Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My jungle had a slight belly burn from a malfunctioning heat mat. I replaced the mat, and the vet gave me Nolvasan to soak him in. This cleared it up nicely, but my snake showed signs of respirtory illness for a few days after the treatment ended. I went through the process of elevating heat in his enclosure, cleaned cage, etc. He seems almost all the way better now. Still yawns more than he did before, but no bulge in his throat or elevated head, or raspy breathing. Ever heard of this from Nolvasan? I posted soemthing about this before, nd soemone did mention their snake had an allergic reaction to some other solution similar to Nolvasan.

I have a Kingsnake that displays symptoms like a BAD resp. infection (bubbles, wheezing, sneezes you can hear across the room) if I leave just a trace of it in his cage. If I rinse the cage and slightly elevate heat, the symptoms are gone in 24 to 48 hours. It took a long time to figure out that my cleaner was the culprit. I wouldn't be surprised if this was more common than we think.

Not very likely. I'm not saying that it is impossible. I would have to attribute this to the tendency of Chlorhexidine to be somewhat irritating to mucus membranes. We use Chlorhexidine Gluconate at work all the time. Nolvasan is Chlorhexidine Diacetate I believe. Chlorhexidien is the active ingredient in most surgical scrub used in veterinary medicine. It is also the first choice among boarded surgeons and dentists. It's use is indicated in cases where there is any skin or mouth infection. I can tell you from personal experience though - If you have any cuts (like cat scratches or snake bites) on your hands it will irritate them slightly even a very dilute mixture. I can't imagine how it would feel in the lungs. Try diluting the Nolvasan futher. Proper dilution of chlorhex 2% is two ounces to a gallon of water for disinfection of surfaces. I use it at a fraction of that strength for soaking animals. Hope this helps.