Mojave Rescue: dehydrated and URI

Hey everyone,
I stumbled by an ad on craigslist on Sunday for a free adult male mojave. I spoke to the person who had it and they said it was given to them by a friend who went to school just a few weeks ago. He stated that it would not eat and kept throwing up liquid. He knew the snake was in rough shape and posted the ad for free in hopes of the snake falling into hands of someone that could get it the care it needed. I felt bad but at the same time didnt want to put my own collection at risk. I decided if i indeed took the snake, i would keep it at my parents place for treatment and quarantine. I drove down to central jersey to check out the snake. It was cold, severly dehydrated and had a case of URI. The snake was kept in a 20 gallon tank with a heat lamp. I chose to take in the snake to get it the medical attention it needed. Placed him in a 15qt tub with a paper towel, hide and heat pad. Although im a vet tech at a local hospital in my area, the doctors i work with don't specialize in exotics so i have an alternate vet i use. Turns out my usual vet changed his schedule and no longer works afternoons. Did a quick search and found a reputable vet by the name of Dr. Paul Sedlacek at Animal Clinic of Morris Plains. Just came back from my visit this evening and first of all i have to say that my experience at Animal Clinic of Morris Plains is by far the best i had! And not to mention, his prices are reasonable for an Exotic specialist. As for the mojave male, he indeed has a case of URI and is dehydrated. He weighed in at 500 grams. Instructed to administer fluids under the skin(sub-q) every 6 hours for the next few days then every other day. Also instructed to do warm soaks for 15-20 minutes daily. And finally a shot of baytril sub-q every 3 days. He has perked up since recieving his fluid therapy and i believe is on the road to recovery. This would be my first time handling a case of URI and i have confidence this dude will be better in no time. I feel bad for this little guy as im sure all he wants to do is feel a 100% and take a nice meal. I have total confidence in my vet as i familiarized myself on the expectations of today's visit prior to going and my vet hit each thing i had in mind about this guy on the dot. It's great to see that there are still exotic vets in practice that have a heart!

Vet info for those in Jersey:

Animal Clinic of Morris Plains
Dr.Paul Sedlacek,DVM
3009 Route 10 East
Morris Plains, NJ 07950
(973)366-3223

Some pictures after his soak.

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/IMG_8757.jpg
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hes lovely i really hope hes ok me and my partner rescued our bp he was dehydrated to i dint want to do the injections so he stayed at the vets for 7 days to build his fluid up .hes fine now good luck

He is a very nice looking mojave. Glad to hear you were able to get him some vet help. A few shots of baytril and I bet he bounces back nicely. Congrats on a nice pickup. Thanks for sharing.

Chris

So nice of you to give him a home and make sure he gets the care he needs.

I love stories like this because it warms my heart when a person goes out of their way to help an animal in need! Thank you for what you have done, it says a lot about your character.

Thanks for checking out the post and the well wishes! The vet said he should recover with this treatment but if by the end of the course of treatment he doesn't, then next step would be bloodwork/x-rays but he didn't feel they were absolutely necessary to do yesterday. Keep you guys posted!

Hey guys!
So it's been nearly 1 month since picking up this male mojave and addressing his issues. Took him to the vet as stated and started him on the baytril injections along with fluid therapy and warm soaks. He has done a 100% turn around in health and is doing excellent! He has had 2 full sheds(his color is amazing),also put on some weight, and finally took his first meal today!! :banana:

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/bbf02f04.jpg
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Wow thats so awesome!!! Give your self a pat on the back for saving his life!!!!
Glad to hear this!:):D

That is such a good thing you did! That is a beautiful snake also. You are a good person, seriously.

Great Job:gj::gj::gj:

Very nice! Not only did you save that snakes life by what you did, but by deciding to take on the task of nurturing it back to health, you managed to pick yourself up a nice looking little mojave! You are living proof, that all it takes is someone that cares to make something right, and to that I salute you!

I didn't post this thread for recognition but rather to give others an insight & hope that respiratory infections can be overcomed with patience, persistence, and of course a vet visit.

Thanks everyone for the kind words and for checking out this post. :)

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Originally Posted by NNJExotics

I didn't post this thread for recognition but rather to give others an insight & hope that respiratory infections can be overcomed with patience, persistence, and of course a vet visit.

Thanks everyone for the kind words and for checking out this post. :)

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my bp has had an RI for a month now and i have been giving her fortaz injections and she still isnt better. going back to the vet thursday to see what to do now :(. glad to hear he is doing better.

He looks to be a very nice looking boy! I'm so glad to hear you took this Mojave into your care, he definitely fell into the right hands. I hope he does well on his road to recovery. Please post updates, I'd love to see how much he improves!:D

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Originally Posted by bigblue09

my bp has had an RI for a month now and i have been giving her fortaz injections and she still isnt better. going back to the vet thursday to see what to do now :(. glad to hear he is doing better.

