Need some GREAT advice here!!!!

I had posted once that I was snake watching for some friends, well am I glad they are in QT.....

I caught the Dumerils open mouth breathing today and hear whistling even worse then when she first got here.

Here is where I need the advice, the people say they are "in a tight knot" and cannot pay for their vet bills. Well, we also are in a tight knot and cannot afford someone elses animals vet bills. I have opened her mouth and there is for sure mucus in there, even saw a couple pieces sticking from top to bottom. She needs the vet and this girl keeps saying shes like this a lot and she cleans it up with a q tip and its gone in a week. But, should it NOT come back EVER if they have proper humidity and heat? I know my shiz, none of my snakes has EVER needed a vet visit(except the hog I RESCUED).

So, how would you all handle this, what would you do??? There is nothing signed about this, could I take them to the vet and then sell the animals to good homes that WILL take care of them legally or what? I just don't want them to get sicker and/or die.....

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Originally Posted by hypnotixdmp

I had posted once that I was snake watching for some friends, well am I glad they are in QT.....

I caught the Dumerils open mouth breathing today and hear whistling even worse then when she first got here.

Here is where I need the advice, the people say they are "in a tight knot" and cannot pay for their vet bills. Well, we also are in a tight knot and cannot afford someone elses animals vet bills. I have opened her mouth and there is for sure mucus in there, even saw a couple pieces sticking from top to bottom. She needs the vet and this girl keeps saying shes like this a lot and she cleans it up with a q tip and its gone in a week. But, should it NOT come back EVER if they have proper humidity and heat? I know my shiz, none of my snakes has EVER needed a vet visit(except the hog I RESCUED).

So, how would you all handle this, what would you do??? There is nothing signed about this, could I take them to the vet and then sell the animals to good homes that WILL take care of them legally or what? I just don't want them to get sicker and/or die.....

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There a treatments at home , go to youtube and look up RI cure for snakes .. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WQY9d-Pa8u4
I have a friend who used this method he did it i think twice a week for 4 weeks and it was gone

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJCnPfuqaBM

That's like $120 worth of stuff lol

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I'm trying get them to pay, since they were brought here with symptoms of it. They have kept them in glass tanks for the whole time with nothing covering the top....I changed that once they got here, but I feel like the stress of moving from there to here is what brought it out....

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Also, if you don't remember, let me show you the bedding they are on. If you think I should Chang it to newspaper or cypress let me know!!
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/03/aqa6a8yr.jpg

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Quote:

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Originally Posted by hypnotixdmp

Also, if you don't remember, let me show you the bedding they are on. If you think I should Chang it to newspaper or cypress let me know!!
http://img.tapatalk.com/d/14/02/03/aqa6a8yr.jpg

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The bedding really doesn't make to much of difference but since he is sick i would switch it to paper towel or news paper , and raise the temp try to have it at least 5 extra degrees hotter in the cold side even at night … if this doesn't start to take it away nebulization or antibiotics are in order

also what bedding is that?

I didn't see your post about snake sitting, so I'm not sure what the agreement is/was. I can only say that you should NOT sell someone else's pet(s) without their prior approval.

If you know these people, it's safe to assume that you had at least some knowledge of the type of care their snakes were receiving before you agreed to take them, presumably temporarily. When you agree to allow someone else's living thing to come into your home there's risk involved and you agreed to take the risk.

In my opinion you only have a few options here and none of them are great. You can take the sick snake to the vet and know that you probably aren't going to be reimbursed. You can try home remedies and hope it works, if it doesn't then at least you know you tried. You can wait it out and let nature take its course. You can contact the owners and tell them they have X amount of time to get the animals out of your home, if they don't then the animals will be listed for sale on this date _______________ and they will be given the money from the sale, less any expenses you incurred in the rehoming process.

This is something that should have been discussed prior to taking on their animals and it doesn't sound like it was. That isn't anyone's fault, it's just not something you think about until it's too late. Unfortunately, if you didn't have an agreement with them about what would happen in this case I don't feel like you have the right to sell their snakes without giving them a fair opportunity to avoid it.

I told them I would feed them and sanitize the cages as needed. That was the only agreement. They also said they would give me money to buy rats for them but not a penny seen yet....

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Also, bedding most certainly can make a difference. She told me this happens often and to just clean it with a qtip twice a week until it goes away. This was NOT told to me before they arrived, so this is something I was unaware of and should have been told. State law here says once something has been in another persons possession for 30+ days, they are the legal owner of it. If I have to take them to a vet, I will sell them to get my money back, and to make sure they go into a home that will care for them. If someone can get up and move to another state they should be able to pay a vet bill. I was told I would be helped financially with these 2 animals and have not been. So if this is what I have to do to keep them healthy, then that's what I will do. I'm hoping they will stop jerking me around soon and just pay the vet bill so she can heal and possibly be on her way into the reptile room after qt. You don't tell someone you will help, then pretty much so no when they ask for help, especially to save your animals life. This also was a long term sit for about a year, so the help is needed. Crappy part is this happened shortly after they got here. I've been feeding my rats to them, causing me to loose out on breeders since there is no food $$ as promised. So at this point, what needs to be done will be done.

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Now that that is out of the way, I think I am going to offer them three choices, best would be a vet visit. Second would be to buy the fogger and some f10 and hope it works. Third, we take care of it and do what we have to do to ensure good health for the remainder of their lives and get back what I spend in case one of MY animals needs a visit. Its doubtful but stuff happens!

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Choice #4 - either they get their snakes ASAP, or they sign a boarding agreement. You're not "snake sitting" while the snakes remain on the owner's property for a few days while they're gone, you're providing long-term care of their animals. Look for horse boarding agreements in your state, it will also spell out things like a "stableman's lien" if the owner fails to pay, and what recourse you have under the contract to ensure the animals receive vet care and under what circumstances the animals can be sold if the owner fails to pay for their expenses.

The bedding is pine pellets. But it shouldn't really make a difference.
Tons of people keep their snakes on pine with no issue since all commercial pine is kiln dried.

If you can't afford the vet, bump up the temps and humidity. And try the fogger.
I really do encourage getting the snake to a vet and getting a culture done. Just because a vet prescribes antibiotics, doesn't necessarily mean it will work. A culture has to be done in order to find out what type of antibiotics will be effective towards the infection.

Not sure if the youtube responses provided this option or not but i might as well throw it out there. When i got my burmese from a previous owner, he had an RI which i fixed with no vet help. What i do is, of course bump up the temp/humidity if its too low (or bump the humidity down if its too high), and i make this mixture out of vicks vapor rub and water. Just boil the water, then mix in the vapor rub. Put it in a safe container inside the cage (make sure he cant tip it over or anything) and it should clear up. Ive also recommended this method to numerous friends and it has worked without fail so far.
With that said though if the home remedies dont work, id definitely take them to the vet then sell them if you want to provide funds for the vet bills. If the owner doesnt care enough to put forth the money or effort to help his/her snakes, then they dont need to have any.