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[retic720]

Hi there,

Just had my 7 mo retic confined at the vets. It was really odd; just 2- 3 days ago, he was nippy and all but now, he's VERY weak and had to be revived using some special breathing apparatus.

One of the symptoms observed today is that he is severely dehydrated; what I don't get is that how could he not "hydrate" himself if he has easy access to his drinking water?

Here's the skinny I gave to the vet earlier:

1) last meal was last week; 1 adult mouse

2) This week, his skin started getting dull so I withheld food

3) roughly 3 - 4 days earlier, he defecated and during handling (still nippy), I felt a few rough stones in his "lower belly area" (the one near the base of the tail); gently massaging this area, I did manage to coax out a rather hard lump of feces. After the discharge, I felt a few more stones but I figured he SHOULD pass them out; he did discharge smaller/pebble like deces before I helped with the big one.

4) His cage was last cleaned last week (a day/2 before feeding). I clean the cages every 1 or 2 weeks. Substrate is newspaper; changed (usually) once he makes a mess; otherwise, changed 1x a week.

5) he always has a hide and his water dish available. Water is changed every 2 days.

6) like the 3 other pythons in my room (2 retics, 1 ball), they are all kept in "room temperature" (take note, I'm based in Quezon City, Philippines). Lately, it's getting kinda humid but still manageable (one of my retics has been with me for nearly 4 years now and no issues with the temps so far).

7) All of my pythons are kept in separate cages.

Right now I'm crossing my fingers that my little buster would do fine. At the same time, I'm also hoping I could get insights from you on what just happened with him. The vets told me that it is still unclear if he could make it through the night; still gave it a shot coz I felt my little nipper still deserved a shot at life.

[redstormlax12]

Could it possibly be a lack of correct care at the vets? Another thing I noticed is your feeding. At seven months for an adult retic shouldn't he be eating more than an adult mouse once a week? I don't know how large he is but my yearling sd retic is easily eating small rats and he's about four and a half foot and 650 grams.

But try giving him a warm soak. Sometimes they'll even start to drink their bath water. This should drastically help in hydration and help him pass feces.

[retic720]

Could it possibly be a lack of correct care at the vets? Another thing I noticed is your feeding. At seven months for an adult retic shouldn't he be eating more than an adult mouse once a week? I don't know how large he is but my yearling sd retic is easily eating small rats and he's about four and a half foot and 650 grams.

But try giving him a warm soak. Sometimes they'll even start to drink their bath water. This should drastically help in hydration and help him pass feces.

Hi there,

He was just brought to the vet a while ago. As for his size, he's a natural dwarf (nope; not from Jampea...I guess local pythons from the northern islands are smaller than even the Jampea/SD's). He hatched last June and never skipped a meal (always fed weekly; except during the shed phase, where I withold food).

[retic720]

update:

Bumblebee passed away roughly after lunch. THere were urates that haven't been passed but as to why (including how he went from "retic nippy" to "severely weakened" in just 2 days) the vets and I are unable to ascertain.

The vet did mention that there were unpassed urates.

In any event, this has made me even more meticulous in the husbandry of my other reptiles.

For now, I guess I can rule this out due to "sudden death" syndrome.

[redstormlax12]

Could it possibly be IBD (Inclusionary Body Disease)? IBD can kill pythons extremely quickly, and he may have contracted it while in the vets office?

And I am sorry for your loss. I had to euthanize one of my leo's after she had suffered for close to two months. It was really hard, but had to be done. I hope you can find out what happened, and i hope the rest of your collection is fine.

[retic720]

thanks for the words of comfort. I really doubt he got IBD from the vets coz when I brought him there last sunday (when I first noticed he went "limp"), there were no other herps around except for a uromastryx. Also, it was on that very same day when I noticed he got signs of severe weakness so I rushed him to the vet to save him.

Right now, I'm rereading my articles on IBD; just to be safe. THis would definitely break my heart if it was coz that means my favorite would also be infected (4 year old dwarf retic female; the one in my avatar); they don't share cages but they are all in my room.

so far, none of them have refused meals outside the shed phase and while there are moments my heart would race if they start "going up", I quickly get calmed down when I realized they are just climbing to reach my shoulder (wheeew) or just get out.

Muscle tone for the remaining three is good so far; my other retic (been with me for roughly 3 years; adopted coz she got too "aggressive") is still healthy as a horse, and my ball python is still plumpy.

[Rockstar Reptiles]

I have only seen similar situations to this when mites were present. You may want to do a very close check up as mites can dehydrate even the healthiest animals