Respitory infection... Help!!!

[clintab]

My baby ball seems to have a respitory infection and because I am fairly new at this I could use a little help. My room mate turned on the a/c and misplaced the heat lamps causing the temps to drop to around 65 degrees. He has not vomited but he is wheezing a bit and the bubbles around his mouth are present. I raised the aquarium tempature to around 98 degrees hoping this would help him fight off the infection. The mucious seems to be more like a bugger now if you know what I mean, it is hardening. Is this a good sign, also his eyes are discolored however I believe he is about ready to shead. He doesnt seem very fond of the tempature so hes been basking in his water bowl, should I remove this or leave it to help him regulate his body temp. Any advise or suggestions would be much apprechaited.

Thanks,

Clint

[BWSmith]

Take him to a vet and get the temps back into acceptable ranges. He needs Baytril.

[Zoe]

Bring the temps up, and get him to a vet asap.

Zoe

[ETET]

See a vet and probably injections of antibiotic will be prescribed; follow by a course of oral antibiotics.


ETET

[clintab]

I called the local herp place and they advised raising the temp and giving him a week to get better, you all seem to advise against this, the vet will be contacted Monday, any other helpful info I could use?

[ThEmAdHaTtEr]

Whew, My BP Hydra had a RI...Heres what i did...Make sure she cold retreat and a warm side. Raise basking to 100. Keep her FULL of fluids. Get some electrolytez if you have to, they have an oral supplement at Petsmart for like 3 bucks. Keep wiping away the mucus. If you can, get her mouth open and clean all the stuff out. Good luck! I wish for the best.

[Zoe]

Clint, pumping up the heat can cure some snakes, but it sounds like your's is in bad shape, what with the mucous bubbles. It's always better to go to the vet, it's best for the snake and for you.

[clintab]

Ok just got home and the temp is about 100 and the bubbles seem to be almost gone or less aparent anyway, this is good right? I dont want to lose the little guy, hes going to the vet in the morning. Doesnt seem to be popping as much and the mucous seems to be drying is this good? Any input would be great, anyone knowledgable about ballpythons have instant messanger.

[paolo_28]

Sorry to hear that your BP has RI, but I wish you luck.

[Pythonian]

ok with one of my blood pythons, I raised the temps for a week and no change... then i went with a weeks worth of injections of baytril and no change it ended up passing :(.
Another one of my bloods had it bad.. it was drooling... huge sac of mucus in her throat, and everything.. within 5 hours of boosting the temps she was good as new... it was weird.. but boost the temps and give the sanek.. maybe 3 days to get better.. i wouldn't give it a week .. and STILl take it to a qualified vet.

Mike

[BurmBaroness]

100 is TOO hot and could do more harm than good. Keep allover temps in the cage at no higher than 93-94 degreesF and remove any large water bowls, only use a small bowl with water for drinking. He's laying in the water bowl because you're roasting him, man!

[Bryce Masuk]

as long as it can cool down it will be fine some people turn it to 110 i wouldnt recamend but i have seen it done with a saved snake in the end Ri will easily kill a snake without a vet or experianced person helping you even if the mucus is going away it may still need anti bio's they only have one lung so it doesnt take too much fluid to kill them and they have a slow immune system or it seems to me like they do

[jpaulson]

Bryce, actually, most snakes do have two lungs. In the case of boids and pythons, the left lung is very small, and or non-functional. Anyways,

I will have to back burmbaroness on this one. 100 degrees and over is too hot. If you can catch a respitory infection early, then sometimes just raising the temps a little will take care of the problem..but, if you see mucous, and hear clicking in thier lungs, then the RI is pretty bad, and temps will not fix it. As BW said, she will need injections of Baytril. 3 or 4 shots is usually all it takes. These shots need to be given every other day, or every 2 days. Snakes metabolize slowly, so smaller doses, spread out, works better.

[Burmies]

His best bet is to take him to the vet, just to be safe.

Burmies

[LdyDrgn]

You got that backwards J. Boids have a functional second lung. It's the colubrids with the non-existant second lung. ;)

Temps should not be any higher than 92 for a Royal python when trying to get rid of an RI, with no gradient. What is the point of allowing a cool side when trying to warm the snake in order to boost the immune system? Regular DTH should be 88-90. Keep the humidity low until the infection clears up (take the snake to the vet for a checkup and possible antibiotics!). After it clears up, raise the humidity to about 60% and keep it there. Too dry or too cold will cause RI's..... You don't want to bake or make him soggy, either.... that's just asking for a whole new set of problems :p

Good luck :)

[Linds]

Originally posted by BWSmith
. He needs Baytril.

Baytril was great when it first came out, but since then there have been better developements in medecine. Baytril still has it place and is occassionally the best treatment for the type of animal/situation, but there are much more effective antibiotics available now, such as Ceftazidime and Amikacin. Some of the newer antibiotics are also gentler on the animals organs.

Originally posted by clintab
I called the local herp place and they advised raising the temp and giving him a week to get better, you all seem to advise against this, the vet will be contacted Monday, any other helpful info I could use?

They were correct in advising you to raise your temps. If your snake still has a gradient provided you can up the hot spot even to 115 degrees (I know people that have successfully used higher temps than that, myself included, but I do not feel comfortable advising others to do so). However, I would best recommend going with LdyDrgn's advice and upping the overall temps of the cage to ~92 degrees, with the exception of the low humidity. I recommend increasing your humidity slightly. As for giving your snake a week to get better, well you better be prepared for a lot longer than that. RI's take a while to get rid of, they can take as long as several months, and the temps should remain increased for one month after symptoms have ceased, because even if a little bit remains, the RI will come back with a vengence. It will be much harder to kick the next time. As Zoe mentioned, the symptoms you described are moderate, hence you should seek vetrinary assistance, if it is caught earlier then it canusually be treated at home, however if there is any bubbling, etc this is no longer a mild case. Good luck and let us know how it turns out ;)

[jpaulson]

Chelle, I never said that the lung was non-existent. In boids and pythons, the left lung is reduced in size, and/or non-functional. So THERE!! :'

[Bryce Masuk]

the reason i said one lung is because its basicly right and saw do reason to say there is a small sac thats almost like a lung in there to i thought this would express the dangerous nature of a Ri to a snake that would hopefully get them to get the help needed

[LdyDrgn]

LOL J. It's a smaller lung, but still functional. It is what the glottis connects to so they can breathe while swallowing :D

[clintab]

OK took him to the vet, gave him a shot under the skin, they also gave me some oral shots to give once a week for 4 weeks to help with the bloating of his lower body. They gave him an enema to check his stool, they said parasites are present but thats usual when they have RI's, she will be contacting me in a few days to let me know the outcome of his culture to know if there is any other danger. He looks better and more active, he is starting to shed so I hope he pulls through. I could terribly hurt my roommate for this ignorance but accidents happen and I moved him into my room where I can regualte his handeling. Thank you all for the input and ill re: post when the Doc calls.

Clint and (Maurice)

[Christina]

sometimes certain cage furniture or substrate can cause or worsen RI so what i do is remove every thing but a plastic hide box a water bowl w/ clean water and a papertowel or news print bedding then raise the basking spot to approx 100 . If caught in earlier stages this works very quikly but i also recommend a Vet visit asap. also be sure your is experienced w reptiles