RI questions/ your thoughts and ideas.

Hi all,
I'm a bit stumped on this one, so please if you have any ideas feel free to comment.
I have a rescue BP that we picked up last year. He wasn't in bad shape, but had obviously been mishandled in the past and was kept in a too small unheated enclosure. Brought him home set him up in the quarantine room. He came out of quarantine in January and was placed in the rack. Within 2 - 3 weeks he had developed an RI. Not a bad one, but still. Quick trip to the vet, a shot, meds and back in quarantine. The RI cleared up within a few days. He stayed under observation in quarantine for a couple months and then was moved back to the rack when he showed no signs to redeveloping another RI. He's been back in the racks for a couple weeks now and is starting to whistle again. Which has prompted another round of meds and a move back to quarantine.

Now, husbandry is basically the same. Ambient temps range in the high 70's to low 80's. Usually around 78 in the quarantine room and right on 80 in the actual snake room. Quarantine is bigger and harder to keep the heat where it needs to be. Thermostats are dialed in at 90 on both for hotspots. News paper and aspen for substrate. Quarantine is just glass tanks. I don't have an extra rack and being that I don't pick up too many extra snakes it does just fine. The rack is an AP econo rack. Temps are taken regularly with a temp gun. Both are isolated quite areas of the house. The only thing I can come up with that is different is the humidity. In the racks it generally is around 50-60 % while in the quarantine tanks it is usually 30 -40.

Has anyone encountered this before? He has absolutely no issues in the quarantine tanks, and it appears as if the higher humidity in the racks is tending him toward RI's. As far as I know he has always (before me) been kept in a tank. He is an older snake and was a class pet for a number of years. Thoughts on handling the situation? More holes in his tub? Keep in him a tank? (this would be seriously inconvenient as I don't have much extra room for tanks) Perhaps not humidity issues at all but stress?

Ive battled a few RIs over the years and they never cease to astonish me in the variability they produce in different animals. Snakes have incredibly slow acting adaptive immune responses that vastly pale in comparison to mammals. I would bet that it is the natural cycling of the infection, rather than changing conditions in the cage vs rack. Often times an antibiotic can clear a bacterial infection, while an underlying viral infection can perpetuate the symptoms. Usually the RI doesn't clear up in a few days, likely it is just going through symptomatic up and down phases. I would keep him in quarantine and away from other animals until he is symptom free for more than a month or two. A lot of people will up temps a couple of degrees, and that usually helps the animals innate processes to fight the disease.

Thank you, attempting to narrow down the issue that is the cause.

Did the vet do a culture to determine what bacteria or virii were present, or did he just throw antibiotics at the snake and hoped one stuck? Also, if there's an underlying viral infection then you may just be battling secondary opportunistic bacterial infections.

I agree with the longer QT, at least six months for this guy. Bumping his temps a degree or two above the norm can also help.

He did not. He gave a medicine that he said was commonly used to treat RI's, the name eludes me, and said if he did not appear to be getting better to bring him back for a culture. He improved and showed no other signs so I did not bring him back.
I have had a busy work week and finals at school as well so we opted to give the meds again and bring him in for his appointment Monday for a culture.

If you suspect RI, have a culture done, it's the only the vet is going to find out what you have. Appropriate antibiotic treatment should be a minimum of around 30 days. If not treated for long enough, the infection will not go away, and the remaining bacteria can be more resistant to that antibiotic later.

If you do not have a culture done, another route to take is something called combination therapy. This is usually a regimen of either Baytril + Ceftazidime, or if that doesn't seem to have an effect after a few treatments, Amikacin + Ceftazidime. (This is to be discussed with a vet and I am not implying that you treat this yourself)

Thank you, he completed the treatment the vet prescribed as was prescribed the first time around. I have a great reptile experienced vet that I work closely with.

When he does make it back to your rack from the quarantine I think it's a good idea to put extra holes in the tub. The added ventilation will help overall. I know in my rack I have been having a hard time with high humidity and have been monitoring it very closely. I had to put extra holes in the tubs until I got the humidity down to 56% -61%. Is this python of yours with the RI feeding? If he is there is a product called "REPTA BOOST" that you can supplement his food with. It is for stressed and convalescing reptiles. Breeding and nutritionally deficient herps as well. It's a weight based formula and is something you may want to consider to help with recurring medical issues. Talk it over with the vet and see what his take on it is. Stay in peace and not pieces. :gj:

A great vet would have run a culture the first time.
Stress can also bring on a RI. I would just plan on leaving this guy in QT for a while 6 to 12 months.
You can also nebulize while in quarantine to help him along.

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Originally Posted by Albert Clark

When he does make it back to your rack from the quarantine I think it's a good idea to put extra holes in the tub. The added ventilation will help overall. I know in my rack I have been having a hard time with high humidity and have been monitoring it very closely. I had to put extra holes in the tubs until I got the humidity down to 56% -61%. Is this python of yours with the RI feeding? If he is there is a product called "REPTA BOOST" that you can supplement his food with. It is for stressed and convalescing reptiles. Breeding and nutritionally deficient herps as well. It's a weight based formula and is something you may want to consider to help with recurring medical issues. Talk it over with the vet and see what his take on it is. Stay in peace and not pieces. :gj:

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Thank you, He is an excellent feeder. As stated the RI was and is mild and he has been on feed the whole time. I think I will add a few more holes in his tub for the future.