RI in Retic

[PsychoSnake]

I'm kind of freaking out. Long story short: I took my two year old retic to the vet today for a respiratory infection and she was diagnosed with pneumonia. She is now on an injection regiment for the next two weeks. The vet mentioned the redness under her scales as being a sign of septicemia, but I told him that she tends to get pinkish like that when in shed (which she is). He seemed fine with that explanation. Now I wonder if it really is septicemia.

Cool side: 80
Warm: 87
Hot spot: 105

Her enclosed is clean, but I suspect the RI came from the sudden change in weather. It's been pouring rain everyday and my house has poor insulation.

[bigsnakegirl785]

If I'm not mistaken, redness from septicemia is in patches.

Like this.

https://chrisandash.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/dscn3643.jpg

Early stage:

https://chrisandash.files.wordpress.com/2011/06/dscn3645.jpg

Septicemia is not to be taken lightly, and without extremely aggressive treatment, snakes will die. Even with treatment, there's still only roughly a 50% survival rate.

I would hope if your vet truly believed there to be a septicemia infection, they would be a lot more worried about it, and would get a blood test done before saying one way or the other if the snake had septicemia.

[Albert Clark]

Septicemia can present as red spots on the ventral scales as well. Th animal should be treated by antibiotic injection once the offending pathogen/s have been identified. Also there needs to be adequate hydration by drinking , injection or soaking. And don't forget to increase the temps slightly to boost the snakes immunity for the duration.

[david26]

I slight bit of pink on the belly is normal before shed while in blue for a lot of snakes If she is about to shed in the next few days I would make sure to check that it goes away after that

[PsychoSnake]

Thanks guys. This helps.

The redness she has is a faint pink and it is like blotches of small pin points. It has a more uniform look on her than in the pictures posted above. I will try to upload a picture when I get the chance. If she does have septicemia I would guess it's early stage. Nothing is brown. Hopefully just a side effect of her usual shed. If it does not go away after her shed I will call the vet.

Good news: she is drinking well on her own. I have raised the ambient temperature in my house.

[bigsnakegirl785]

Thanks guys. This helps.

The redness she has is a faint pink and it is like blotches of small pin points. It has a more uniform look on her than in the pictures posted above. I will try to upload a picture when I get the chance. If she does have septicemia I would guess it's early stage. Nothing is brown. Hopefully just a side effect of her usual shed. If it does not go away after her shed I will call the vet.

Good news: she is drinking well on her own. I have raised the ambient temperature in my house.

Honestly, if either your vet or you truly fear the snake having septicemia, I would get a blood test done now. Septicemia is deadly and difficult to treat, the longer you wait the less chance the snake has to survive it, and the chance is already only 50%.

The snake in those photos had constant aggressive treatment and still ended up having to be euthanized.

If you suspect a snake has septicemia it needs immediate treatment. They can die within days or weeks.

Unless you've been noticing other symptoms, it's not likely it has septicemia, but a blood test will tell you either way.

[PsychoSnake]

Update on Mango: her condition is already improving! She hasn't been sneezing, blowing bubbles, or mouth breathing for a few days now. Her breathing sounds MUCH better. She had a bad shed (messed up by the need to restrain her for injections) but is looking much better as well. She has a few pink spots left (just before the cloaca) but her skin overall looks very clear right now.

I have not been able to get a good enough picture of the pink spots to post though. My phone camera just doesn't pick it up.

I did some research on the antibiotic she's on and it apears to treat both pneumonia and septicemia. The drug she is on is called Fortaz (http://www.empr.com/fortaz/drug/1768/). It appears to be working well, but if she gets worse I will call my vet to revise her treatment plan.

[dannybgoode]

That's good news. Hopefully she's let the worst and will continue to improve. Keep us posted.

[Albert Clark]

Spectacular! When you get the chance, ask the vet about giving the Lactobacillus acidophilus to replace the good , normal bacteria that the antibiotics kill off during the treatment .

[PsychoSnake]

Spectacular! When you get the chance, ask the vet about giving the Lactobacillus acidophilus to replace the good , normal bacteria that the antibiotics kill off during the treatment .
Good idea! Patients of mine at work have developed c. diff. after being on antibiotic treatment and it's very difficult to get back to normal.