Respitory infection... Help!!!

[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

[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