P-A-M poisoning

[67temp]

Even when following the directions things can happen. We recently had to deal with this issue and I hate to see an animal go through the experience. I wouldn't wish this on anyone. Here is what has been going on in the past week.

Saturday and Sunday we did a show. I transported several display animals in 6qt shoebox bins (w/ ventilation holes). After the show on Sunday I treated the bins because I don't want mites in my collection. The bins sat out and dried for several days. On Wednesday I got in a very young pair of IJ carpet pythons. They got set up in the bins and put into quarantine. Thursday morning I noticed the female had spilled her water. So I changed out her paper towels, and gave her fresh water. I observed a little periscoping and just a hint of wobble from her but thought it was just being a curious baby. By the time I got home from work on Thursday evening she was in a pretty bad state. I walked into the room and could instantly smell the chemicals. The poor little thing had been inside a small enclosed area and being so young probably didn't help. She had also spilled her water again.Her spilling the water had reactivated the treatment. It was probably the worst nuero issue you will ever see, way worse than a spider or jag problem. She was flailing around, gapped mouth, corkscrewing, and whole body convulsions. I scooped her up and took her to the sink to give her a rinse to remove as much of the chemicals as possible. The vet (reptile vet) was called and told what we thought was the cause and described her current condition. He said there wasn't much that he could do and the poison just had to run its course. He did says to rinse her off more and give her a soak in blue dawn dish soap. Over the next 2-3 days the spasm fits slowly settled down and became less and less frequent. We found that it seemed to helped a lot keeping her warmer, particularly human body heat. She would be ok with being held, curled up inside my shirt, or in a smaller bin on your lap. I tried 5-6 times to move her into a small 5 gal tank with a UTH. Each time the convulsions would start again typically within a minute or two. I spent the better part of 2 days holding this little girl in one form or another. The past 2-3 days she has been in the 5 gal tank and acting more normal. Even climbing up and using the perch at night. There doesn't appear to be any long term neurological damage. I probably could have gotten a pic or video of her condition but her health and care was more important to me at the time.

Hopefully this can be a lesson or help someone in the future.