# Ball Pythons > BP Husbandry > Advanced BP Husbandry >  Baytril Injection ?

## dreese88

My pewter got bit on the mouth by a rat tonight and the vet gave me some baytril to inject orally. You can see the thread here

http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=105366

My question is, does it matter if it's right at 24 hours or can it be a few hours more or less? For example - She got her first injection tonight around 8:45 so would it be ok if I gave her her injection tomorrow at around 6?

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## BPelizabeth

Did you get ANY sleep last night?  You were up freaked out huh!!  If we were closer I think I would have to bring you a glass of wine!!

I have no idea the answer to your question...I would think it would be ok....but would not risk it.  Call the vet and pose that question to them!!

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## TrpnBils

Baytril is nasty stuff. The vet for our zoo was treating our retic with injections and at most of the injection sites the skin died in huge patches and is now black six months later. I don't personally like this vet as it seems like she guesses more than not...but I wasn't working there at the time so I had no say in what happened. Now that I'm back there though I get to see his scars every day.

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## Lucas339

> Baytril is nasty stuff. The vet for our zoo was treating our retic with injections and at most of the injection sites the skin died in huge patches and is now black six months later. I don't personally like this vet as it seems like she guesses more than not...but I wasn't working there at the time so I had no say in what happened. Now that I'm back there though I get to see his scars every day.


wow thats a little crazy.  never herd of this.  ive treated with baytril before and didn't have this problem at all.  i wonder if they were doing it right?

it will be ok if its a little early.  your not going to kill the snake over it.

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## Royal Morphz

> Baytril is nasty stuff. The vet for our zoo was treating our retic with injections and at most of the injection sites the skin died in huge patches and is now black six months later. I don't personally like this vet as it seems like she guesses more than not...but I wasn't working there at the time so I had no say in what happened. Now that I'm back there though I get to see his scars every day.


If someone was not going between scales and instead going through them and then not getting the needle deep enough then yes Baytril can be bad. So either the Vet was no good or they just didn't have the manpower to keep the Retic still for these injections. I'm more inclined to believe the later which isn't good at all. I shows that the care for the animal getting the injections was the important thing, but check off that it got it's injections was. 

As for the OP I would keep it as close to 24 hours as possible as your doing it orally.

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## dreese88

> Did you get ANY sleep last night?  You were up freaked out huh!!  If we were closer I think I would have to bring you a glass of wine!!
> 
> I have no idea the answer to your question...I would think it would be ok....but would not risk it.  Call the vet and pose that question to them!!


I was up working until about 4...5 1/2 hours of sleep...thats not too bad




> wow thats a little crazy.  never herd of this.  ive treated with baytril before and didn't have this problem at all.  i wonder if they were doing it right?
> 
> it will be ok if its a little early.  your not going to kill the snake over it.


thanks

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## GoBoilers

Was the retic under a UV light of any kind (viewing purposes, maybe)?  Baytril belongs to a class of antibiotics that can cause sensitivity to sunlight (obviously not an issue for snakes who live in their hides/don't have a UV light on them)!   :Smile: 

And yes, you should make every attempt to keep to the dosing schedule...the reason for this is that it's apparently been established that a dose of Baytril every 24 hours will keep the antibiotic in its "theraputic range" within the body...ie. enough to take care of the bacteria without causing a toxicity to the snake (too much antibiotic) or too little to cause the bacteria to develop a resistance to the bacteria.  Taking the "dose every 24 hours" schedule, if you give the initial dose at 8 p.m. then give the next dose at 3 p.m. the next day the level of antibiotics in the body may rise to toxic levels because the body hasn't had a chance to eliminate enough of the first dose just yet.  Likewise, if you gave your initial dose at 8 p.m. and then give the next one at 11 p.m. the next night, the antibiotic level in the body may have dropped to below its theraputic range within the body during that 3 hour lag (ie. there isn't enough antibiotics in the body to fight the infection) allowing bacteria to develop a resistance in its next generation.

Now whether 1 hour either way will make a significant difference, I can't say as I'm not familiar with the snake's metabolism...but it's certainly a risk you take by giving an antibiotic too soon/a little late.  Hope this helps!

