sick snake?

[zeion97]

first, I really hope this is in the right place, I'm stuck on mobile so it's a Tad difficult. I desperately need some help... I've been reading the forums longer then I can remember, Ans besides personal experience over the past 5 years I've gotten. A lot of info from here but never joined... I'm to a point where even with my experience I know not what to do, so for anyone that reads or replies thank you in advanced...

I just recently acquired my Super Pastel at the NARBC show in Tinley back on October 8th, he seemed healthier then could be, no bad scales, scars, not even the smallest signs of mites, he seemed like a jewel. And with a price tag of 100 he was.. I made my worst mistake... I didn't write down the breeder I got him from. So i toke him home, a 2 hour drive. He seemed fine on the way back, just he liked to explore. When we arrived he was still doing fine,but for some reason about two days later he started to drool, and his mouth had bubbles, the beginning signs of a R.I or mouth rot. He was scheduled a vet appointment 4 day later which was the earliest the vet could put us in. This is a vet certified in Reptile care as well, and the only one within 90 miles... at his appointment all the vet did was pry open his mouth.. which nearly killed my snake, and listened to his heart. After that we were given a mouth wash for cats as She said "I see no positive signs of infection" at this point though you could see the "cottage cheese" inside his throat. So.. 3 days later I call saying that he's got worse and get a appointment the following day. This time I was told, "this medicine Is for a R.I. and can also treat mouth rot" I forgot to mention we called Because of rot.mouth beginning to develop, sorry it's hard to go back and edit from the phone. The medicine for his mouth rot/R.I was 7 shots of 1.5 ml of something, I'm at work and will update the exact antibiotics and dosage asap. But it has been a full 21 days and 7 shots. His mouth rot and the "cottage cheese" within his throat have cleared, but not his excess saliva. Luckily it only cones out of his mouth and not his nose. And to my.knowledge he has mites, the mites came from a local pet store.... which I am sure of. My question, what can I do now? I went to a local pet store that is actually reliable and there best Reptile expert said all she can think IA the snake was loaded with antibiotics to appear healthy to be sold and she thinks I should put him down. I really don't want to do this....... I've spent nearly 400 in vet bills and I have really come to love him... can anyone help me with some advice on treatment or even a personal experience? I can't afford another Vet bill... nearly $100 to have someone who knows less about snakes them me say "your snake is sick all right" then even more for medicine which probably won't even work again.. my final bit of info would be his tank. His bedding is newspaper, and He has a water bowl larger enough for him to soak in and to hide under. It is a cats water bowl that was bought just for him. He has a 150 way day bulb which gives a temperature of 90-100 depending on the day outside and a night bulb of 100 wats that gives a temperature between 75-85. His humidity stays between 40-60 And rarely falls below that. That's honestly everything I can think of, I tried to be as detailed as possible. Again thank you in advanced and I will get medicine And dosage later today after work.

[mpkeelee]

Ur vet needs to do a culture and the lab can tell what is making ur snake sick. Once the know what bacteria they are dealing with they can prescribe meds which will kill the bacteria.

[Homegrownscales]

I agree a culture needs to be done. I don't think that the animal was loaded up on abos to appear healthy when sold. Sick snakes just don't get better for a day with a bunch of abos. Stress probably compromised his immune system from the beginning of the show. And The new environment just exasurbated it.
I would like to hear about your set up a bit more. Glass or rack?
How are you measuring your temps? It seems like you Have a 10.f variance in your temps from what you said. That's alot of fluctuation.
Roll through your set up again:

Hot side temp
Cold side temp
ambient
Tank or rack
How are you measuring temps
How are you providing humidity


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

[Homegrownscales]

I just looked at you temp description again.... So he got 90.-100 during the day and then the hotspot temp drops at night to 75-85? Am
I reading that correct?
If I am the very first thing I would change is that set up. Get a tstat, and a uth and keep the heat on 24/7. At this point he's not able to warm up properly to regulate himself correctly. It's way to much fluctuation on a daily basis.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

[AK907]

I'm with Homegrownscales on this one. If we are reading this correctly you really need to fix your husbandry.

Another thing that raises a red flag for me... You purchased a super pastel for $100??? A normal pastel fair enough, but supers go for a LOT more than $100. If you really did purchase a super for that price, that tells me the seller knew something was up.

