Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to the vet today and had my snakes treated for tape and pin worms. He gave me a suringe needle with Droncit in it to give to my Buddy at home. He showed me how to do it and I administered it to two of the snakes that I had for the visit. When I just checked on him it freaked me out His neck is very swollen with some sort of liquid oozing out of it and I am very concerned. The ones that we did at his office are swollen like it but not as much. Should I go to the 24hr vet or is this normal? PLEASE POST if any experience in this. If I don't hear anything I will go to the VERY expensive 24hr vet. Thanks! Maybe just overreacting. But never delt with or heard of this.

-Bill

I've given a bunch of shots in my day , and sometimes when intramusculsr shot is given (not deep enough ) there is swelling , this is the medication settling just below the surface of the skin . The oozing is the medicine actually comming back out. I usually put my finger right over where the needle was pulled out from . Every snakes reaction will be different as well . If he is showing no discomfort(read his body language) ,is acting normal , no continuous oozing ,no blood or labored breathing and he is moving about his cage normally...I would go to bed and see how the swelling is tommorow . In my experience it takes under 24 hours to go down. I'm not there to see this animal , so I'm going on what I've witnessed . I'm hoping that you havn't ruptured any organs ,or puntured a lung . It is ESSENTIAL to give an intrmuscular shot on a particular angle.....NOT TOO DEEP_or STEEP , but deep enough to go into the muscle , It sound like the medication was shot just under the skin . I alwys got nervous when I saw a lump , but when you are giving a 10 day cycle of Baytril , ther are lumps here and there...it happens . I hope I eased your mind a little...we all stress over our beloved children . Please let us know how he turns out .

Rich

I've done antibiotic injections to my snakes, but never wormer. The swelling looks pretty large - I've never seen a reaction like that. Let us know how the snake is doing.

I didn't go to the vet because of what you guys posted and I searched the archives and it seems to be normal to an extent. I'm still concerned. My guys neck is still swollen, maybe down a bit, and I called the vet. He said it is just a secondary reaction to the med. I still feel aweful, he seems very agitated, as expected. I am very attached to this guy and it was bad enough to hear he had worms. I am checking on him every hour or so but have to go out for a while. Maybe when I get home he will look better. If not I'm taking him to the vet. Thanks for the concern and advise.

-Bill

don't give the shot so far up towards the head. A third of the way back from its head is good.

If you don't have swelling, something is wrong with the way you are giving the shots.
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Chad Bachman

never.....no swelling at all........

....you gave it to far front too.......

.....upper third of body....front third of body......more like what you would look at as a "soulder" area.....

......(.one third back from head works.....)

........

.......
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.........12 days and so much hasstle........
.........can I borrow your orange ghosts for a week?.......
wasssup people?......

So what should I do. The vet gave my other girls a shot in the same spot. 3 From the vet and 2 from me. Besides getting a new vet because I know thats the first thing you guys will say. What about my snakes? Whats the best thing for them now?

If your giving SQ injections it shoud bubble up, but if you are giving IM injections it probably wont. Switch side evey shot, and take it back a little farther. It will be fine either way, stop worrying.
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Chad Bachman

If your weren't sure exactly where to put the shot the vet didn't spend enough time explaining it to you. Find a better vet.

(Mother of a licensed vet)

I've seen this exact thing with Droncit and the swelling went down just fine. I probably did inject too shallow on the worst ones.

Droncit is a relatively expensive medicine often used for tapeworms, which I seemed to be getting from my Rat supplier (confirmed re-infections in captive bred snakes). My vet, who literally wrote the book on reptile parasites, indicated that it is very unlikely for snakes to spread tapeworms between themselves (i.e. during breeding co-habitation) and that they most always come from feeders. I also got the idea they aren't that rare in feeder rat colonies; a different rodent breeder was dumped by the zoo for having tapeworms and I've heard of het ball pythons coming from large reliable breeder with tapeworms.

I suppose it's the expense but I get the idea that Droncit isn't used much (I've spent hundreds treating my small colony). I can't wait till I can afford a building to raise my own lab rat colony but I’ve yet to find out how difficult it is to keep a rat colony pathogen free. Tapeworms are also complicated to diagnose because they don’t leave evidence in every bowel movement.

By the way, the last time my vet gave me pills which I broke up and dissolved and gave with a feeding syringe. I'm not sure if this is really a better way or not.

....I had it 7 or 8 years ago....treated all 200 snakes......wasn't that expensive...?........

some vets will rob you....bigtime......

one vet charged me $82 for Amiglyde another charged $42.......same stuff...same time period.....over charged....(because it;s actually illegal for them to just sell me the bottles of the stuff....but they do)....

.........

yes..I was told my snakes had coccydia,tapeworms,and pinworms.....long ago.......almost all those are gone..new stuff gotten...all were treated with 4 different meds........

tapeworms......?...they can probably get it from feeding......grass,hay ,straw,weeds,certain veggies or fruits?.....this sound right?.......

snails carry eggs ? or worms then drop out eggs?....birds....bird crap eaten by snails.....snail drops eggs on weeds and all?........or is this all wrong?......

.........anyways.......

good luck...JY
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.........12 days and so much hasstle........
.........can I borrow your orange ghosts for a week?.......
wasssup people?......

Only one of them have any sign of swelling left and its not much. You think a vet would inform you about this before leaving. Also the fact that he gave the shot to high on the neck makes me a little worries about going back to him. Thanks for all of your help everyone. I guess I am learning by experience here. Can someone tell me agin and in detail where to actually give the shot when I have to administer it in two weeks.

-Bill