ball python passed away today need advice.

So I had a 450g female Mojave that suffered from an RI. I was able to treat her with antibiotics and she was once again perfectly healthy and back to her normal self.

Well last week she started showing signs of an RI again. I had an appointment with the vet next week but looks like it was too late. I checked on her at about 1pm when I went to bed and she was alive. When I woke up at 5PM she was gone :(

I am going to talk to the vet and see if he can do one of those necropsy things so I can find out why but wanted to see if anyone had an idea.

Didn't think an RI could kill a snake so quickly. Anyway any ideas are greatly appreciated.

I'm so sorry for your loss. Only the necropsy will tell what the cause was. RIs are very serious and if the snake was already weak from the first one I wouldn't be surprised if the second one was just too much. :tears:

I also froze her in the freezer until I can get her to the vet is this ok?

Hi,

No you can't freeze them as this destroys the tissues.

Take her back out and put her in a bag in the fridge if she isn't frozen already.

How long had she been "cured" of the first RI and how was it treated?


dr del

Hopefully you got it out of the freezer in time, and can still do a necropsy. But with the size of your collection, you might also have a pathology study (cultures and lab work) done as well.

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Originally Posted by Rat160

So I had a 450g female Mojave that suffered from an RI. I was able to treat her with antibiotics and she was once again perfectly healthy and back to her normal self.

Well last week she started showing signs of an RI again. I had an appointment with the vet next week but looks like it was too late. I checked on her at about 1pm when I went to bed and she was alive. When I woke up at 5PM she was gone :(

I am going to talk to the vet and see if he can do one of those necropsy things so I can find out why but wanted to see if anyone had an idea.

Didn't think an RI could kill a snake so quickly. Anyway any ideas are greatly appreciated.

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Did the vet culture the infection on the first go around?

If not, it sounds like a classic example of an antibiotic being prescribed for a bacteria that had resistance to it. The medicine knocks the infection down, but not out. It then comes back.

Again, if - and I stress if - the vet did not culture the infection when he/she prescribed the antibiotic, this could be a text-book example of why culturing is so important.

If the vet did culture, a necropsy is necessary to determine if there was an underlying pathogen - like a virus - that weakened the animal and made it susceptible to secondary issues.

Sorry it took me so long to get back to you guys, I had to work last night. Unfortunately I made the mistake of freezing her and was unable to take her out due to being at work. I have however made an appt with a vet and am going to just take in a couple from my collection and have them do some labs just to make sure.

I don't believe that the vet did a culture the first time. I have learned my lesson at least and will be trying a different vet this time. dedicated Herp vets are a little spare in these parts without driving miles or spending a fortune.

Thanks again for everyone's responses. Hopefully I will have some more information soon.

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Originally Posted by dr del

How long had she been "cured" of the first RI and how was it treated?
dr del

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She seemed healthy for id say at least 3 months or so. When she had the initial RI she wouldn't eat and became really skinny. Once the Batryl was given and she started getting better she started chowing and went from about 250g back up to her normal 450g.