Need quick advice....is my girl sick? Respitory infection?

First off, I have a 10 snake rack, 41q tubs, 3" (10w) bellyheat, 8oz water bowls, newspaper substrate, hot spot on the tub is 90-91 and cool side is 82. I clean with Chlorohexadine mixed and change it weekly.

Ok, I bought 5 adult BP's from a reputable breeder two months ago. Three of the five ate from week one (all live eaters and have been eating great on F/T for the last 7 weeks). Two of them have not eaten for me. I contacted the breeder after a month and he advised me he totally forgot to tell me one of them was a mouse eater. I tried live and neither one would take. I put a hide in each of their tubs two weeks ago and planned on feeding them next week (or trying to).

Today, I checked on my pastel girl. She was just over 1700g's when I bought her and now she is 1640g. She has lost 60-70g or so in the last 7 weeks but she has produced urine, so I have not been real worried.....until now. I just checked on her and opened her tub. I spayed some water into her tub to keep the humidity 50-60% (as I do to all my tubs once or twice per week). I heard what sounded like defecation but noticed it was coming from her mouth. She had bubbles coming out of her mouth and I guess she was hissing......but it sounded horrible.

Is this a respitory infection? Should I get her to a herp vet ASAP? Should I remove her from the rest of my BP's? I do not have another setup so I am not sure where I can move her right now. Since I have seen many vets "overdue" things on snakes, what should I expect or let and not let a vet do to her? Thanks for any advice. I tried to take some pics but they didn't turn out to clear......you can see the white bubbles in the 2nd pic.

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/q...04/Pastel1.jpg

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/q...04/Pastel2.jpg

I've got no help on the respiratory, but those pics don't show anything, any chance of better pics.
I'm sure someone with knowledge on respiratory will hop in and answer some questions...

Good luck

I just went back in to get a better pic. She was really pissy two weeks ago and struck at me many times. I didn't know if she was just hungry or stressed so I have been trying to leave her alone the last 2-3 weeks. I have just been changing her substrate (if needed), changing her water, and spraying a small stream of water weekly.

I just opened the tub and put the camera above her (about 3" away). She opened her mouth (not happy with me there at all) and it sounded horrible.....almost like a human sniffle. I snapped the pic when she did it so maybe this pic will help. Thanks for any advice again.


http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/q...04/pastel3.jpg

From that second pic, I would say she looks like she is gasping. I would see a vet before that gets out of hand. I dealt with two animal I bought this year having RIs and that sure looks familiar. Keep us posted...

On a side note, you will notice that her lower half will look bloated also(in most cases).

go to the vet asap

I just noticed all this at 10pm last night. I have to go to work right now but I am definetely taking her in this afternoon. I was told we had a good reptile vet in Southlake, TX so I may try them. Thanks.

The three most recommended vets in the area are all out of town so I made an appointment by one recommended by the out of town vet. Can you guys tell me what I should or should not let the vet do? I have read a few stories (I cannot find them now of course) on some people where the vet did "too much." I am assuming he will give me Baytril. My girl has been fairly pissy the last month due to her not eating and obviously being sick. I would rather NOT have to mess with her daily if I don't have too.

On a side note, about two weeks ago, I put a hide box in there. She spent 2 days in the hide box (which is on the heat). After that, she has spent a good week or so out of the hide box. My temps are 82 on the COOL side and 90 on the hot spot of the tub. What could have caused this? The humidity in my snake room (outside the tubs) is always right at 50% and in the tubs is usually 50-60%. I spray 2-3 streams of water out of a spray bottle once a week and the humidity never goes above 60-65% unless they knock into their water bowls and spill some water. When I notice that it is damp in the tub, I change it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by rj1204

The three most recommended vets in the area are all out of town so I made an appointment by one recommended by the out of town vet. Can you guys tell me what I should or should not let the vet do? I have read a few stories (I cannot find them now of course) on some people where the vet did "too much." I am assuming he will give me Baytril. My girl has been fairly pissy the last month due to her not eating and obviously being sick. I would rather NOT have to mess with her daily if I don't have too.

On a side note, about two weeks ago, I put a hide box in there. She spent 2 days in the hide box (which is on the heat). After that, she has spent a good week or so out of the hide box. My temps are 82 on the COOL side and 90 on the hot spot of the tub. What could have caused this? The humidity in my snake room (outside the tubs) is always right at 50% and in the tubs is usually 50-60%. I spray 2-3 streams of water out of a spray bottle once a week and the humidity never goes above 60-65% unless they knock into their water bowls and spill some water. When I notice that it is damp in the tub, I change it.

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I'm no vet, that's for sure. But, I did dose my own animals(with Baytril). I'm not recommending you to do this. My advice came from people who have been in the industry for a long time. I did oral treatments for 10 days and they healed up just fine. I'm sure cause he's a vet he's gonna want to do cultures and all that stuff so expect to spend a pretty penny. Hope she gets well.

You should really get her away from the rest of your collection so they don't all catch it as well. That would be one hefty vet bill.

Definitely Quarantine her to prevent the infection from spreading to the rest of your collection. The vet should take cultures to make sure it will respond to the medication. Good Luck...

I got off work early and immediately took my sick girl out of the rack and put her in my bedroom at the opposite end of the house.

I did some research on herp vets in the Dallas-Ft Worth area and emailed some breeders. Of course, out of the three I chose, they were all off today or on vacation. I went with the 2nd recommendation from the Emergency Animal Hospital of North Texas.

I took her in and she just sounded so horrible.......like a sniffling little kid every 30 seconds or so. The vet was a nice guy and was semi-knowledgable about BP's but I had no choice. He gave her a 1 ml shot of Baytril and gave me 4 take-home injections to do myself every other day (sound right so far?). Also, he gave her a very large shot of subcutaeus fluids to rehydrate her. He tried to get some fecal matter but she had none in her (trust me, he tried and she DID NOT like it).

Her new home....since I have two very young kids and two dogs, I had no place to put her but my walk in closet. I put an old UTH under her tub (wrapped in layers and layers of foil tape and with glass partitions seperating it from the tub......the tub's hottest spot stays at 93 and she is in my house with the AC on so the outter temps won't change. The cool side of the 41q tub is 78. I put newspaper around the tub so when I turn the light on and walk in, it will be minimally invasive. I will open the blinds and door during the day so she gets just a hint of daylight and is not in the pitch black all the time.

I know RI's are very dangerous and life threatening to BP's, but if I keep my girl quiet, good temps/humidity, and give her the shots every other day, she should be good right? The vet advised me that the Baytril is for the bacterial infection and she will fight out the rest of the infection on her own.......like us getting the flu or virus that passes. Does all this sound right or should he have done more/less? Do I need to change anything? Is there anything else I should do? What should I keep the humidity at in her tub? I checked on my 9 other BP's and so far, they all seem normal. I know they could develop an RI anytime and I can only hope I caught it quickly.

In the closet!:

http://i428.photobucket.com/albums/q...4/ClosetBP.jpg