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## GoBoilers

Huh...for some reason, all the words in my post after p.m. get capitalized!  Hopefully that doesn't cause too much confusion (overly effecient grammar check)!  :Wink:

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## dreese88

> Huh...for some reason, all the words in my post after p.m. get capitalized!  Hopefully that doesn't cause too much confusion (overly effecient grammar check)!


Nah I understood every thing, and that's kind of what I was asking... Btw that stuff gets capitalized because of the period after M

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## CritterVet

Baytril injection site reactions are discussed in this thread: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...d.php?t=105021 Reactions that I have looked at microscopically involved muscle damage, so the assumption that they can be prevented by injected into muscle is false. In fact, the current recommendation is to inject Baytril subcutaneously (under the skin) and to dilute the dose with saline. I don't think anyone has examined whether or not external factors (live UV exposure) contribute to this phenomenon, interesting to think about. 

I would follow the vet's instructions and get your baby to the herp vet on Friday if possible. S/he may change antibiotics or adjust the dosing regime. 

Typically Baytril is given every 48 hrs, based on scientific studies that have examined how long therapeutic levels are maintained in the blood in some species of reptiles. However, we don't know if the vet you saw last night is giving a lower dose or has another reason for giving more frequently. 

Bottom line is, follow vet instructions as close as possible, don't sweat a couple hours more or less than every 24, and get to the qualified herp vet as soon as you can.

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## West Coast Jungle

> My pewter got bit on the mouth by a rat tonight and the vet gave me some baytril to inject orally. You can see the thread here
> 
> http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showthread.php?t=105366
> 
> My question is, does it matter if it's right at 24 hours or can it be a few hours more or less? For example - She got her first injection tonight around 8:45 so would it be ok if I gave her her injection tomorrow at around 6?


I am confused because you say inject orally? Orally means in the mouth? Injections are done under the skin on the first(front) third of body. I have used baytril for years and have never had a reaction like mentioned in the post about the rectic. That vet probably didnt mix the baytril correctly, not sure but I have given many many shots and at worse have seen a minor bruise(and thats when I was a rookie).

I think you are fine give or take a few hours. Sounds like its more of a preventative measure. Best of luck :Smile:

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## dreese88

> I am confused because you say inject orally? Orally means in the mouth? Injections are done under the skin on the first(front) third of body. I have used baytril for years and have never had a reaction like mentioned in the post about the rectic. That vet probably didnt mix the baytril correctly, not sure but I have given many many shots and at worse have seen a minor bruise(and thats when I was a rookie).
> 
> I think you are fine give or take a few hours. Sounds like its more of a preventative measure. Best of luck


Raul, 
It's orally. They gave me this little baggy with some syringes with no needles, basically get it in the snakes mouth, push the plunger viola

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## CritterVet

> I am confused because you say inject orally? Orally means in the mouth? Injections are done under the skin on the first(front) third of body. I have used baytril for years and have never had a reaction like mentioned in the post about the rectic. That vet probably didnt mix the baytril correctly, not sure but I have given many many shots and at worse have seen a minor bruise(and thats when I was a rookie).
> 
> I think you are fine give or take a few hours. Sounds like its more of a preventative measure. Best of luck


It's highly unlikely it's the vet, or anyone's fault, that this retic has such a bad reaction to Baytril. It's a rare, but serious, side effect, and impossible to predict if it will happen or not.

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## dreese88

Wow...that vet last night made giving that medicine a lot easier than it really was. I don't think either of us liked doing that, but I guess we'll have to get used to it.

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## Denial

We give our snakes baytril orally.

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## dreese88

> We give our snakes baytril orally.


That's what I'm doing too

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## BPelizabeth

So hey...just checking in on you to see how it all is going.  How is your baby doing?  How are you doing?  Calmed down yet....had a drink?  

Just wanted to see how BOTH of you were doing!

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## dreese88

> So hey...just checking in on you to see how it all is going.  How is your baby doing?  How are you doing?  Calmed down yet....had a drink?  
> 
> Just wanted to see how BOTH of you were doing!


Took her to the herp vet, read my other thread about that fiasco, but yea, she's gonna be ok. So now that I know that, I'm doin good. Haven't had a drink yet, but tomorrow is halloween and saturday, so you can bet your behind I will have a few tomorrow

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