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She came home from the vet this afternoon... if you'll remember, she stayed the night for fluids and all that.

She's getting two antibiotics every 72 hours for the next three weeks: Baytril and a Penicillian. My husband will be administering those, and I will be holding her for them.

We're also to swab out her mouth 1-2 times a day as needed so the pus can't build up and prevent those abcesses from healing.

The damage? $175... but you can't really put a price on the life of a living thing, can you?

She absolutely has a large dish of water to drink out of and soak in if she so choses. We actually bought a shallow (bout 4" deep) cat litter pan for this purpose. It was the first thing she headed for the first time she was placed in her habitat (Friday afternoon before she went to the vet).

The vet wants us to try and feed her again on Thursday after her injections. Although she's capable of eating a large rat, she's very afraid of rats right now. We're going to give her a mouse this week, and a fuzzy rat/rat pup next week and try to graduate to small, then large rats in the following weeks. We're feeding pre-killed, of course, so hopefully now that she's warm and her mouth is healing she'll start eating for us.

Our vet also thinks that her face will return to normal once the infection is gone. Most of the distortion is due to the swollen gums. The good news is that she didn't lose a single tooth, which, in my research, I learned can happen sometimes.

Tredder: how well did your snake recover? Do you have before and after pictures?

Thanks again everyone! She's basking right now. We don't think she's realized that she has a warm hide yet... do you think she'll figure it out on her own, or do we need to guide her into it the first time? We were counting on her spending most of the night in there, but since boas are nocturnal/crepuscular I suppose that might not happen...
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~Alika~
1.0.0 green iguanas
0.1.0 cockatiels
1.0.0 senegal parrots
0.1.0 blue-fronted amazons
0.0.1 red belly piranha

HEre is a befor picture. Don't worry, your boa will know every inch of her enclosure within a day and figure out just where it need s to be.

after pic

Thanks for the pics! S/he does look better... more muscle, eh?

We've decided to call our girl Nzambi. Nzambi is the goddess of creation to a tribe of Africans in the Congo (yes, I know she's a S. American snake). Legend has it that Nzambi used to walk the world of men dressed as a wretched beggar woman to see who would help her. She bestowed great blessings to those who helped her, and taught lessons of compassion through years of suffering and hardships to those who did not... a beautiful woman veiled in a mask of ugliness waiting for someone to help her... sounds like our snake to me!

She seemed a bit stronger this morning when we cleaned out her mouth... not as limp as she has been. We also watched her drink and drink and drink at her water bowl this morning... so she IS drinking, which is great. If she can keep herself hydrated, we won't have to take her back to the vet for more fluids.

She's also been a little bit more active, and has been tongue-flicking more. We're taking those as good signs, too.

Tonight when we clean out her mouth again, I'll try to get some pictures. Just getting the crusties and the gooies out of there has really improved it, and I swear some of the swelling has already gone down.

Thanks for following my story!
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~Alika~
1.0.0 green iguanas
0.1.0 cockatiels
1.0.0 senegal parrots
0.1.0 blue-fronted amazons
0.0.1 red belly piranha