Reptile & Amphibian Forums

A customer of mine called me the other day asking if I could help him with a regurgitation problem. I remember reading somewhere about a med that can healp with this problem. I spent all yesterday afternoon trying to find where I read it from with no luck. Perhaps someone here can help me with the nme of this drug? Thank you, Lee

Hey, Lee!
I think what you're talking about is Metronidazole also known as Flagyl for humans. It's often used to treat Giardia in humans and boas and also thought to stimulate activity in the gut. I read on someone's website that it also soothes the stomach so I tried my own little version of it with a farmed Anery Leticia that was regurging like mad. No problems since. Here's what I did:
A lot of times, regurgitation is caused by parasites. The snake was too small to extract a fecal sample and wasn't giving me any of her own accord. Since she was farmed and vomiting, I assumed that she had internal parasites. I've always found that a combination of Metronidazole and Panacur were a good start for internals giving 2 doses 2 weeks apart. The guy I got her from suggested giving an intermediary dose the week inbetween (meaning giving three doses a week apart.) I tried that and was happy with the results. I'll be making that a standard practiced from here on out. That's what I'd do if I were you. In this case, these doses finally resulted in a defecation (there's that gut stimulation!) allowing me the luxury of fecal floats and smears. These showed that the snake also had flukes which, in my experience, are pretty uncommon. This we had to treat with Droncit. However, from my experience, the Metronidazole and the Panacur should probably get you where you need to go until you can get a fecal sample run. The flukes-to make a horrible pun-were really just a fluke and I wouldn't worry with the Droncit until you have evidence that the snake needs it.
Just some thoughts. Hope they helped!
Aaron
Oh, the "Metronidazole as a stomach soother" and the "three doses instead of two" were ideas from other people. I'm kind of new to the forum and I don't want to take credit for them myself, but I don't want to give out toher people's names if that's bad. Not sure of the etiquette here...

Aaron, thanks for the post. A few more questions for you. As I looked it up, there are several different strengths and forms. Tablets, jels, creams, 0.75%, 1.0%, 10%, 250mg, 500mg, 750mg, etc. What do I tell him to get? Is there anywhere specific I should send him (store or website)? What are the doses like? Thank you for your help. Lee

Hey, Lee.
No problem at all.
Well, really the chemicals inside are what's important whether you're talking pills, liquids, etc.. Normally, Panacur comes in a white liquid. Most of the time, Metronidazole comes in pill form, but I knew one vet that had it in liquid form in really diluted doses for smaller snakes. It all depends on the size of the snake. If it's a small snake, the problem is that you'll want to get diluted doses. For instance, if you have pills that are heavy doses, let's say for big dogs, the problem you'll run into will be that you'll have to give a tiny, TINY fraction of that pill to the snake and it's very hard to measure and administer. The vet I have now crushes up the pills and dilutes them into liquids (I believe she uses propylene glycol). This would NOT be my preferred method. I'm assuming this is a small snake. If you can find someone with the low dosages, you can use those. You'll have to check with a vet for the exact dosgaes, too. It'll be done by milligram (or CC) of medicine per kilogram of the snake. Since I was a veterinary technician and was trained by a vet that specialized in exotics, I can kind of tell my current vet what I want to do and she'll do it. That's what I suggest. You have them go in with a plan. The vet should be able to figure out the dosgaes, supply the medicine and tell you how to administer it. This way, you can do without a vet that really knows reptiles (though that's not the preferred method either). However, that's the position in which I currently find myself as I left the vet that trained me in Tennessee when I moved to Florida. Man, that guy could do stuff with snakes that they can't even do with people yet! He and I became good friends. It's hard to find a good reptile vet, so I use my experience as a herper my experince as a vet tech his advice the prescription pad of my new not-so-good-with-reptiles vet to do what I need to do! (I also have friends in the Herpetarium in the Memphis Zoo to bounce stuff off of and that helps a lot.) Honestly though, places like the boaforum can really be helpful. There aren't a lot of good reptile vets around, but if they'll work with you and you can tell them specifically what you want done, you can get things worked out.
Okay, sorry about the long post-short end of it:
Tell the person to take the snake to a vet, tell the vet that they'd like to treat the animal for parasites using Metronidazole and Panacur at normal doses, BUT that they want an extra dose in the middle so that they end up getting 3 doses spaced a week a part. Then, as soon as the animal defecates, have floats and smears run for everything else. Have fecals run until you consistently get clean ones. Also remember that clean fecals that happen before 2 weeks after the last dose don't count (though you still want them run-if you get parasites, you know what to treat for-if not, keep checking.) they're a good start, but not quite so accurate until all the meds have left the animal's system.
one more thing:
administer meds-if the snake is small and looking dangerously thin, you'll want to TRY to feed. wait until the day after the second dose at the earliest, but remember, if the snake regurges again, you'll lose the meds, too, and have to readminister and start over. You have to use your judgment and weigh the pros and cons of fedding the snake to get it nourished vs. the likelihood that it'll puke again. If the snake can make it without eating, (a big fat snake), you can dose without food if you think it'll puke. Use small prey items either way. If you're not feeding the snake, wait 1-2 weeks after the last dose to feed again. If the snake's not hungry, don't be surprised. Remember, it'll take 2 weeks after the last dose of meds for them to cycle completely out of the animals system so don't expect instant results.
Hope that helps, Lee!
Aaron

Thanks alot Aaron. That was the information I was looking for. You were a great help. Lee

No problem at all, Lee!
Glad to have helped!
Aaron