My ball Reina has RI

I got her as a rescue, they were keeping her in terrible conditions... I think she must have had the bacteria and when I bumped her humidity up to what it should be it set it off. That's all I can think of. She didn't catch it from any of the other snakes, and her temps are fine, everythings clean.

Somebody that used to have a BP recommended a local place, Elkhorn Veterinarian. I called and they said they didn't treat snakes. I told them that can't be the case, and they said "yeah, we have one vet that says he's willing to treat a snake" and I assumed that must have been the DR. that treated my friend's snake in the past.

So I show up for the appointment and when I go in the back and start answering questions for the vet tech... At one point she literally said to me "I think you know more about this than we do!" I started to get worried.

Then the vet comes in... I had been thinking of asking him to probe her for me as I've never done it myself and I think she might be a he... She's small for an adult and she has VERY pronounced anal spurs... So I ask if he's ever sexed a snake and he tells me that Reina is the first snake he's ever examined! Ack!

So I know I should have taken her to a specialist but I had no idea Elkhorn was THAT inexperienced with snakes! I guess whoever used to treat exotics there is gone now. But I knew exactly what the problem was so I figured "yo doc give me some antibiotics for RI" should be pretty easy. Anything more complicated I would have walked out. lol

So he gave me something that started with a B. Betrol or Bextol or something. I'm not at home or else I'd go look at the label.

The strange this is... I went in there thinking to myself "I don't think you can stick a pill in a mouse, like a dog with ground beef.. So I'm going to end up giving her shots" I was prepared to do it, as long as I was taught how... But not looking forward to it. And then the vet gave me needle-less syringes and told me to open her mouth and just squirt it down her throat. It's been 3 days so far... I think things are going okay... I bumped her temps up a little and the medicating is going okay... No sign of improvement yet, it's early for that I think.

My question is though... is giving it to her orally going to be as effective as injections would be? The owner of the pet store I go to mentioned that they usually give injections because the stomach acid might eat the antibiotics.

Should I take her to a better vet like right now and get injections for her? Or will the oral meds help? Obviously if she's not better within the 14 days of meds I was planning on taking her someplace else. I was just wondering if I'm wasting my time stressing her out by shoving totally useless liquid down her throat.

Side note... As soon as I heard her making the little crackling noise I switched her to newspaper substrate to lower the humidity and keep it cleaner... I had reptile bark before that... As soon as I got back from the vet I used some of this Clorox sanitizing spray... It says it's safe around pets and children, no harsh fumes and you don't have to rinse it... I took everything out of her tank and sprayed the hell out of it, and then wiped it all out, cleaned her hides and stuff too... Should I sanitize her tank like this again every couple days to kill any bacteria in the tank? Or am I wasting my time with that?