BP with a RI has blood coming from his mouth?

Hi everyone,

Just as of Friday I became a BP owner. As of Saturday afternoon I noticed my BP has a respiratory infection so I've been hectically on these forums trying to figure out what to do prior than going to a vet.

Just as a note, I am avoiding the vet because the pet store is willing to work with me on this and has offered to exchange the little guy out for a new one, even though that is a last resort (before the vet) for me.

BP is three feet long, male.

On Monday and Tuesday I did the 5min, check, 5min hot/boiling water + vicks + eucalyptus oil concoction once a day for those two days. I stopped because I found out that the eucalyptus is actually harmful to snakes (I feel bad for that).

I ordered the f10 vet disinfectant and the REPTIFOGGER that will be coming in tonight and I will run that once a day for the 7-10 days, for 20mins, as instructed on another thread on here.

The pet store suggested to increase the heat and humidity within his enclosure. So since Monday I've been running his heat pad 24/7 at 89 and a 100watt bulb for just during daylight. At night time, I'll increase his heating pad to 92/93.

Ultimately, which scares me the most, why is my BP bleeding from his mouth? I can tell it is mixed in with his saliva/drool by seeing it on the side of his face, and I found dried blood on the white paper towel substrate.

My guess is that it is either a terrible RI or the eucalyptus oil caused a lot of irritation to him :/

Any advise is great.

Thanks.

Why would you want another bp from them when they sold you one with an RI?

Well, more than likely the blood in the saliva means that its a advanced RI at the least and might be pneumonia. The animal is also potentially infectious to any other animals in your care. I would ask for a refund too bc all the animals (reptiles) in the store are suspected to be infectious. Cut your losses and buy from a reputable breeder of healthy ball pythons right here on the forum. You honestly haven't had the animal for 48 hrs and should still be under a guarantee from the store. The onus is on them to take the animal for exotic vet intervention, not you. Those fogger and eucalyptus remedies are just symptomatic relief measures that don't treat the etiology of the disease. :colbert:

Best case scenario I can think of for blood from the mouth (when it's not the rodent's blood from a meal) is an open sore or similar. Worst case is probably from the lungs. Unidentified blood from the mouth is emergency vet material. In mammals or if you had the expertise to do so for snakes, the mouth could be opened to look for wounds and depending on the scenario may not need an emergency vet (minor scratches - probably can wait to heal, sores - urgency may depend on severity). Even just based on the RI symptoms mentioned, the snake needs vet care. The blood? The snake needs vet care urgently. Now whether you want to sink money into that or return the snake to the responsible party (the pet store) is a different question.

Sounds like your trying to do right by this animal but you don't have the knowledge that a doctor has, forums and Facebook can give misleading information.

The eucalyptus accident is one of ignorance but that's what happens when you try to self treat without experience. Go to the doctor, drool and blood on their own are bad signs but combined is very serious !

Your doing good but professional help is going to get this snake what,it needs . Wish you both the best. I would also stay away from the pet store that sold you a sick snake, RI's can be transferable.

Please don't self diagnose and treat a RI. You may get lucky and relieve some symptoms but you have no idea the cause of the RI. F10 (various designations of the product are actually different things) is not an antibiotic fit for animal ingestion. I know that there are those videos of DIY RI cures but for the love of your snake, if you are going to keep it, find a decent exotic vet that can do a culture and find out exactly what the RI is and evaluate this snake for other complications.

The only way to properly treat this is with a vet's aid. Surrender this pet if you do not want to take the responsibility but for your sanity do not get another pet from that pet store.

Good luck and I hope you can get this under control.

You really need to take the snake to the vet. Don't trust someone who sold you a sick snake. For future reference, don't ever use oil on your snake. Please take that snake to a vet to get the proper medicine and get expert help. I typically don't recommend taking snakes to vets unless it's something serious like this. Please, please, please take your animal to the vet.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by MD_Pythons

Why would you want another bp from them when they sold you one with an RI?

---

Valid point. But the pet store has been extremely caring and guiding me to what (they think) I should do.

I don't think it was intentional on their part.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by SDA

Please don't self diagnose and treat a RI. You may get lucky and relieve some symptoms but you have no idea the cause of the RI. F10 (various designations of the product are actually different things) is not an antibiotic fit for animal ingestion. I know that there are those videos of DIY RI cures but for the love of your snake, if you are going to keep it, find a decent exotic vet that can do a culture and find out exactly what the RI is and evaluate this snake for other complications.

The only way to properly treat this is with a vet's aid. Surrender this pet if you do not want to take the responsibility but for your sanity do not get another pet from that pet store.

Good luck and I hope you can get this under control.

---

I appreciate the advice. It seems the best option here is to take him back to where I got him from. The store is a very reputable local place here in Austin so I believe they will do the right thing and treat him.

Just this being my first snake, buying all the new things, a vet visit/tests/antis arent in my budget right now.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by airkempo

I appreciate the advice. It seems the best option here is to take him back to where I got him from. The store is a very reputable local place here in Austin so I believe they will do the right thing and treat him.

