New Ball Python with RI!!!

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Okay so I just bought a rescue ball python today and he has the worst RI. What can I do until the vet check to make him more comfortable? I'm glad I took him in but from knowledgable breeders I expected a healthy snake, especially considering that's what they had told me. So any home remedies to make him feel better for a while? Or at least a habitat change to help? (Temps and humidity)

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Originally Posted by Brittnie

:mad:

Okay so I just bought a rescue ball python today and he has the worst RI. What can I do until the vet check to make him more comfortable? I'm glad I took him in but from knowledgable breeders I expected a healthy snake, especially considering that's what they had told me. So any home remedies to make him feel better for a while? Or at least a habitat change to help? (Temps and humidity)

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1) Bump up the hot spot to 95.
2) Lower the humidity (heat + too much moisture = bacteria breeding frenzy)

Keep the enclosure simple and hospital sterile. Maybe change substrate to paper if you don't already use it.
When you go to the vet, make sure they take a culture in order to target the type of infection. Without a culture, it's difficult to pick out the right antibiotics that target that specific infection. It's a shoot in the dark otherwise.
If they offer you oral medication, request for injectables. Snakes have very slow metabolism and oral meds are very ineffective.

I'm so sorry this happened to you. I'm happy the snake is finally getting the care it deserves.

Do you have any F10??

I for sure will, thank you.

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

Do you have any F10??

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No I don't.

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Originally Posted by satomi325

1) Bump up the hot spot to 95.
2) Lower the humidity (heat + too much moisture = bacteria breeding frenzy)

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When a snake has an RI you raise the temps AND the humidity.
It's the first thing the vet told me to do was to make sure the humidity was up high, and the temps at about 95 degrees.

OP, do not wait if you know the snake has it bad, they can go down hill pretty quickly when it's bad.
You'll need to get a culture, make sure the vet isn't doing 20 different tests on you, just request a culture and find out what is effective to treat it.

Good luck! Been there, giving shots is no fun :(

We always recommend raising humidity for RI at the places I have worked. This goes for dogs, cats, small animals, etc. While it does make sense that heat plus humidity equals bacteria breeding....think about where you are trying to stop bacterial growth. The lungs and respiratory tract. It is naturally very moist in there already. Breathing in dry air irritates the mucosal lining of the respiratory tract, which can complicate recovery. Also, higher humidity helps to keep the mucous moist and helps the body dispose of it more efficiently.

The problem is that most people increase humidity by adding water via spritzing and other methods which do little in the way of anything therapeutical and instead only satisfy the reading on the humidity gauge.

When you add this stagnant water to a tupperware tub with a few sparse holes burned in it for airflow, all you do is turn the enclosure in a petri dish. If you really think increasing humidity is of benefit, then create a humid hide with thoroughly wrung out spaghnum moss.

Correct me if I'm wrong Nikki, but aren't you a veterinary student at one of the foremost veterinary colleges in North America? Maybe this would explain why your advice in this thread was spot on............

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Originally Posted by Skiploder

Correct me if I'm wrong Nikki, but aren't you a veterinary student at one of the foremost veterinary colleges in North America? Maybe this would explain why your advice in this thread was spot on............

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Thank you! I take that as a compliment.
But sorry, I'm just an applicant. :(

Water bowl pushed back over the heat source worked fine for jacking the humidity, that along with the baytril shots, and now all snakes back to healthy again :)

Yessir. Water bowl over heat source works very well. At least, those are recommendations we use at our clinic and what my herp vets say to do.

There are actually antibiotic treatments for these guys that involve aerosolizing them and having the snake breathe through a nebulizer, which is essentially warm, moist air. This cumbersome because snakes don't like it and most people don't have nebulizers around, but I have nebulized snakes with bad RI in the past and it works pretty well.