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I spoke to my vet when i initially brought this mojave in about what medication he planned to use. I did my research on several including fortaz, amikacin and baytril. He said he 1st choice was Baytril as it usually nails it in the butt, then the others would be for his 2nd and 3rd choice along with some cultures i believe but our conversation did not go that far. I expressed to him my concern with Baytril and the possibility of making the tissue necrotic from what i read in previous post. He did mention that this was possible but only with the large animal/higher concentration baytril aka as Baytril 100 i believe but he had Baytril Small Animal available. My vet's treatment plan was 4 total injections of Baytril spaced every 3 days. But what might of worked for him, may not work for all.

Good Luck and hope she gets better soon!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by NNJExotics

I spoke to my vet when i initially brought this mojave in about what medication he planned to use. I did my research on several including fortaz, amikacin and baytril. He said he 1st choice was Baytril as it usually nails it in the butt, then the others would be for his 2nd and 3rd choice along with some cultures i believe but our conversation did not go that far. I expressed to him my concern with Baytril and the possibility of making the tissue necrotic. He did mention that this was possible but only with the large animal/higher concentration baytril aka as Baytril 100 i believe. My vet's treatment plan was a 4 total injections of Baytril spaced every 3 days.

Good Luck and hope she gets better soon!

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my vet and i talked about baytril and he said that sometimes the infections can be immune to baytril and fortaz is his favorite. he did mention with a lot of cases if one or the other did not work then he would combine them doing like a shot of baytril and a few days later doing a shot of fortaz or something along those lines. the fortaz treatment was a total of 7 shots given every 3 days. im going to see about doing some blood work or a culture so we dont have to do the guessing or trial and error game.

Best of luck! That's really cool of you to do. I like his crazy side pattern. I hope be works out for you.

Regards,

B

Awesome story and awesome looking Mojave! That snake is lucky you looked on Craigslist when you did! Please post some more picts. of him soon!


http://www.freesmileys.org/smileys/smiley-bounce016.gif

Hey everyone,
Just wanted to give you all an update on the mojave ball python i took in earlier this year. He is overall in excellent shape and looking great. Took some pictures today of him that i wanted to share with you all.

Javier
NNJExotics

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/48da0839.jpg
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I'm glad to see he's doing well!

It was awful nice of you to go to the trouble and expense of helping that snake get healthy.

I hope he returns the favor and makes you some nice little mojos some day.

Good job!! :)

Boy he sure plumped up nicely, didn't he ?

It's a pity he had to endure those things in the first place and here's to the day no snake has to, but very good of you to give him a fighting chance.

I saw an ad the other day on my CL for a sick ball, but this fool wanted $75 for a badly sick normal. I offered to take the snake and treat it, and was told that snakes that size are worth money, and despite the fact that it has been sick for over 2 months, there was no way I was getting the snake for free. :rage:

I spent an hour typing out some choice things to say to this looser, but by then I had calmed down and didn't send it. I did tell them it was nice to see money meant more than an animals life and that I felt sorry for any kids they had/would have.

Gale

He's looking great! Congrats on getting him turned in the right direction. :gj: He's a beautiful addition to any collection.

What lovely story! Glad he's on the mend and gaining weight :)

Wanted to update you all on this boy. He has been doing excellent and putting weight on steadily. He is at a healthy 800 grams. Here is an updated picture down below:

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/f75dfb1a.jpg


Javier

great story and outcome. glad to see the 300+ gram weight gain. Just curious, if you don't mind, how much the procedure cost you? I'm in Canada, and not sure if the vets here have much experience with snakes, and RI or even URI. Thanks!

Great job with the Mojo Javier...I think I was actually offered that same guy around the same time, glad you took him on. And I'll 2nd your recommendation of the Animal Clinic of Morris Plains...I'm very comfortable going there should I run into a serious problem(knock on wood).

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Originally Posted by 4Ballz

great story and outcome. glad to see the 300+ gram weight gain. Just curious, if you don't mind, how much the procedure cost you? I'm in Canada, and not sure if the vets here have much experience with snakes, and RI or even URI. Thanks!

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The exam and treatment was about $130.00

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Originally Posted by RobNJ

Great job with the Mojo Javier...I think I was actually offered that same guy around the same time, glad you took him on. And I'll 2nd your recommendation of the Animal Clinic of Morris Plains...I'm very comfortable going there should I run into a serious problem(knock on wood).

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Thanks Rob!

Animal Clinic of Morris Plains is definitely worth the drive but i'd only ever see Dr. Paul.

He is my vet too for exotics. Only would see him also.

Update:

Doing well and eating GREAT!

http://i921.photobucket.com/albums/a...s/e83c9527.jpg

He looks amazing! Like he never had a single sick day in his life. Great work, inspiring story.

What a gorgeous snake. He was soooo skinny in that first picture... so plump and healthy looking now! WTG. :gj: