respiratory infection contagious?

axwielding1 · 01-23-04, 12:02 AM

I have a 2' blood, a 2' ball, and my son has a 4' ball. A friend of my son bought a little ball 5 months ago, and recently told me it didn't look good, and asked if I could take it in and try to help it. Well, he brought it over tonight and it looks horrible! I told him that he's not getting it back because of the deplorable condition it was in, and he was incapable of caring for it. I mean, how frigging hard is a ball python to care for!?!
Anyway, I soaked the dehydrated little guy in some warm water for about 2 hours, and eye dropped some water in his throat, removed 2 stuck sheds, and rubbed him down till he came around. I was told he hadn't eaten in about 4 months!I then put him in a spare tank that i have, and thawed a mouse for him, which he took pretty quickly, although he was weak. I noticed that he must have an RI because of the weezing/whistling sound. My question is this, is a RI contagious? The snake is in it's own tank, but is near my blood, and I'm not risking her health for anything. Should I put the RI snake in another room? Any help would be great.
I am taking the RI snake to a herp vet on the previous owners dime on monday....
ax.

Scales Zoo · 01-23-04, 12:30 AM

I am not an expert on this, but I will try and give you some information I have picked up along the way.

RI is the effect, a viral or bacterial disorder is a cause. Many of these can be contagious.

You can take the snake to a qualified vet, ask for a mouth swab and culture test. This will tell you if there is something bacterial, like a type of Pseudomonas for example. If that is the case, the vet should also get list of antibiotics that will treat it effectively, as well as a resistancy chart - antibiotics that should not be used.

Ryan

axwielding1 · 01-23-04, 01:51 AM

Well, I checked on the snake, and noticed the mouse partially out of his mouth, and the snake was dead.....
He seemed to have been coming around, and doing better, but I guess I was wrong. He was in pretty bad shape when he arrived. Too bad some irresponsible people purchase snakes, and find they can't care for them properly. Badly dehydrated, emaciated, 2 stuck sheds, and an RI to boot! Really a shame...
ax.

Scales Zoo · 01-23-04, 12:04 PM

That's too bad, sorry to hear that, at least you tried.

If you are still concerned about your collection, you could still talk to the vet about seeing the dead snake.

Ryan

Invictus · 01-23-04, 03:44 PM

I'm sorry to hear about yet another case of neglect leading to the death of a reptile. Thank you for trying though.

axwielding1 · 01-23-04, 07:21 PM

Yeah, it really sucked...
You would think that a pet store, which is where it came from, would give a care sheet, or an idea of the care that it needed, or something. He got a box with a snake in it. Sure, he's an idiot for not going online, or investigating info somewhere. But shouldn't the store feel some responsibility?
I wish he had gotten a hold of me or my son sooner. I think the cold temps, and dehydration, put the snake into a dormant stage. When I warmed him up, he tried to feed asap, but the RI really showed when he began to move and breath as he normally would. The 2 stuck sheds didn't help either...
What a shame...
ax.