Just this being my first snake, buying all the new things, a vet visit/tests/antis arent in my budget right now.

---

If they are a reputable place, then what you need to do is tell them you are going to take the snake to a vet and ask that they pay for the bill. If someone sells you a sick animal, they should at least have the decency to pay for the vet bills. I wouldn't even recommend taking back and putting it back into their care, because if the RI is so bad that there is blood in it's mouth, and they haven't told you to take the animal to the vet, then they are really neglecting the illness, and don't have the animal's best interest in mind. Many pet stores are like this, and it is best for you to take the animal to the vet, they should pay for the bill since the animal got sick in their care. I wish you the best of luck, please keep us posted.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by airkempo

I appreciate the advice. It seems the best option here is to take him back to where I got him from. The store is a very reputable local place here in Austin so I believe they will do the right thing and treat him.

Just this being my first snake, buying all the new things, a vet visit/tests/antis arent in my budget right now.

---

If it's not in your budget to do these things (vet visit/tests) you shouldn't have gotten the animal. Always expect the unexpected. I'm sure that the animal in question is still under "warranty" with the pet shop. Return it and make them be the ones to pay for it's treatment. Don't purchase from them again and instead buy from a reputable breeder online, or at a reptile expo. :)

I’m sorry this happened to you. You absolutely need to return the animal to the pet store. I hear you saying they are being helpful etal, but you NEED to return it. You cannot afford this vet bill. Even if the pet store agreed IN WRITING to pay the vet bill for this illness, you do not know what other health problems or RECURRING RI’s this snake may have. Also, I assume they told you when you showed interest in the snake that it was eating... no way with this level of illness was this animal eating. The pet store employee was BS’ing you. They are being nice because they don’t want to refund your money. And I’m assuming you bought your set up from them???? They need to take that all back as well. It’s infected with whatever this animal is carrying. It’s a risk to put another animal in it. As a new person to the hobby, return it all and start fresh with a reputable breeder. Double check the name of the breeder over on Fauna Classified, in the BOI (Board of Inquiry). Best wishes.

I do believe you when you are saying they are "nice" to you.

However, I don't believe for one second they truly have the animals best interest at heart !! For blood to come out of its mouth, it must have a SEVERE symptomatic infection in its body, probably already quite advanced. I bet you that animal never even ate in their care.

If they were so "nice" and knowledgeable, they would NEVER tell you to "treat" that animal yourself. You are NEW to the hobby and despite learning rapidly all you can in a short amount of time, that can never make up for the level of experience one needs to treat such a case. And such a case needs a vet, period and non negotiable.

THAT is what they know. Yet, they give you advice to treat with boiling water and eucalyptus. A snake isn't a human kid. Their systems work quite a bit differently, being they are cold blooded. You don't just want to give some relief, you want to TREAT. And that needs proper vet care at this point.

If they cared so much they would apologize a hundred times and would have asked you to return that snake immediately so they can attempt to save it with vet care. But I tell you in all honesty, they will probably just cull it. It would cost them far more time, money and energy to treat it, rather then just write it off.

You as a newbie shouldn't have to deal with such a case either. Even if they paid all vet costs (no way they will...) you would still have a uphill battle getting this animal well, if it can be saved at all.

So no. Despite all you say, I am NOT impressed with the seller/store. AT ALL.

I know you mean well. Kudos to you for all that. If you lived closer to me, I'd give you a young, healthy and beautiful Ball Python, the way it should be when you are starting out in this wonderful hobby. (after you sanitize everything and then once again...)

I'm sorry this was done to you. I'm very sorry for the poor snake. Back in the day I did a lot of "rescue". I saved some that were on the verge of death. Its not that easy. Its not cheap. It takes time and patience. I do not do this anymore, because I don't have a separate building for quarantine, and I will not risk my own collection to die from disease. Some diseases can spread airborne through the air circulating in a house. If I had a separate building, I would love to take on such animals once again, to give them another chance.

Thanks for the advice everybody. Just as an update: I ended up taking him back to the store and they are going to give him antibotic treatment. This is the same store where I will be getting my mice so i'll be able to check on him in the future (next week).

They were more than happy to trade me for a three month old BP. He is a shy little one but I think it'll all work out.

It turns out that this store had an overflow of adult BP that were donated to them (my initial BP was one of those) so they didnt have a true history of them. The baby however, was born within the store.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by airkempo

Thanks for the advice everybody. Just as an update: I ended up taking him back to the store and they are going to give him antibotic treatment. This is the same store where I will be getting my mice so i'll be able to check on him in the future (next week).

They were more than happy to trade me for a three month old BP. He is a shy little one but I think it'll all work out.

It turns out that this store had an overflow of adult BP that were donated to them (my initial BP was one of those) so they didnt have a true history of them. The baby however, was born within the store.

---

Glad you did the right thing, but i am surprised you entertained another animal from the same shop. I personally would have refrained from purchasing anything else from them bc of the risk factor. As long as you are happy with what you have then that's important. Hoping the animal is healthy and you don't have any issues with it. :)