RI - antibiotics and success rates

[Colin Vestrand]

Before I took George, I came here & asked. George was tilting his head, gasping his mouth open, constantly.... When the Vet listening to him breath, he heard some congestion. ON day #3 of shots, I'd say George is less gasping his mouth open.. he finished a shed & finally ate.

I had no idea that Snakes gets URI/pneumonia, mites too.

okee doke, just making sure.

[reptile3]

be sure to not inject the same spot twice.

My Vet talked to me, showed me how to inject the needle.And of course, I knew not to inject in the same spot twice. Told me to rotate each side.

[Cameron15]

I'm not sure if tylan is the right antibiotic or for what germ, but a forum member on one of the boa forums recommended I try tylan after spending $200 at the vet and 2 weeks of Baytil 68mg pills with no results. We even tried adding a second antibiotic given in shots for an additional 2 weeks. Nothing seemed to cure the RI my girl had last year and it had been over a month since she ate. A forum member suggested I should give this tylan a try, she sent me a link and instructions along with a few threads. One of those threads was from Jeff Ronne with great results from using this tylan.

I don't know how tylan works on rats but $20.00 and a few shots later the RI was completely gone from my girl and she went right back to eating better than ever. Vet or no vet I appreciate the information and experience shared by all willing to help. I'm glad some are willing to step outside the box to help out a fellow snake owner.

[MATT FISHER REPTILES]

verry nice post. glad your snake got better. the first time i treated a snake i bought the wong stuff i bought tylan 50 wich i thought was only a smaller bottle not a different med. this was less then 15% of the recommended dose and the snake still got better. so say what you want this stuff works.

i have no idea how in the heck we got on rats we are talking about ri in boids.

and as far as there being more than one type of RI. all i know the one that tylan must cure must be the one that pops up 90% of the time as everyone i have ever told to use it have had a healthy snake 9 days later.

[MATT FISHER REPTILES]

My Vet talked to me, showed me how to inject the needle.And of course, I knew not to inject in the same spot twice. Told me to rotate each side.

glad to hear. best of luck to you.

[SatanicIntention]

Yes, heaven forbid we take an animal to the vet for proper treatment.

I mentioned rats because they ALL carry mycoplasma bacteria, which is what Tylan treats(in pigs). Tylan is used in swine to prevent mycoplasmosis, which depresses the immune system causing respiratory infections. If it works, great, but if your snake has a specific bacteria that isn't susceptible to tylosin, and you're sticking your snake with needles for 2-3 weeks wondering why it's still sick, and ruining the snake's kidneys, when all you had to do was get a culture and put the snake on Amikacin..? What does that solve? Whole lotta nothin'!

Get a culture, find out what bacteria the snake has and what antibiotics will work, and go from there.

[reptile3]

I am confused... Baytril is not good for my snake? Like I said in the beginning, I have never had a sick reptile ever. I came here for some advice, was told George may have a URI, turned out to be pneumonia, The Vet gave him 1 shot there, showed me how to do it. So for the next two weeks, every other day, inject the meds(baytril) into George. also after the shots, was told to give him a nice warm bath, which he loves...From the #3 injection. George has stopped gaping his mouth open, and is looking better(JMO). So I am sure the medicine he is on, is helping him. If not then i will go back till he is completely better. As we would with ourselves... Thank you, maybe I will bring up that medicine, Tylan up to my Vet when he calls to see how George is doing.

Yes, heaven forbid we take an animal to the vet for proper treatment.

I mentioned rats because they ALL carry mycoplasma bacteria, which is what Tylan treats(in pigs). Tylan is used in swine to prevent mycoplasmosis, which depresses the immune system causing respiratory infections. If it works, great, but if your snake has a specific bacteria that isn't susceptible to tylosin, and you're sticking your snake with needles for 2-3 weeks wondering why it's still sick, and ruining the snake's kidneys, when all you had to do was get a culture and put the snake on Amikacin..? What does that solve? Whole lotta nothin'!

Get a culture, find out what bacteria the snake has and what antibiotics will work, and go from there.

[littleindiangirl]

Baytril is fine for your snake.

[littleindiangirl]

Good advice Becky! We have to remember people, that over using and prescribing medicine can lead to problems with resistance in the future. Or in some cases, not even cure the problem!

There are obviously some major differences between Tylan and Baytril, the most notable to owners is price. Baytril is expensive, but it is a broad spectrum anti-biotic. I have used baytril on rats , and they have made complete and full recoveries from their RI.

For snakes, prescribing something yourself that has just been said by Becky to be useful against only Myco is missing the benefits of a broad spectrum anti-bacterial product.

I would hope everyone does the responsible thing and takes their animal to the Vet for a culture. It's best to know what your dealing with from the start. And don't promote the misuse of medicine, it CAN create resistances, especially if it is not used for the full amount of time, and can make your snake or animal sick (and probably worse) off again.

[SatanicIntention]

Reptile, since the Baytril is working, then that is what your snake needs to be on. If the snake hadn't shown improvement after 2-3 injections, then the antibiotic would need to be changed. Baytril is a very potent broad-spectrum antibiotic and works well for most respiratory infections.

It's really not as expensive as you may think, I have a 100ml bottle of the 100mg/ml concentration and it only cost me around $70. I love my vet