Respiratory Infection Question

[Yirra2112]

Hi guys, my boy Veli has an RI, I was checking him out last night and saw that he's got a bubble happening. I've already made a vet appointment for him for tomorrow afternoon, but I've got a few questions I was hoping you guys might give me some insight to.

To start with, I've had him for about two weeks. The first week I pretty much put him in his new home and left him be to become adjusted. I struggled with the humidity a bit, it was low for a few days that first week until I was able to find some vinyl sheeting to get onto the lid, I live in the desert and it's super dry here. 15% avg in my house, it was about 36-46% in the tank when I was at work. I was able to maintain it more when I was home. This last week it's been a solid 60-65% humidity, 92 degrees warm side, 79-81 degrees cool side, ambient about 86 degrees. He's got a big bowl of fresh water in the middle every day. Two hides, one on each side. I use a rheostat to control everything. Three sides of the tank are covered in paper to give him a bit more privacy.

My questions are, how long does a respiratory infection take to develop, was this because of that bumpy first week? And, now that I know he's not feeling well, is there anything I should do to help him out until that vet appointment? If it's a bacterial infection, will I need to sterilize the cage as he heals or will that cause him undue stress and should wait till he's cleared up before doing an in depth maintenance on his enclosure? Tomorrow I will be asking for a culture and hopefully learning the specifics for his treatment from my vet, but there's a lot of collective wisdom/experience on this forum and I'd sleep a bit better tonight knowing that I'm doing everything I can for him.

[bcr229]

If you think he has an RI then he needs a minimal setup so his enclosure can be easily cleaned and disinfected: paper substrate, water bowl, hot and cool side hides. Make sure his temps and humidity stay on point.

RI's can take a while to develop but the stress of shipping and/or moving into a new environment can cause one to pop up even if your husbandry is perfect.

[Yirra2112]

Well I took him into the vet appointment and she gave me a 10 shot run of Fortaz (I think that's what it's called. I'm not home to check, but apparently it's fairly broad spectrum and bit less harsh on the snake than Baytril). She suggested we wait on a culture until after this run because his body condition was very good, he wasn't dehydrated and he wasn't lethargic at all. They showed me how to give him the injection at the vet's office and two days later I administered the first at home shot with no problem. My roommates are awesome and help me to keep him still for the shots. He's been a champ about it too.

The second shot didn't go as smoothly. I got the needle in place and everything was fine, but the medication didn't seem to actually come out with the shot. After I removed the needle and pulled the plunger back it looked like pretty much the whole dose was still in there. I tried again with another syringe and it worked just fine. I felt super bad sticking him twice but wanted to make sure he got the medication. This has happened twice now, where the syringe doesn't seem to actually expel the medication (sorry, my terminology is all over the place, this is the first time I've ever had to medicate any of my pets at home like this). I called the vet and will be taking him in again tomorrow so they can help me troubleshoot whatever's going on here. It's just that they're 22 min away from my house and we're in the middle of a heat wave here (it hit 117 yesterday, and should be 116 today and tomorrow) and his appointment is at 5, the hottest part of the day. He still hasn't eaten either. The RI, three weeks of not eating, shots every other day, the leftovers of a bad shed he had before I bought him (i'm afraid to give him a bath because of the RI, I don't want to make it worse) and two car rides in this time is a lot of stress and I'm just very very scared it'll all be too much for the little guy. I switched him to a paper towel substrate for the time being, and will be moving him into a tub shortly in hopes that the closer space and opaque walls will provide him with a greater sense of security. I guess the upshot of all of this is that since the first three shots he hasn't blown any more bubbles and doesn't seem to be drooling anymore so it might be working?

Sorry for the wall of text, I'm just scared for him, I'm already really attached to the little guy and I'm really hoping he pulls through this.

[bcr229]

Don't worry about your snake not eating, most don't when they're sick and stressed from getting the antibiotic shots.

Fortaz needs to be stored frozen once diluted. Are you sure that the stuff in the syringe is completely thawed? Also, have you tried pulling back on the plunger to see if you can get air into the syringe? The needle may be blocked.

[Yirra2112]

Before I pull him out to give him the shot I usually warm it up in my hands for maybe 2-3 minutes. It's a small dose, .1 mL, so just rolling it between my hands thaws it out pretty quickly. Because it's frozen there's extra space in the syringe for it to expand when it freezes so I've pushed air out of it before the shot but I haven't tried pulling air into it before. I did pull air back into it afterwards, when I wanted to check to see how much had actually been administered during the shot. I also pull back a little bit during the shot to make sure I didn't hit a blood vessel (part of the procedure they showed me at the vet, to make sure I got muscle). Is it possible that there was frozen medicine in the reservoir beneath the needle blocking it when I was trying to administer that thawed by time I pulled the plunger back?

[bcr229]

I'd say it's likely. I usually let the syringe thaw on the counter for 20-30 minutes to ensure it's thawed, then shake it gently and play with it a bit to get any remaining air bubbles out.

[Yirra2112]

Turns out there really was something funny going on with the syringes. The vet tech couldn't get them to work either, so it wasn't something I was doing.That made me feel a bit better. They gave me a new set of doses and things have been going smoothly =) Best news yet, he finally ate! No more bubbles, drool or wheezing, he seems to be getting better with the Fortaz. I'll finish out the whole run of shots to make sure we get all of the infection, but I feel like his sticking his head out to nab that mouse was the turning point. I've never been so excited to see an animal devour another animal before lol! F/T I should mention, I'm not trying to be morbid, but it did feel a bit morbid at the time, how elated I was over this exercise! At any rate, I'm thrilled he seems to be feeling better, and after the last shot I'll move him into the tub I've set up for him and give him that first week all by himself that he didn't get when I first brought him home.