[zeion97]

I agree a culture needs to be done. I don't think that the animal was loaded up on abos to appear healthy when sold. Sick snakes just don't get better for a day with a bunch of abos. Stress probably compromised his immune system from the beginning of the show. And The new environment just exasurbated it.
I would like to hear about your set up a bit more. Glass or rack?
How are you measuring your temps? It seems like you Have a 10.f variance in your temps from what you said. That's alot of fluctuation.
Roll through your set up again:

Hot side temp
Cold side temp
ambient
Tank or rack
How are you measuring temps
How are you providing humidity


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

I'm sorry, like I said being on mobile sucks, and I was also in a hurry, I was on break. But the vet is supposed to call me and not only consult pricing, but payments for the culture, which I wanted done originally along with antibiotics if possible. To answer the question of set up. He's in a zilla critter tank, his substrate is newspaper. His basking spot is between 90-100 on average usually staying around 94-96. While his cool side is between 82-86 average. At night, I let his temperature drop to 75-80 on the cooler side, and the warmer side stays at around 82-85. I put in the hot spot at night Because the Vet said it would help. Thank you for you're reply. And I'm sorry my info was so misleading.

[zeion97]

I'm with Homegrownscales on this one. If we are reading this correctly you really need to fix your husbandry.

Another thing that raises a red flag for me... You purchased a super pastel for $100??? A normal pastel fair enough, but supers go for a LOT more than $100. If you really did purchase a super for that price, that tells me the seller knew something was up.

My husbandry is fine, expect at night, but like said I put in a 'hot spot" at night Because the vet said to. And I'm not trying to sound, I guess mean? I apologize And take fault for my crappy typing, as I was on break as stated and trying to hurry.

I agree with you... I took the guys word for What he said which I will sum it, "I want out of the business" he was selling albinos for 50-150 and a full grown spider for I think It was 80? He had the more expansive ones on the table and a little sign on the ground that said "ask for more" I originally wanted a regular pastel and he said "You might like this one more" and pulled out my super... I should have been the smart buyer but I just couldn't walk away. I wasn't the only one who bought from him from his "tub" he sold a pied for like 400 something to the Guy next to me, and to be honest, I really bought the snake Because the Guy who bought the pied wanted the super. I should have.mentioned more of this to begin with, and again, I'm sorry..

[Homegrownscales]

Still would try and get your night time temps up. Especially on the hotside. I personally would just grab a thermostat and a uth. You'll see better, more consistent results with your heat and temps. If you aren't using a digital thermometer with a probe I'd get one. ( the accurite indoor/outdoor is pretty cheap and you can get them at any Walmart)
Your set up sounds like one of the kits sold at the Petstores. Which those are pretty useless and overpriced unfortunately. Considering I've seen people use those and have to change 90% of the setup. Anyways I have a feeling that if you just tweak the setup a bit in those very few ways you'll see huge differences.



Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

[zeion97]

Still would try and get your night time temps up. Especially on the hotside. I personally would just grab a thermostat and a uth. You'll see better, more consistent results with your heat and temps. If you aren't using a digital thermometer with a probe I'd get one. ( the accurite indoor/outdoor is pretty cheap and you can get them at any Walmart)
Your set up sounds like one of the kits sold at the Petstores. Which those are pretty useless and overpriced unfortunately. Considering I've seen people use those and have to change 90% of the setup. Anyways I have a feeling that if you just tweak the setup a bit in those very few ways you'll see huge differences.



Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com

You're correct, I bought the set up and then just redid most of it, I bought two Because they were basically half off. Bad idea but it was worth more then what I paid.. another impulse buy.. but, I do use a UTH I just do not with his tank. Along the lines of the vet, I'm still waiting.. if you would like, I asked another Because I want to completely revamp my tanks, and if possible get rid of the lamps completely or just use 50 or 75 way bulbs and not 150's or 100's.

Thank you for your replies and advice. My experience with sick snakes is none, I was fortunate enough to never have any problems over the years until now.

[Homegrownscales]

Personally I have always had better experiences with uth's/heat cable/ heat tape regulated on Tstats rather then lamps.
I've rescued literally almost 100 balls in the 6 years I've been keeping them most coming from simple, poorly managed and kept setups. Having a simple, yet effective and highly managable setup is just one of the few things that I recommend to customers or potential adopters.


Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com