The RI monster strikes again

Shmoges · 03-26-11, 08:34 PM

Our little albino kenyan sand boa has like 4-6 symptoms of a URI so we decided we would rather be safe than sorry and took him to the vet. It started as a funny behavior of him holding his head up and I was worried he may be star gazing or something. Also he frequently would open his mouth like he was yawning, then his appetite waned but we weren't too concerned because the breeder told us this is the time of years when some kenyans stop feeding for a few months. Then we noticed his tongue forks were sticking together and he had substrate sticking to his mouth and we could hear a popping sound when he would breath. $61 later we have a little bottle of antibiotics and some syringes to give him daily oral medicine for 14-21 days. They say he is in the early stages and doesn't seem to have pneumonia. I feel like its my fault because we didn't have enough heat for him. I assumed a UTH in the corner would be enough but we got a rheostat and another ceramic heat emitter to set on top of the metal lid like we have on the other ksb tank and some thermostats with probes. We have it up to 90 now but the breeder recommends even higher temps of up to 100-105!!

TeaNinja · 03-26-11, 08:36 PM

jeeze, are they just suggesting the high temps until he recovers? or long term?

good thing you found it pretty early

Shmoges · 03-26-11, 08:38 PM

till recovery, Yeah seems hot as hell to me too.

marvelfreak · 03-27-11, 01:20 AM

Best of luck and keep us posted.

nikkik85 · 03-30-11, 06:58 AM

Awww, glad he is getting antibiotics and on way to good health again. Keep us posted on his recovery.

shaunyboy · 03-30-11, 09:14 AM

its only carpet pythons i work with so cannot comment on your boa's temperatures

with carpets in the early stage of a R.I. i put their hot end temperature up 4 or 5 degrees until the RI goes

the reason for doing this is the extra heat aids the snakes immune system

cheers shaun

mld · 03-30-11, 09:33 AM

I hope he feels better soon!
Just remember that they come from Kenya, Africa and it gets pretty hot there.

Shmoges · 03-30-11, 11:09 PM

he seems very active and really holds his head up after the meds lol. Its funny to see something that small hold half its body straight up. And no we are not getting it in his trachea (sp) I dumped about half the meds when we first used it but I have the flicking of the bottle and the syrenge down now so it doesn't shoot everywhere lol.

Our anery started showing signs of a RI a day after we got meds for the albino so I weighed them both and since the anery is three times the size 42g I am giving him 3cc's of the meds compared to the 1cc for the little guy and he already seems to be doing better after a few days and no more popping when breathing.

It sucks to have sick animals but its great practice and makes you more wary of things you overlooked and hopefully more careful in the future.

CanadianEryx · 03-31-11, 03:29 PM

Glad to know the one is feeling better! I hope your anery gets better too!

mld · 03-31-11, 03:59 PM

Sending prayers for a speedy recovery!

Shmoges · 04-16-11, 10:08 PM

Another vet visit today after AL puked up a large amount of saliva looking clear liquid either from his lungs or his stomach ( my guess .3-.5 ml and he weighs 14g). Wish we would have saved it for testing as it could be pneumonia. We got some albuterol and saline to give him nebulizer treatments along with the butril we have been doing for the last 15 days. He is still very active though he hasn't eaten for a month now. The male anery that was showing RI symptoms is doing much better so we isolated AL from him and have the temp at 95 on the low side and 105 on the hot side for AL's new smaller enclosure to try to keep the heat on him.