BP is sick with something, not sure what and need help!!!!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

It sounds like a respiratory infection to me. Being stuck at home sucks, but usually vets still work on emergency cases, so if it really seems awful it might be worth to arrange something.

The most common treatment I've seen is this one shown here: https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-from-Home-DIY. Amazon might be able to ship you both the F10 disinfectant and mister.

If NOT... do you have a couple of plastic bins? For this you need a small plastic bin for your snake, and another plastic bin about twice as big. Drill several air holes into both bins. You'll want a decent amount on the smaller one, and a few less on the larger. Place your snake in the small bin. Then boil up a pot of water water, and add half a tea spoon of vicks vaporub. After you add in vicks, leave the top covered until you place it in the large plastic bin.
When you place in your pot of boiling vicks water, you can put it either on top of the smaller bin, or next to it depending on size. Use a hot pad, so you're not melting any plastic. Then remove the pot's lid, and close the lid of the larger bin. That'll let the vicks mist in there a bit. Check on the snake after five minutes, then put the lid back on, and take it out after another five minutes (total 10 minutes). If you can do this once a day for a several days, you'll see improvements.

Also, not knowing what kind of enclosure you have it in, but I'd pay attention to making sure the humidity and heat are high enough in the enclosure. I'm also not sure what you use for substrate, but it might be worth switching to paper towels for a little bit, just in case. It's easier and quicker to clean, and better at showing any usual "discharge".

I am not sure how much hands on experience you have overall but regurgitating advice especially dangerous ones found online is not what we do here so please I will ask you to refrain from doing this even if you mean well. (This was an official warning)

For anyone reading this thread VICKS should never be used.

[Kyogre20]

Hello all, I wanted to give y'all an update on my boi and our situation. I called a vet over the weekend and scheduled an appointment with the vet. My mom is better and we took him together yesterday. The vet didn't find anything immediate but did order x rays and bloodwork. He's on antibacterial shots just in case there is something. The gunk on his nose popped off after the second steam bath (steam only, nothing but water was added) however he's still whistling/wheezing/heavy breathing occasionally, slightly lethargic and not eating. We're hoping its not IBD. Thank you all for all the information you've provided and the support you've given, this past week was ridiculously stressful but we've pulled through ok. We should be getting blood work back Friday. Also, if someone could tell me how to post pictures I'll definitely include some of my boy.

[Bogertophis]

https://ball-pythons.net/forums/show...-Post-Pictures

[AbsoluteApril]

We're hoping its not IBD.

nothing you have stated resembles IBD. It sounds like a bad RI or mouth rot issues, I'm glad you were able to get into the vet, wishing a speedy recovery for your little one.

[Bogertophis]

nothing you have stated resembles IBD. It sounds like a bad RI or mouth rot issues, I'm glad you were able to get into the vet, wishing a speedy recovery for your little one.

Agree, & especially since IBD is (happily) fairly rare. It just gets talked about a lot, that can make it seem more common than it is.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

The vet didn't find anything immediate but did order x rays and bloodwork. He's on antibacterial shots just in case there is something

I would consider another vet in the future, based on your original description what should have been done is a culture,

Aside from a quick $100 what was your vet reasonning for an x-ray?

Bloodwork is debatable, unless your vet has reason to believe that the RI is a symptom for something far more serious which is possible but in reality most RI are just that well of course they first need to be diagnosed properly.

And antibacterial shots just because it's a poor excuse for a medical professional, that would not be done with a person nor a dog neither should it be done for a snake unless there is a reason and just because is not a reason.

I have always said it, be in charge or your animal's health demand necessary test and skip the one that do not make much sense.

[Kyogre20]

I had no idea, this was the closest vet and most reviews said the herp vet was good. The antibacterial is in case he has a bacterial infection, that's why the blood test was ordered, but it goes to an off site lab so they weren't able to get immediate results. The X-ray was to see if his lung was deformed or if it was filled with fluid. I've also seen some replies talking about IBD. I realize its pretty rare, especially since (to my knowledge) he hasn't had contact with anything that could transfer it to him. The only reason the vet is even looking into it is because he'd asked me if there were any other "off" things with A that I remembered he'd attempted to eat once and missed the mouse, he seemed sluggish. That's when he gave up and went off his food, I didn't even think about it because he's done it before when disinterested and then come back to it later. In addition every now and then he sleeps with his head tilted up, he's done that a bit more frequently. I thought that might be part of the possible RI (fluid), apparently its a possible symptom of IBD though too. I don't think its IBD, I don't know how he could acquire it after 2 years with no other reptile contact but they're checking just in case with the blood tests. Thank y'all for all your support.

[Moose84]

If you haven’t taken in any boas or brought in a ball python that quickly died I would scratch the whole IBD thing right now.

After reading this post it SCREAMS RI. Head up, discharge from the nostrils and wheezing. All classic signs. An X-ray was a waste of money unfortunately. Cultures for how to treat an RI would have been the appropriate path from a “vet.” I would bump your temps up in the meantime until you can find someone who specializes in reptiles.


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