Sick Albino

For the past couple weeks my female albino has been acting weird. Well I got her into the vet and come to find out shes got an RI and I have no idea how. I got her in June and shes been fine that I've seen. Hasn't showed any signs of an RI until 2 days ago. I keep her in a 27 sterlite container, UTH that is at 90 at the hot end and the cool side is 76. Has her water bowl eats her mice. Now shes on shots every three days. I hope my girl comes out alright, she seems to be acting better already so I'm hoping the meds are working. You guys out there every have an RI just pop up out of nowhere?

Never had to deal with an RI but i hope everything comes out all right.

RI's are almost always brought on by substandard husbandry. The only issue from what you've mentioned about your snakes environment is that the cool side is a little too cool for my liking; 80-82 sounds more like it.
BTW; when you went to your vet, was he smart enough to do a culture/sensitivity test or did he just prescribe you meds willy nilly?

no he did a culture

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Originally Posted by mykee

RI's are almost always brought on by substandard husbandry. The only issue from what you've mentioned about your snakes environment is that the cool side is a little too cool for my liking; 80-82 sounds more like it.
BTW; when you went to your vet, was he smart enough to do a culture/sensitivity test or did he just prescribe you meds willy nilly?

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Actually thats what is known to work. I personally keep my balls at 78 room temp. Used to keep it hotter but seeings how there's no reason as long as the hot side is at least 90 your fine. The RI could of been caused from lack of immune system and or sub par cleaning practices.

76 cool side will not harm the snake or cause the RI since the snake had a 90 hot side. But beings your giving meds now be sure temps are higher now to cause the immune system to go into over drive to absorb the meds.

Shoot for 92-94 hot side and 80 cool side while on meds.

So does humidity play a large role in RI's?

I have a girl with an RI right now too. I took my girl to what was suppose to be a herp vet but just found out that two vets practice at the facility and the recommended herp vet was off that day. I am taking her back tomorrow to see the recommended vet and I am asking for a culture. She went through a series of 7 shots of Baytril.......she seemed to be doing better for the first few days and after a week, it was still there.

Right now, I am focusing on prevention so my other 7 BP's don't get sick. I clean with Chlorohexadine and I clean thoroughly. I change the water weekly and my hot spot is 92-93 and cool side is about 82-83. My humidity has been 55-65% but recently, with all the rain we have had in Texas, my humidity has been 70% give or take. The tubs are all dry but the high humidity concerns me a little. Is this ok?

Yes when having a RI you want humidity to be 65-70% while on treatment.

I was actually talking about my healthy BP's. The normal humidity is 55-65% and on some days, it gets closer to 70 or more. I am trying to find the cause and prevent any other RI's. The normal humidity for the snake room/Texas air here is 45-50%.

Having high humidity will not cause RIs. If you want it to come down put a fan on in the room to circulate the air.

the person I got her off of did not take very good care of her. She had a little case of scale rot on her belly but after a couple sheds her bellys is finally clear now. I keep my cages very clean. As soon as they defacate I clean their cages out. I even have extra sterlite containers so they are always going into a clean container. I"m wondering if she had an RI when I got her and I just didn't see the signs?

If the previous owner was cause of the belly, id say the RI is their cause as well. RIs can start little and escalate into severe when moved into a new environment.

I also have an extra Sterilite so my BP's go straight into a clean sterile tub. I clean with Chlorohex, use paper towels (so I don't use the same rag/towel in each tub), newspaper substrate, and once a month I give each tub a good 10% bleach scrub down. I got all my BP's at the same time (June) and it took 2-3 months to show up. I got my snakes from 4 different breeders so I would there was probably a good chance one of them had an RI. I am thinking the stress of a new environment brought it out, even though they are all eating and have been eating GREAT every single week.

I just moved my rack away from my ac vent. The air flow where the vent comes out was a couple feet from my rack but now its a good 6-8 feet away. I have my fan going at all times to circulate air. When it is off, the humidity goes way up.

What did your vet prescribe for your Albino after he did the culture? I am going to insist a culture tomorrow. My vet likes to Nebulize (sp?) but he charges a lot per session, so I will most likely stick to injections.

well my girl got a dewormer just to be on the safe side and shes also getting 5 injections every three days of amikacin

My vet gave me Baytril injections.......seven days worth and it didn't work. I dropped her off at the vet this morning and I am waiting on a call any minute now. Hopefully he does a culture and sends me home with that, Fortaz, or Tylan.

I have not heard many good things about baytrill injections, I'm kinda glad my vet didn't go that route, hopefully with what I got for her she will be fine in time

Turns out the vet was out the day I took my girl in and there was a "sub" vet in from the emergency clinic. The vet was in today, he took a culture and sent me home with Amakacin injections every 3 days for at least two weeks until the culture comes back in 72 hours. So, hopefully that does the trick too! Good luck.

well guys and gals late last night my albino girl Nave passed away. She will be missed very much. She was mean as hell but my favorite, I wish I could of got her sooner and maybe saved her!

Sorry for your loss. My girl seems to be getting worse too. It seems once they get an RI the odds are against them from recovering. Again, sorry for your loss.

What did the vet say about the culture? My vet took a culture on my girl Friday and the results were suppose to be in today. He gave me the Amakacin like yours for one injection every three days.....until the culture came back and he would give me what my girl needs. Did your vet give you something different after the culture results came back?