Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi everyone,

I just wanted to share some of what I just went through with my burm. He has not been feeling well lately, and has had trouble breathing, so I thought "RI", and took him to the vet.

There was little they could do for him initially, aside from an unsuccessfull attempt to clear his nostrils. They took blood, and did a tracheal wash - but none of the results from any of the tests showed any sign of infection. So I opted not to give him the antibiotics they prescribed him.

I fed him a couple days later and he ate just fine. Then he went into shed. I watched him closely as the process went, all the while feeling bad for him since he was having so much trouble breathing.

Then he shed - and now he looks great. And what's better is that he is now breathing free and easy on account of his nostrils being cleared when the shed skin was pulled off.

So now he's resting, and doing much much better.

Now that I've spent so much on humidifiers, a misting system, and heaters, I hope this never becomes an issue again!

Thanks for looking,
- Mark
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Mark, thanks for the update and the pics. Glad he's doin' better.

Quig

I'm so glad to hear he is doing better!
I've been thinking about you two a lot but was afraid to ask...in case he got worse!
You still have the best burm on the net!

Glad its doing better....whats the pvc pipe for?

Well, as for the PVC pipe, I'm using it as a sort of platform. I wanted to put something in there to help him be able to lie closer to the heat panel, but I didn't want to actually take up space with a big clunky shelf. So I considered putting a thick branch in there; which would have had the benefit of both looking better and giving him various degrees of height to rest on. I settled on the PVC pipe for now because it's a lot more sanitary and easier to clean than a piece of wood (especially since it's right under the misting nozzles).

For now those pieces of pipe are just temporary, just something I literally grabbed and threw in there to give him something to prop himself up on. And he surprisingly seems to actually love them being there - as he looks so comfortable laying across them or along the grooves they form. Eventually (when I get some free time) I'm going to build up something of a more complex structure with pieces of PVC - which should serve as a very good, clean, washable substitute for a branch.

- Mark
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----------------------------------------------
My personal website: www.antegy.com
----------------------------------------------
My Kingsnake.com Picture Galleries

- 1.0.0 Labyrinth Burmese Python Gallery
- 0.1.0 Suriname Boa Gallery
- 0.1.0 Mexican Black Kingsnake Gallery
- 1.0.0 Pueblan Milksnake Gallery
- 0.1.0 Trinket Ratsnake Gallery
----------------------------------------------
My photography on photo.net
----------------------------------------------
Me on myspace.com

I'm glad to see you still have him. I haven't been here much so was out of touch. I would expect him to have trouble breathing nearly every time just before a shed. Mine does as his skin starts to separate. It seems like the head gets a little crusty. One time he blew out really hard and his head blewup like a balloon. At first I almost s--- myself until I realized ALL of the skin on his head separated all at once. It was as if his head was in a balloon. Anyway, I'm glad yours is feeling better.
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DZ

"People sleep peaceably in their beds at night only because rough men stand ready to do violence on their behalf." -- George Orwell