uh oh my snake has a respitory infection:(

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Interesting.

On this subject.. anyone know why any given antibiotic won't work for some RIs? I had to try three different antibiotics for my boa before something worked.

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Many bugs are resistant to specific anti-biotics ... that's why a good vet will culture an animal before prescribing an anti-biotic. The culture will specifically identify the strain of bacateria and identify the drugs that it is resistant too ... then an effective anti-biotic can be prescribed.

-adam

It is nice to have an expert wife that does tests like that (on humans) to help give me explanations on that kinda stuff :D .....I told her that I am buying her a microscope and some equip for home so she can check out my snakes if they get problems....now I just have to get her to learn how to treat them for me:)

Heh.. that's awesome, Daniel. I wonder how hard it would be to learn to diagnose those things at home.. I mean if you have a powerful microscope and a good book with pictures of what to look for.. am I really pushing it here? :)

I am sure that it is not that hard, but you would still need a vet that is willing to prescribe the meds

....ha ah....but on the other hand, I really dont need a microscope and some needles in my house.....katie already tries to stick me and run tests everytime I go visit her at work....I dont know what would happen if she had the stuff at home to do it :D

Yeah, true.

Bacterial infections aren't identified with a microscope. They are actually "grown" in a peatry dish.

But a microscope is a great tool to have for doing your own fecal smears to identify internal parasites! ;) And if you can find a cheap centrifuge on ebay, you could really do your own floats too!

-adam

Do you do that, Adam? What's the difference between doing a smear, and a float? How powerful a microscope would be needed? Am I asking too many questions? LOL

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Originally Posted by Adam_Wysocki

Bacterial infections aren't identified with a microscope. They are actually "grown" in a peatry dish.

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Grown on chocolate agar and that kinda stuff right?.....damn, that part of the lab stinks...

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Originally Posted by Shelby

Do you do that, Adam? What's the difference between doing a smear, and a float? How powerful a microscope would be needed? Am I asking too many questions? LOL

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I haven't done my own smears and floats in a long time ... I just ship poop off to my vet now via FedEx :D .... Floats are way more accurate than a smear ... To catch parasites with a smear, you have to either be incredibly lucky or the parasitic infection has to be pretty bad. You're much more likely to catch a minor parasite load with a float.

Where's Becky? She's the creepy crawly bug/poop meister!

-adam

Why does chocolate agar float sound like a viking dessert?


(not to p00p up this thread - the info imparted here is gold)