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...if it will not recover, I will give it to a friend: it's like a "gummi" snake now...20 days after therapy.

Ruggero

Are you using any sort of supportive therapy?

I have found that coccidia is difficult to eliminate. Sulfadimethoxine works for me, but I have had to use as many as eight doses in a large (1,340mm/840g) male Honduran Milk Snake, and as few as four doses in a large (1800mm/1,230g) Blacktail Cribo. In the Honduran Milksnake, I dosed at the upper end of the spectrum (60mg/kg) once daily for 3 days, then at 50 mg/kg once daily for 2 more days, then every 48 hours at 50 mg/kg for three more doses. I was able to obtain fecal sample to examine after the second, fifth and final doses. Marked reduction in oocycsts did not occur until after the fifth dose. The species of coccidia was E. flaviviridis.

I was curious as to how a captive born and raised snake would present with coccidia, so I did fecal exams on some of the live feeder mice I had on hand. The mice were carrying fairly heavy loads of Eimeria spp., Giardia muris and Spironucleus muris. However, although the coccidia present were Eimeria spp.(four sporocytes), they were different from the E. flaviviridis in the snake. Possibly e. falciformis? The coccidia, the Giardia and the Spironucleus in the mice are normally associated with wild mice. This leads me to believe that the colony of feeder mice these came from has at some point been infiltrated by wild mice, but does not provide me the vector for the coccidia in the snakes. I believe that all three of these protozoans are non-infective in snakes. I also found nematode and cestode ova in the mice (Ascarid,Strongyloid, and Taenia).

No, I don't give supportive therapy: only sprayed water every 3 days. It can drink alone from the water bowl: only it has 1/4 of its previous strenght and its activity level is zero...

I will let you know.

Thanks.

Ruggero

You might try giving SC fluid, such as Lactated Ringers or sterile saline to replace body fluids and electrolytes at maybe 3% of body weight. If the snake is still refusing food, I've found that a mixture of Pedialyte and a high-protein dog food, such as Hill's A/D by stomach tube is helpful in restoring strength. I've brought a few around like that...it may be that the snake only need supportive therapy now to get back "on it's feet".

Now I've put it in the late afternoon sun with its wood trunk, and sprayed water above it: it has drunk very much.
I will inform you certainly !

Ruggero

Have you tried to innoculate the snake with Probiotics/Acidophilus cultures to help restore the snake's natural gut fauna? Does Toltrzuril kill the natural "good" bacteria in reptiles? I would try to stomach-tube the snake with a slurry of Probiotics or similar digestive bacteria.
Goodluck getting your snake healthy again.

No, Toltrazuril doesn't destroy gut fauna: it has direct toxic effect.
My big male Spilotes was a "bad" snake, always ready to strike and very strong: now it's become a "good" snake, without strenght, and with less activity.
But I hope, with time, it will be "evil" again: that's what I liked in it!

Ruggero