Ball Python with an R.I., what else can I do to help him along?

[PoisonedBeauty]

So, it's the start of breeding season and my only male got, I think, a pretty advanced R.I. He had one last year in the middle of winter, but that was due to poor heating on my part. Now all of my pythons are in a rack with a thermostat regulating their flexwatt. I'm pretty certain it's not temperature that caused it, but my vet suggested stress. Which, if I were to make a guess, he had a slight R.I. that I never noticed, then after introducing female's to him it just escalated. Either way, he got a shot of baytril, which last year once shot cleared him up pretty fast. But now since it's worse, you can still hear him, I guess the only word I can use to describe it is sniffling, but its a snake soo.. he's also basically got mucus running out of his mouth if he hangs upside down, and at the vet he started crawling around so much that you could hear it bubbling in his lungs fairly loudly and bubbles came out of his nose.
They gave me two more shots of baytril to administer myself every five days, but I just wanted to know, since its pretty bad, if there was anything else I could do to help it along in the meantime?

[Stewart_Reptiles]

First you want to isolate the animal away from your collection obviously no more breeding.

Second did the vet do a culture or did he simply decide to prescribe an antibiotic? If he did not do a culture he must do one and make sure that the antibiotic prescribed is the right one.

Treatment should be at least month to be efficient.

[PoisonedBeauty]

No, mainly because I don't have the $100 to do a culture. They told us to take him to a specialist over the phone, but that's way out of the budget considering it would've been a 3 hour drive and way over $100. They wanted to do this the last time he had one, but a single Baytril shot cleared him up almost instantly. Three days after the shot he was eating again. Which I know it most likely wasn't entirely cleared up, but with him being a picky eater and easily stressed that was a pretty good sign to me. Same happened to a python I owned a few years back, a single shot cleared him right up. I'm guessing since this has worked before they decided to stick with it but just up the dosage.

[KMG]

One shot should not clear up a RI. Snakes take longer to respond to meds and a RI is not easy to beat. Usually a couple to a few weeks of shots are needed to fully treat it. A snake with a with a "advanced RI" is not going to be better after one shot.

When I got my GTP he had a RI. It was in the early stages but still took three weeks to get him back on track and kick the RI.

What are the signs of RI that you are observing?

[blk02ssmonte]

Try to up the humidity also.

[PoisonedBeauty]

I know one shot isn't going to clear up an advanced R.I. That's why I'm here, so I can try and do a little more than just the shots to help him through it quicker if possible. They gave me two more to administer to him at home, and if after those he still isn't better to bring him back. And I'm not really sure to say about them not supposed to be as responsive to meds, my two who got them, I ended up catching them early on, and one shot cleared them up pretty quickly.

And the symptoms he's having are the mucus running from his mouth, bubbling from one nostril at times, he lifts his head up and opens his mouth, you can feel his breathing at times while holding him and at the vet he had been moving around so much that you could hear it gurgling fairly loudly, you can hear him exhaling every now an then, and he hasn't eaten in three weeks. Sporadic feeding is pretty common with him though, he's one of my more "touchy" snakes.

[Skiploder]

One shot isn't going to clear up any RI....major, minor, whatever. That statement is BS.

Take your snake to a real vet, pay for the culture. If you can't afford to properly care for an animal ...and this includes medical treatment....then you shouldn't own it.

[PoisonedBeauty]

And any idea how I'd up the humidity in a snake rack? Usually what my room stays at due to all my other heating elements is enough to keep it sort of humid, and I'm not quiet sure how well just spritzing the cage is going to work.

[PoisonedBeauty]

Like I said before, after about a week after their shots, the symptoms had subsided. It may not have been totally cleared up but visibly, they were fine. Eating, acting normal, ect...

And I agree, if you can't afford the vet bills you shouldn't have it, it's unfair to the animal. But when something comes up unexpectedly and you have no way of paying for it at that time, then there's not much else you can do. Now, I'm not saying I'm going to purposely give my pets bad care. If the shots don't clear it up then I'll pay for more advanced treatment. And the next thing to be said will be "You, should've paid for it the first time around." I'm trusting my vets on this one, they never even mentioned a culture this time around. So if the shots don't work that'll most likely be next. And sorry if I'm causing issues with the shots and R.I. and everything, I'm just saying what happened. I just came here to see if there's anything OTHER than the shots that I can do in the meantime.

[KMG]

he got a shot of baytril, which last year once shot cleared him up pretty fast.

It has a typo but I read this as you saying one shot cleared it up. It doesn't appear I was alone in doing so.

It doesn't sound like the vet you are using is a true reptile vet and they are hard to find sometimes. Those of us that have used an actual reptile vet know what the process should be and that is what is being relayed to you here. When my GTP was taken in they did the test and even an xray, then sending me home with pre drawn injections to be given over the next three weeks.

I use cypress mulch and mist my rack system to boost my humidity. During a shed I try to mist a few times a day. I have bloods in it.