Treating My First Respiratory Infection

Because those articles are talking about how it effects humans, not snakes


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Eucalyptus is contra-indicated for reptiles and birds. If you want to nebulize anything to alleviate your snake's symptoms just use clean water, it's just as effective without the phenols that are harmful for reptiles.

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

I'm 99% sure what caused the RI... The temps and humidity were all over the place in my snake room for a few days when it got down 0 - 7 degrees here last week. Like I mentioned, I discovered some really bad drafts in the room, which I fixed and everything has been perfect again. I was almost anticipating RI issues to start surfacing because of it...

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Im certainly not a Vet.. But after owning Pythons for 30 years my feeling is that if your snake came down with a RI it wouldn't be from 3 days of cool drafts and no humidity. My girls prefer their cooler hides and they go down to 76 at night when my house goes down to 60. It was -10 to -17 here in NY last week for 6 days and - 7 right now and believe me any home has drafts at those outside temps. Im not busting your chops Im just saying something else is most likely going on to weaken the immune system if it caught a RI that quickly. Now if your tubs went down to 50 for a few days that might be another ball game.. But a draft when they are in a heated tub wont cause a RI in a healthy snake IMO. If you cant get to the Vet right away read up on F10 & a Fogger. Toss the Vicks. Good luck with your Noodle [emoji1360]


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You need to STOP that treatment ASAP this is a snake not a human. You are doing more harm than good.

You can't compare how things affect humans to how they affect animals.
For example...eucalyptus oil is toxic to cats. Even just the essential oil being diluted and diffused. Cats are missing many of the metabolizing enzymes in the liver that other mammals have. Birds are even more susceptible and sensitive then that.
Before good and experienced veterinarians were available for reptiles, people naturally turned to treatments they knew helped in human and other animal applications. Some of the snakes treated like that, may have simply survived despite the wrong treatment, not because of it.
I know you want to do something to make her feel better. It's difficult to watch a beloved animal being in distress.
I believe the best thing you can do now is to raise the temperature slightly, keep the humidity at a good level and minimize stress until you can get her to a vet.
I hope that your babies will get better soon and that things will look up for you soon..


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Eucalyptus oils contain aromatic phenols, similar to the ones found in cedar. These phenols can be caustic to the snake's lungs. It may have some efficacy in killing bacteria, but the main issue in medicine in general is killing the bacteria, virus, parasite, etc with the least possible damage to the host organism.

Just a quick update on this poor sick girl... She is still hanging in there... She seems to be going into blue now, too, just to add to her discomfort, though... :( As per most of your advice, I stopped giving her the vapor chamber treatments after two times. I'm definitely going to be getting a ZooMed fogger and some f10 to have on hand for the future, though! That seems to be the go to RI treatment for a lot of people. She still doesn't seem to be wheezing anymore, but she's still sitting with her mouth open here and there. Her and one of my Bloods both have vet appointments on Thursday and will be treated...

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

Just a quick update on this poor sick girl... She is still hanging in there... She seems to be going into blue now, too, just to add to her discomfort, though... :( As per most of your advice, I stopped giving her the vapor chamber treatments after two times. I'm definitely going to be getting a ZooMed fogger and some f10 to have on hand for the future, though! That seems to be the go to RI treatment for a lot of people. She still doesn't seem to be wheezing anymore, but she's still sitting with her mouth open here and there. Her and one of my Bloods both have vet appointments on Thursday and will be treated...

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You are all in my thoughts, been wondering how your babies are doing...

You are doing the best you can, Thursday will be here in no time and then you can start getting aggressive on the treatment. I am hoping for the best possible outcome, that you can beat this before long and they recover uneventfully...

I wonder if it would be advisable to do a tube feeding of sorts for the Bloods first meal after treatment ? May be easier to digest ?? You could ask the vet about that. Most likely that is a few weeks out, though..to give him time to recover thoroughly..

Good luck with everything :)

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Originally Posted by Aedryan Methyus

Just a quick update on this poor sick girl... She is still hanging in there... She seems to be going into blue now, too, just to add to her discomfort, though... :( As per most of your advice, I stopped giving her the vapor chamber treatments after two times. I'm definitely going to be getting a ZooMed fogger and some f10 to have on hand for the future, though! That seems to be the go to RI treatment for a lot of people. She still doesn't seem to be wheezing anymore, but she's still sitting with her mouth open here and there. Her and one of my Bloods both have vet appointments on Thursday and will be treated...

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Be advised that the only F10 product approved for nebulizing and treating RI is the antispetic solution. That is not available over the counter in this country and only available per a vet script. Not wanting to discourage you but any other F10 product is topical only meaning it is not designed or approved for ingestion or inhalation.

As per F10's site

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The active components of F10 disinfectants are cell poisons and act on the cell membrane rupturing it with loss of essential components: destroy enzymes within the cell: disrupt DNA or RNA sequence: interact with other essential elements within the cell. Interact with ~ SH bonds and rupture them. At high concentrations will in addition fix the proteinaceous components of the cell. Additional activity is via the other components which aid the penetration of the cell wall or spore wall, act as enzymic poisons, chelating agents for certain essential metals, fix proteins, etc. Generally it can be described as a multi - lethal action and not specifically aimed at one site on or in the cell wall.

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Here is the MSDS sheet for it. Scroll down to the toxicity section and you will see it is not toxic in diluted form.
http://www.f10products.co.uk/admin_u...20Oct%2016.pdf

I use the stuff to clean water bowls etc and never had a problem. I have heard people use it in nebulizers for very early cases of RI but for an advanced case, i would take the animal to the vet.

As for a nebulizer, skip the Zoo Med fogger thing. just go buy a nebulizer from Walmart or Rite Aid or Walgreens etc. Probably be cheaper and work the same.

But like i said, if your snake has advanced RI, best to just go to the vet.