dreaded possible RI jungle/carpet baby

jaleely · 10-18-11, 02:03 AM

Well she's not a baby anymore really, close to 30 inches now i think. Has always been a healthy eater, nice sheds. WHen I first got her back at the end of june I *think* could have been july...she ate fine, was tipically skittish and bitey, pooped on me, and had an inflamed rectum. I'd assumed it was from fright-pooping at least once a day. (Husband kept trying to name her "POMy" "Poops on Melissa..ee. *rolls eyes*)
She did eventually calm down...a bit *lol*
She's still fiesty, but we have our agreements. She can be picked up only at first and only if you don't hover....and held safely, in a ball, against your chest (she's too big for one hand now). No dangling, no crawling long the arm (leads to poop) unless you do it for only a VERY short time and then put her either back in a ball...usually in my shirt... or back in her viv.

Anyway, last week i noticed a popping sound. Seemed to be when she was breathing. We watching her in her tank, and saw her readjusting her jaw quite a bit. She had eaten the night before, so we thought maybe the poping was her jaw and it was out of alignment. Next day, and the next less popping, though it was still faintly there. (I'd let the temp stay the same, but let the tank dry out pretty good.)
Yesterday she seemed better, and for some stupid reason i thought that meant i should put more moisture in the tank. I added a bit to to dampen the clean coconut husk substrate.

Tonight, i picked her up and she'd been sitting in a poo....so she got a gentle sponge bath, and the area cleaned.
Just a little bit ago, a good 5 hours or more from the bath, i got her and could immidiately feel her POP when she breathed all throughout her body. Then there was the wheeze.

So, now I'm freaking totally out. We've got her upstairs with us, heat on, drying out the tank. She's in her dry hide. Very alert and acting normal. But let's just face it, i am going to need to treat this as RI.

How do i do this? I have never gone to a vet for a snake before. What questions do I ask? What extra tests xrays, etc that i know they will want to run, do i say isn't really needed? I mean, she looks fine, acts fine, no mucus in the nostrils, but the noises are there, and i once did see her opening her jaw afterall...not in a yawn..she really did look like it was just not adjusting properly, but i haven't seen her do that since.

I just started a new LOW paying job, and i'm always the first to say don't get pets if you can't afford to take care of them *snort* well here i am, trying to find the cheapest way to help her out. I just want to be able to walk in, grab some medication, take it home and treat her. I'm no stranger to giving shots (my basset hound has heath issues and I give him a shot every other week).

I also tend to be a pushover if someone acts like they know more than me (which of course you hope a vet does lol)
Anyone got a game plan for me? I'll be looking in my area (Ventura, CA) and making calls tomorrow...but i'll check here first for advice! Thank you!

Seems like whenever this happens we just don't want to believe a RI could be the answer...I just don't know why she would have gotten it. : (

And that's not entirely true....as I've mentioned before, i have rescued a couple other snakes in the past couple months, though I did try to quarantine, i know there may have been some cross contamination. They are all in the same room, though the room is large (tanks all over my living room *lol*) I just really hope my over-zealousness to help other snakes didn't pass something on. No one else is showing any signs of anything! : (

shaunyboy · 10-18-11, 10:45 AM

carpets pythons have no specific humidity requirements

i keep carpets into double figures and all of them eat and shed 100% perfect everytime with room humidity

what are your hot end temperatures ?

if the ri is in the early stages then raising hot end temps by 5 degree's can solve the problem

your vet should be able to take swabs and culture them,that will tell him what bacteria has caused the ri and which specific med's will cure it

it should not be too expensive to treat mate

i would STOP misting,remove the damp hide etc and leave your tanks at room humidity

up your hot end temp 5 degrees

i run my hot basking spots at 88f

when treating a ri i up them to 94f

is your jungle due to shed ?

some carpets wheeze and whistle leading up to a shed.this stops as soon as they shed

i hope you get it all sorted out

all the best shaun

jaleely · 10-18-11, 04:03 PM

Okay, got her set up with some more heat. Gonna try to feed her later. She has always liked to sit in her hide on the warm side of her cage, and the past week it has been really cold here so i think maybe that has affected her.
She just shed not too long ago, and hasn't skipped a meal. We'll see how she does tonight. THe weather changed right after she had her shed so i also wondered if she has a bit of dry skin in her nose or something, and took a cloth and rubbed at a spot that looked like it could be skin..but it didn't come off.
I've left her alone now to warm up and calm down.

Finally got a hold of a vet who's somewhat in my area (reptile vets are hard to find down here for some reason). $55 for the initial exam, and then they'd do a swab test to find out the bacteria, and then perscription meds, so 100 bucks or so. NOt really that bad, but it's a bad time of the month for us. Well they also can't even see me until next tuesday, so I have a week to try to see what I can do for her at home, first! Thanks for the advice!

jaleely · 10-22-11, 12:31 AM

She's doing MUCH better now, if anyone is interested! She's hardly making any sounds at all...barely even a pop! Thanks for the advice Shaunyboy! I hadn't considered how cold the ambient temperature had gotten latey. Keeping an eye on everyone now!