cant get rid of a res. inf.

[newblood2]

aliright i bought my baby blood (Booda) about 4 weeks ago at the pottstown expo. in PA. After the first week i started 2 notice some weezing and poping so i brought him 2 the vet and he had a r.i., hes taking his medicine through injections and hes been taking them for about 2 weeks and im not noticing any improvement, any tips!?!?:confused:

[m1k3_88]

What are the temps in his enclosure? If you bump them up a bit this should help him out.

[second skin]

what is the medication the vet perscribed?
and yes higher temps will make a huge improvement with the comfort of you snake

[newblood2]

0.5 amikacin every 72 hrs. and i try 2 keep the temp around high 80s in the hot spot, low 80s high 70s at night. I mist the tank about 3-4 times a day, do u think that might be too much?

[ethan]

Hey I was treating mine with baytril one shot everyday 7 days and then once every other day for 5-7 days.It took a while to see her get better and I was then relieved.I was keeping the temps in the high 80s and basking in low 90's.She seemed to like the higher temps because thats where she would lay most of the time.Night temps I wouldnt let it go below 80s either, and humidity 70-85 percent.Kara replied to me one time stating she likes to raise the temps and let them heal themselves with no medication unless to extreme so I bet in due time things will make a turn for the better, other wise I would go back to the vet.Good luck.

[sapphire_moon]

what is your EXACT humidity, being to humid or to dry can cause r.i. And the exact temps. Try to keep his temps around 88-90 hot side (only heard this!) and DON'T let it drop below 75 on the cool side.

[Grant vg]

in most cases , a resp in a blood wont be cleared up in a couple weeks.
without doing a culture and sensitivity test, you really dont know what your fighting as far as treating with medication....
as for temps, 88-89 is too cold....make it a 95 hot spot, and 85 cool side is a good start, 75 is for breeding purposes...your temps shouldn't even be close to this if you want to clear up the resp.

make sure theres plenty of water available....

humidity should stay pretty much the same, 60-75 percent.

From experience, overhead heat seems to clear resps up faster...

Depending on the severity of the resp, you probaly wont notice it gone for a month to 3 months...
and the best thing you can do is leave the snake alone... get the temps right, get your humidity right...and leave the poor thing alone :)

[newblood2]

thanks everyone 4 all the help ill keep yall clued in on how hes doin, thanks again

[newblood2]

should i keep the temps consistant?, i usually drop them at night, and does neone know a good place to order supplies? thanks

[Grant vg]

yes, keep the temps consistent... fluctuations dont help a resp. infection at all... you want to keep them stress free and let there immune system battle the resp... peeking in twice a day to see if they're still bubbling or heavy breathing just stresses them out and slows the recovery process.

[newblood2]

thanks again for all your help, this is my first blood and my first exotic species, its great theres forums like this to help out. Do u have any clue how fast these guys grow?

[sapphire_moon]

They are supposed to be slow growers.

But I am known to be wrong :) lol

I am curious about this as well. I have a "yearling" that is about 1.5 ft (a big MAYBE 2ft), so is this a normal range for a yearling blood?

BTW this was his second feeding with me tonight, yay! he tried to eat it arm first? lol he let go of it, I picked it back up (with tongs, I like my fingers on my hand, lol) and put it near his head, he opened his mouth and just sat there, I put the rats head in his mouth and he closed his mouth and proceded to "kill" it. Strangest thing.

Also another question (sorry newblood2 for taking over the thread!)

does anyone elses blood soak after eating? He has soaked twice since I got him, one the next night after his first feeding with me, and the other tonight, almost as soon as he fixed his jaws he headed for the water bowl.

The humidity hovers between 65% and 75%
hot side 85-88 cool side 75-78

when I got him he had a bit of bad shed stuck on his head, the other night when I cleaned his cage (he pee'd, no urate stone, just liquid) I found the bit of skin that was stuck :) so I would assume his humidity is fine. but again, I could be wrong!

[newblood2]

when i first got my blood i kept the humity around 90%, and he still soaked after the first 2 times i fed him, so maybe its just something they do after eating sometimes

[axwielding1]

My blood , when she was smaller (16"-20") used to get in her waterdish every night and all but swim. She still soaks daily, or half in half out.. She drinks quite a bit while she soaks as well..
I keep her humidity between 70-80%, so it's not too low that it would prompt her to soak, I think she just enjoys it.
ax.

[sapphire_moon]

ok, it worried me a little. I've only seen a snake soak, ONCE, and that was my male bp, I think it had gotten to hot for him, and he stayed in for like MAYBE 2 min.

Where as my blood stayed in a good 5-10 minutes then he likes to press himself up agains the side of the rubbermaid, strange little snake.

Got all huffy last night when I changed his water though and went into the "S" position. He had bad shed on him, and that could be another reason, we seen little bits of old shed floating in the water. He looked kinda ruff when we got him, but his colors are really starting to brighten up.

[axwielding1]

5-10 minutes? That's not long at all for a blood! Mine has stayed in there for hours before, periscoping her head out,looking...
They're swampy snakes and spend alot of time in the water inherintly..My Ball pythons will only soak when they feel they need to, too hot or before shed, but only a few minutes as you stated. My blood also spends time with her face against the glass in her tank, I think the feeling of a boundry is probably comforting to them. I've even seen her drink the droplets of water from spraying down the tank, right from the glass....
ax.

[sapphire_moon]

yup. Like I said, since he soaked a bit, his colors are coming out beautifully, a tan caramel color fadding into more of a cream color.

Are bloods slow growers, no one has answered this yet? lol

[newblood2]

haha thank you

[Grant vg]

i wouldn't catagorize them as slow OR fast...are they like burms? no... they grow at a regular rate, but it really all depends on your feeding regimen , how you keep them as well as there genes... if you dont want it to grow fast, feed it less, and vice versa...

[axwielding1]

I thought I posted before but, when I got my blood in september '03, she was 16", now she's 38", 22" of growth in 8 months seems alot.. I also got another ball in August '03 who was also 16", she's now 24"...
Also, most of my blood's growth was since january when I switched from multiple mice to rats..I keep her temps and humidity steady with a good gradient, and handle her daily...
She's really turned out to be a nice animal, and I hope to get another soon, a Maylasian male I hope....
ax.

[sapphire_moon]

Thats about what I was expecting. He ate for us, and I expect him to stay on a good scheduel of eating. He is a little huffy. but I'll handle him more after he eats 2 more times for us.

Thanks for all the answers everyone, from this post (by newblood2!) and from my own thread from a few weeks ago!