambient humidity to too low of levels causing a respiratory infection, try newspaper. Don't rule out Paramyxovirus.

Sorry if anything in my reply is worded or spelled wrong, I didn't use a dictionary.
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Chad Bachman

Get it off the aspen bedding..... It is much too dry..... Cypress mulch is a good substrate to use..... What kind of cage are you keeping it in????

Bo not put it on any loose bedding until its URI has cleared up..... I do not feel your snake has paramyxo but as stated above do not rule out anything..... I am guessing you are new to keeping gaboons.... They can be prone to URIs if the temps and humidity levels are not correct....

This is my first gaboon, but I've had her since she was about a foot long.

Ill take your advice on the substrate.

Adam

I keep her in a 4" Neodesha.

I'll try a new substrate and mist the enclosure. Is this something that will just go away under the right environmental conditions? What about meds?

Again thanks for the reply, and you get a gold star for your grammar and spelling as well.

Adam

Hey Adams, I think Gregg gave you very good advice about substrate selection, its true that gabboons are not as easy as people think to keep well in captivity.

For the meds, I can give you some ideas but not the exact name and dosage as this should be the job of the vet. A few months I saved a 4.5 ft female who had symptoms like yours. She had a severe chest infection; she got IM antibiotics every 72hrs, IM decongestants everyday & also tracheal wash everyday as the secretions was so thick that she cannot expectorate from her lungs; but this is a very dangerous technique. In addition, nebulizer therapy also has some effect couple times a day. After intensive treatment and close monitor for 10 days, no expectorate and blood anymore and she started eating after 2 weeks. Thats about it, good luck to your gaboon.

kog