Bath experience / needs a checkup?

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Originally Posted by elevatethis

Very important....did the vet give you antibiotics that were administered orally or injected?

FYI...oral antibiotics have been shown to be not effective in ball pythons. Injection is the only way to go.

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I hear an echo! :P :D

hello....hello..hello.. echo...echo...echo.. yep :)

ok, I'm back.

Yes it was oral. I imagine the decision was partly due to the fact that handing out needles to people and telling them to inject their pets doesn't go over to well. I called the manager of the pet store (David) and he agreed that it should be injectible and, as I was hoping, said that they would be happy to do the injecting for me. He said you can't inject the milky white stuff so I need to go back to the vet and politely request injectible form. David didn't bag the vet and said he probably had a little hole in his knowledge there. I agreed and pointed out that Dr. Echols is a bird specialist. David immediately said "That makes sense because oral Baytril works great for birds." Mystery solved! So I'm going to go back tomorrow and get the injectible form.

Dave also recommended some husbandry changes yesterday. He told me to switch from the spagnum/fir substrate I had been using to newspaper for the time being to minimize irritants. He told me to clean and disinfect. He also said I should raise the general temperature in the cage, allow only minimal air flow, and keep it at about 70% humidity.

So, that's where its at. Snakey just looks at me like I'm a treacherous b*stard now. He's still mad. I always handle him very gently and carefully and that vet's bedside manner was, let's just say, "businesslike". I nearly freaked out at the beginning of the exam. Oh man, the tongue depressor in the mouth scraping across his teeth still makes me cringe. I'm confident in my ability to learn to give injections but I'm seriously considering just letting somebody else be the bad guy from here on out (I was helping the vet restrain Snakey during the exam).

They should show you to administer the injectables. It's not difficult but you have to do it in the correct spot.

Oh yea, and the vet said that he thought Snakey was slightly overweight. He mentioned something about a weight scale and said he gave him a 3.5 out of 5 and 3 was ideal. Snakey is probably 10 mos old and 30" long and he weighed 374 grams (first time I've been able to weight him!). I know he's got the remnants of at least 5 mice inside of him so that probably didn't help. The vet suggested I keep him at his current 2 small mice feed and switch to a 10 day cycle. He also suggested Snakey avoid wearing Speedos when going poolside. :P

oh yea, where are my manners???

Thanks Guys*!!!

("Guys" meant to express comradery and does not denote gender, sexual orientation, or sexual preference. All rights reserved. See back of post for details.)

I can't say that I disagree with any of the suggestions made by Dave on husbandry changes, increased humidity will help Snakey to loosen the mucus while the antibiotics do their work. Warmer temperatures are also good for him.


Sounds like Snakey's going to be healthy in no time!

rabernet: I know you've said that you believe a 7 day feeding cycle is best. How important is that vs 10 days do you think? I had already decided that the "fattening up" phase was over and was considering simply leveling off his meal size and letting him outgrow it. I had also considered 10 day cycles because I had seen it recommended before (i.e. "7-10" days) and it seems like you blow 2-3 days of every week with digestion/potty. If, as you said, I'm not to worry about his increased activity levels at day 4 as a sign of impending starvation then it does seem like a 10 day cycle would leave more "quality time" with which to enjoy my pet.

Discuss.

The vet that saw Snakey is out the rest of the week but one of the other three vets in the clinic just called. I think its really awesome he phoned me at 8:46 PM to follow up which only makes me feel worse. He was polite about it, but ultimate very defensive.

As politely as I could I told him that, since the visit, I had talked to several experienced ball-python keepers/breeders and they had all confirmed the doctor's instructions with the exception of the use of oral Baytril. Initially he mentioned issues with the needles and I could understand that. There is a certain class of customer you see at the exotic pet store that very likely would have alternate uses for the needles. I told him I didn't even want the needles I was going to have Dave do all the injecting anyway.

After that, he went into defending their honor. He told me that they've treated tons of RI's in balls and that they hadn't found that to be the case. Also, he said that since Snakey's infection was very mild he doubted that injections would be needed.

I did my best to handle it. I said "Look, I'm not saying the doctor did anything wrong. I've just heard the same story over and over and I'm concerned for my pet that I've become quite attached to." He continued to be polite but he just got colder and more formal as the discussion went on and it became more clear to him that I wasn't going to be swayed.

So, I'm clear to pick the stuff up tomorrow but i'm feeling lower than Snakey's belly about now. Frickin' doctors...

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Originally Posted by bearhart

rabernet: I know you've said that you believe a 7 day feeding cycle is best. How important is that vs 10 days do you think? I had already decided that the "fattening up" phase was over and was considering simply leveling off his meal size and letting him outgrow it. I had also considered 10 day cycles because I had seen it recommended before (i.e. "7-10" days) and it seems like you blow 2-3 days of every week with digestion/potty. If, as you said, I'm not to worry about his increased activity levels at day 4 as a sign of impending starvation then it does seem like a 10 day cycle would leave more "quality time" with which to enjoy my pet.

Discuss.

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You snake is just 10 months old. I don't find 374 grams to be too big for that age in a growing snake.

Remind me what he gets every 7 days currently? I keep a 7 day feed schedule from babies to adults with size appropriate meals (appropriate for their current size).

Don't feel bad for advocating for your snake. If you won't, who will?