New BP owners - sick snake - help!

[JenEinCA]

We are new to the world of snakes and recently brought home a ball python, about 6 months old. We should have known better, but believed the employees at the reptile store where we purchased him that he couldn't catch a respiratory infection from a sick snake that he was housed with.

Well, fast forward a week and our poor little guy is yawning a lot and making clicking noises when he breathes and occasionally mouth breathing. The temp in his cage is about 92 on the hot side and 80ish on the cool side (never below 80). Humidity between 50-60%. So we took him to a vet who gave us something starting with an "a" (an injection every three days for a month - fuzzy on the med details, husband went to the vet).

Apparently he REALLY did not like getting a shot. IS there a "best" way to do it? Will he become aggressive and think we're trying to hurt him any time we try and get him out to handle him?

He's eaten fabulously the two times we've fed him so far, so that's not an issue, but we're really concerned about his future behavior as we also have a 6 year old who is just fascinated with the BP.

Any help or advice is appreciated.

[sflanick]

first off i would like to say congrats on being proactive and doing the right thing! so many people do not. have you given the petstore an ear full? i would have lost my mind if i was in your shoes. as for the RI issue i dont have any advice on that as i have been lucky enough to have never had to deal with any issue with my reptiles minus mites which is never fun. once again good job on taking the animal to the vet. also welcome to the addiction!!!!

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o i forgot good luck with your BP i hope he makes a full recovery!

[Kaorte]

It was probably Amakacin (not sure on the spelling either). Have two people when you do the injections. One to hold the snake and the other to give the injection. Hold the snake firmly, but don't squeeze. He won't like it, but he will get over it.

All baby ball pythons are a little scared and with a good reason! All these giants grabbing him and sticking him with needles probably isn't very fun! Ball pythons aren't really the aggressive type. They would much rather curl into a ball than bite. He will forgive you eventually

I would recommend leaving him alone (no handling) until the antibiotics are done. Once he is feeling better, then you can start some short handling sessions. Most ball pythons are very docile. They are usually a little more active and jumpy as babies and get lazier as they mature. I don't think you should have any issues with your 6 year old as long as you learn to read the snakes behavior.

[Annarose15]

Actually, it was likely Baytril, because that stuff stings like crazy when injected. Aside from that, I agree with getting someone to help you hold when giving the meds (easier on both you and the BP), and not adding to the stress by handling more than necessary until he is well again.

[JenEinCA]

It was Amakacin (sp?) that the vet prescribed, one injection every three days. We've given him two so far, and he seems to be getting worse! Does it take a while for the anti-biotics to kick in?

He has more mucus/saliva around his mouth than he did before and is making noises we haven't heard him make.

The temp on the hot side of his enclosure is between 92-95 and on the cool side it's around 80-85. We've also been doing warm water soaks per instructions. The one thing the vet also told us is not to feed him again until he poops. The last time he ate was nearly two weeks ago now. And he still hasn't pooped.

We are unsure of what to do, as we don't really want to spend hundreds of dollars for vet bills when we're not even sure if he will get well.

And the place we got him from was SO unhelpful. Said "Oh, just up the temp in his cage and he'll be fine. Ball pythons get respiratory infections all the time - it's just like you or I getting a cold". Thing is, he was IN an enclosure with a snake with a very bad respiratory infection and they told us that it was NOT possible for our snake to catch it from the other one. The vet we took him to said given how sick he was when we brought him in, he was definitely sick when we brought him home.

[RoseyReps]

I'm no vet, nor expert on any RI / sicknesses...but does it seem odd to anyone else that the vet would recommend not feeding him again until he defecates? Given that younger bps can go quite a while without defecating, and that being perfectly normal..doesn't this seem a little strange for a vet to suggest? Or is there some other reasoning behind it that I am not aware of? I am not suggesting the vet is doing something wrong, I am genuinely asking if this is a normal suggestion when treating for a sickness.

to Jen, I'm sorry I don't have any answers for your questions. I wish your new baby a speedy recovery

[Kaorte]

That is a really unfortunate situation. If it were me, I would have returned the snake upon noticing he was sick. A pet store that refuses to admit they have sick snakes on display is not a place I would want to give my money to.

I'm not sure how long it should take for you to notice improvements, but if it isn't getting better in the next week I would maybe find a different vet for a second opinion. Ask them to do a culture to find more specifically what is wrong. Sometimes vets will just prescribe a general antibiotic for an RI, but often a culture needs to be done to determine which antibiotic would be most effective.

Don't wait for him to poop to feed him. If he eats then that will give him energy to fight off the infection.


Do yourself a favor and don't go back to the place you purchased the snake from unless you are there to return the animal. Sorry you are having such a hard time.