Wish Seymour luck

My roommate is taking Seymour (the poss het pied male) to the vet this afternoon because I told her last night he had to go. He had caught an RI, which wasn't too bad, and we had dropped humidity and upped temps slightly and provided props to help him keep his head up.

The RI seemed to be clearing up, but I was concerned because his vent started to swell a little. I figured it was just time for #2, but then remembered he just went when he shed. Last night I pulled him out to check on him and it feels like he has an air pocket anterior to his vent for a disance of nearly two inches, and anterior to that it is solid, possibly swollen, and he is tender, not wanting to be touched caudally.

I am guessing either impaction or torsion is the problem, though impaction makes no sense as #1 he just had a bowel movement that I posted about a week or so ago, and #2 since we got him 1/17 he has only ever been kept on newspaper and the only things smaller than himself that he's had in either his enclosure or the feeding tank are mice (dead and live), water (can't cause an impaction), and the probe for the digital therm/hygrometer, which is still intact and on the surface.

At any rate, she's taking him to see a vet listed as an ARAV member and who comes highly recommended by our vet tech friend, so hopefully he'll be okay. Send good thoughts Seymour's way, please!~

Oh, good luck Seymour!!!! I hope he is okay, and the vet will be able to fix the problem. :( Tell us how it goes! Make sure he stays clear away from the others with that RI of his. :( Poor guy.

Jennifer

Thanks, Jen! We've definitely been keeping him separate and making double sure to wash our hands thoroughly with antibacterial soap after handling him and not letting the kids touch him and any other snake on the same day, etc. We don't want anybody else getting an RI (Snyder was clicking for a couple of days but she seems done with it already and never got as far as bubbles), and absolutely don't want anybody else getting intestinal/abdominal troubles, though I doubt that's contagious. I hope the poor guy will be all right!

I hope you and the vet can get Seymour all fixed up. Keep us posted.

Thanks, Smynx! I hope so, too, for his sake. I'll give an update this evening with the results of the vet visit.

Hope everything turns out all right.

Dito

Thanks, y'all. She's on her way to take him to the vet now. My fingers are crossed.

Yeah hope he gets everything he needs at the vet Marla.

Plissken sends a big shout out to Seymour.

That sounds scary! I hope everything turns out well! Do you know your vet? Is he good with snakes?

Whew! OK, first to answer Judy: this is a new vet that we hadn't been to before because the closer one didn't have a vet on-site today (why I don't know) and we weren't willing to wait.

Mary was very pleased with Dr. Hutcheson, though, who has 24 snakes himself, including kings, milks, and a long-nosed tree snake (shades of name that herp!). Dr. H was convinced that Seymour was going to have parasites but did a fecal check and he was totally clean. What I was concerned was torsion or impaction turned out to be a build-up of fluid from his RI that made it down into his colon and intestine. It turns out it had just gotten that bad. She's to give him shots every three days (I don't remember what it was but not Baytril) and bring him back in if he doesn't get better.

So, hopefully Seymour will respond to the meds, and we now know what RI fluid build-up looks and feels like for future reference, and we'll get experience giving snakes shots. Oh, and it looks like we've found a herp vet to remember (two, actually, Dr. Jason Hutcheson and Dr. Mimi Shepherd). Not a bad outcome, at least as long as Seymour responds.

wow - I hope things work out and my gut feeling says they will! Good lesson on RI's for all of us others out here.

So glad to hear you got a competent doc and a possible solution to the problem. That's something I've heard about snakes' illnesses...they can get very serious very quickly. :( Sounds like you caught it in time, though. We're all hoping he pulls through!

We've been lucky so far, even with all the trouble Snyder had, she recovered well and then fought off her RI quickly. Poor Seymour just couldn't do it alone, though. I hope the meds work, and I feel confident that this vet has enough familiarity and experience to know what he's doing.

Marla, how's Seymour doing?

Thanks for asking! He passed urates yesterday, which he'd been unable to do because of the swelling from his fluid buildup. He's also able to hang out without having to hold his head vertically all the time to breathe. He does still make some very cute little snakey noises that he shouldn't be making, but he's due for his third shot tonight, so hopefully that will help him fight it off even more.

Good to hear, Marla! Keep us posted.

Thanks, I will give an update after we give him tonight's shot.