Need Blood Python Advice

[Ham]

I do alot of work at my local reptile shelter, and have recently adopted a rescued blood python baby, when I first got the snake it was very active, but was a little thin looking especially for a blood, its spine was pronounced, it ate a defrosted medium mouse its 3rd day at my house, after that it refused food for 3 and a half weeks, during this time it seemed to continue to visibly lose weight, this got me worried and I checked him closely and noticed a slight popping /cracking sound when he breathed ( I did not notice any other sympoms ), I took him back to our shelter and got him a couple doses of baytril injections, for the next week he got soaked in warm water daily, for about 30 minutes, then I moved him from the 20 gallon long he was in, to a small sterilite tub with some cypress mulch, a water dish and an ambient temp of 81F and a hot spot of 87-88F under his hide, with humidity of 60-70%. He seemed more comfortable in the box rather than his aquarium, after 2 days of his new enclosure I attempted to feed thawed mice and rats both were refused, I was growing desperate and attempted a small live rat, this instantly got his attention and he struck immediately, he has eaten one more small live rat after that, his weight is already improving some, I can no longer detect cracks or pops in his breathing , however when he hisses it sounds a little funny, and i noticed after striking he left behind some small amount of mucus on his rat, he doesnt blow bubbles or leak out his nostrils however or look especially inflamed in the mouth region. What I really need to know is do I need to bring him to a vet to get more baytil or should I leave him alone now that he is finally seeming to recover a bit, I would hate to stress him out again and wreck this positive trend of feeding... What do you guys and gals think? I dont want to develop a terrible drug resistant strain of RI from not doing enough baytril but I also dont want him to stop eating again... What should I do??? Please help!

[2kdime]

Keep an eye on him and consider getting him dosed with Panacur just in case since you say he will lose weight.

Next time make sure to continue an antibiotic regimen for a month to clear the infection, and to prevent a relapse, all this AFTER you culture for the correct antibiotic.

Everything else sounds good, might eliminate the hot spot and keep him at 80-82 all the way around the board, sometimes the hot spots will kick the smaller ones off food.

If he will eat good, but keep an eye out like you know for the RI symptoms.

Wouldnt handle him at this time

[CoolioTiffany]

Keep an eye on him and consider getting him dosed with Panacur just in case since you say he will lose weight.

Next time make sure to continue an antibiotic regimen for a month to clear the infection, and to prevent a relapse, all this AFTER you culture for the correct antibiotic.

Everything else sounds good, might eliminate the hot spot and keep him at 80-82 all the way around the board, sometimes the hot spots will kick the smaller ones off food.

If he will eat good, but keep an eye out like you know for the RI symptoms.

Wouldnt handle him at this time

Well said Trevor!!

The inflamed mouth could be just the coloration of the snake's mouth, just like how my other Blood's mouth was like that, but from my guess it could be from the RI.

My sick Blood was less than an inch from biting Dan right in the face because of how Dan picked him up out of his tub, I do admit I did laugh a bit. I would keep getting the injections, when my Kingsnake had an RI I gave him 14 injections for 14 days straight, and I did not feed him. My vet told me not to feed him, so I didn't. I'm not really sure what will happen if you do feed when they are on medication, but I don't think it does any damage.

Keep on feeding your snake the live rodents so it gains some weight, mine just ate a live hopper today. Ask Dan about dewormers, he'll probably give you something for your Blood if you are worried about your Blood losing weight or having worms. Mine is a bit skinny as well, but they came from the Texas seizure and were probably not fed for some time. Hope everything goes well, keep checking on the snake for symptoms!

[Ham]

I dont think he has any worms or internal parasites as all the Texas animals we inducted were all thoroughly treated with panacur and anti-mite pesticide powders in their tanks, they should be all clear after the triage we put them through... I am keeping a real close eye on him he does sound slightly weird when breathing but only when hes right next to my ear, other than that I dont see any other symptoms of RI, like i said though I dont know if it warrants a course of Baytril, should I wait for wore symptoms and continue feeding him to bulk him up? or go straight to the antibiotic course?

He seems to like his hotspot he spends all his time there, he has a spot that is 81 degrees on the other side of his tub, but he never sleeps there, and since I have given him the warmer spot he has been much more interested in feeding, he almost ate my pinky finger today, and I just fed him yesterday... He whipped his head around and gave me a rapid fire tongueing and almost struck at me, I could tell from his body language he picked up the heat from my hand and thought it was a rat...

Anyway the point is I am just relieved he is eating, he went through hell over there in the hands of "US Global Exotics" and I am not surprised he was skinny, I just dont know if he needs the stress of a baytril treatment right now when he just started feeding and when his symptoms seem so mild, it is hard for me to tell if it is even an RI at all, we deal with tons of animals coming into the shelter with respiratory issues and he is nothing like most of what we see there. However I do know these kinds of things can progress quickly, any advice would be greatly appreciated...

Thanks!