Correct my husbandry.

Hi, I have a male Burm that has had chronic RI with symptoms coming and going for about four years now. He has been seen by a vet a few times now, nothing more than weighing him and giving me some fortaz injections to take home. It does seem to have an effect, but never quite seems to do the trick. I am going to take him and have a culture and sensitivity test done to figure out the proper antibiotic treatment. But I want to check around with people online to make sure I have my husbandry nailed down. Here are some pictures of the setup.

Overview. 28qt sterilite flupped upside down is there to facilitate drainage of the lungs. He had hides in his enclosure for a long time but he eventually quit using them.

He looks pretty thin to me, He is not eating at the moment which I believe is due to him being a male during the breeding season. He is cruising most of the time rubbing his face on the glass, I have the doors covered up in hopes of calming him down. I admittedly slipped up and I don't think I fed him quite enough over the spring and summer when he was eating. I am offering once a week.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...1E3DA84A37.jpg

Oil Filled radiator hooked up to Ranco ON/OFF style thermostat to regulate ambient room temperature.

http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...49582D435A.jpg

Ambient
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...D44EB14887.jpg

Cool side (Probe on floor of cage)
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...453C55606F.jpg

Warm side
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...40287697FA.jpg

Area directly under Pro Products RHP (On Original Herpstat)
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...30F11C51AF.jpg

Trying to keep humidity in the 60ish range
http://i75.photobucket.com/albums/i2...56A28BD1A5.jpg

This Burm is 8 years old, roughly 10ft and 40 lbs. If you have any recommendations or see something that is wrong, please tell me. I know there are some very knowledgeable people here.

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Originally Posted by tbowman

Hi, I have a male Burm that has had chronic RI with symptoms coming and going for about four years now. He has been seen by a vet a few times now, nothing more than weighing him and giving me some fortaz injections to take home. It does seem to have an effect, but never quite seems to do the trick. I am going to take him and have a culture and sensitivity test done to figure out the proper antibiotic treatment.

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Husbandry looks fine to me. Is your vet an exotics/reptile specialist or just one who also happens to treat snakes?

Well I believe this vet has three different buildings, and the two appointments I've had were with two different doctors and I don't believe they specialized in Reptiles. When I make the next appointment I am going to make it a point to see the doctor who specializes in Exotics. It's a Bird and Exotics office, I'm thinking reptiles would fall into that category. Seems to be the closest to a reptile specialist near me. Here is a link to their site. http://www.exoticpetvets.com/north-coast/

Cool, looks like a decent vet. I wondered b/c the vet prescribed Fortaz, which apparently isn't common except from an exotics specialist as it's expensive and has a relatively short shelf life compared to other antibiotics like Baytril and Naxcel.

IMO a culture is overdue.

I actually have an appointment tomorrow with a vet I found from a list on anaspid.org. Said to by recommended by herp keepers.

While reading about fortaz a number of sites state that you should not refreeze it. Problem is I thawed it out every time I had to give an injection (every 3 days) and the previous vet did not say anything about weather or not to refreeze it. I'm wondering if the repetitive thawing/freezing could have had something to do with how effective it was? Hopefully someone here can shed some light on this.

I can't speak to the refreezing, that may definitely have been a factor. When I used it the vet gave me ten separate single-dose syringes so I only had to thaw out one at a time. Doses were given every 3 days for a month.

Well I got him to a different vet today. Doing some bloodwork, as well as culture and sensitivity testing. This guy seemed very knowledgeable and also said he used to breed Burms in the past.

UPDATE : blood work came back fine and culture didn't grow anything. Will be discussing my options regarding further diagnostics tomorrow.

My vet said that just because they didn't grow anything doesn't mean there is nothing there (two possibilities he mention were mycoplasma and TB.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by tbowman

UPDATE : blood work came back fine and culture didn't grow anything. Will be discussing my options regarding further diagnostics tomorrow.

My vet said that just because they didn't grow anything doesn't mean there is nothing there (two possibilities he mention were mycoplasma and TB.

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Fungal or viral. Many RIs are viral...since most people don't go to the vet they assume its bacterial.

Good on you forgoing. Be sure to document your treatment procedures and any subsequent findings your vet finds.

Talked to the vet and under his recommendation we decided that if/when he becomes symptomatic we will take more aggressive action. He said he looked good and didn't notice anything out of the ordinary, and the options presented seemed to be pretty invasive.