TAZICEF? Anyone have any bad experiences with this antibiotic?

[predatorkeeper87]

Hey all,

So one of my recent rescues, a mojo spider male, came to me with a slight RI (what I thought was a slight/mild RI...)

I took him to the vet, who is as of right now the only exotics vet I've found in the area who has dealt with snakes to any great length. He didn't culture the infection (Yes i know...RUN! but I trusted him on this one) but he did say he's seen a few this year and so far my BP's was very mild so he prescribed Tazicef in 5 15cc doses every 3 days. He stated I should see this clear up within the first 2 injections but if I don't see an improvement in the first several shots to bring him back immediately.

Fast forward to his 3rd treatment and what I thought was vast improvement, no more bubbles at the corners of his lips, hissing started to sound normal again etc etc etc...so I go into his tub after work to give him his 3rd round of treatment and I immediately notice something is wrong....he's laying completely flat and you can see he's 100% "relaxed" with no muscle rigidity. I pick him up and he's completely weak in my hands, almost zero resistance to the touch and he can barely hold on to my arm. As a pet owner you know when your animal is 3 feet down in a 6 foot grave and he was there. I decide well I'll give him his shot but I'm guessing in the next hour or so he's going to check out and I was correct, I came back a little later and he was gone.

It sucks but life goes on and now I am reaching for answers as to what may have happened here.


TL;DR my snake had an RI, prescribed Tazicef, 3rd injection snake is dead. He lives in a rack system, 91 hotspot, 76-80 ambient depending on room temp. He ate 2 days before his vet visit. Any ideas? I'll be speaking to the vet about it but I have a feeling he won't be offering me much in the way of explanation.


Also side note any PITTSBURGH area based snake owners, who do you use as a good reptile vet? I spoke with Greg of 412Balls and have 1 good suggestion, looking for others. Thanks.

[bcr229]

First, put the snake in the refrigerator. I would have the snake necropsied ASAP to find out whether it had a bacterial RI that was resistant to the antibiotic prescribed or if it had a viral one.

Second, until you have that answer lock down your collection - nothing in or out.

Tazicef / ceftazidime (aka Fortaz) is one of the better broad-spectrum antibiotics for RI's. It does have a short shelf life and has to be kept frozen once reconstituted so a lot of vets don't stock it.

Since this snake was a rescue it could have been harboring the RI for a long time before you got it and took it to the vet, so even if the correct antibiotic were prescribed it may have been too late for the snake.

[predatorkeeper87]

First, put the snake in the refrigerator. I would have the snake necropsied ASAP to find out whether it had a bacterial RI that was resistant to the antibiotic prescribed or if it had a viral one.

Second, until you have that answer lock down your collection - nothing in or out.

Tazicef / ceftazidime (aka Fortaz) is one of the better broad-spectrum antibiotics for RI's. It does have a short shelf life and has to be kept frozen once reconstituted so a lot of vets don't stock it.

Since this snake was a rescue it could have been harboring the RI for a long time before you got it and took it to the vet, so even if the correct antibiotic were prescribed it may have been too late for the snake.

Snakes been preserved and a necropsy will be scheduled. My collection is on lockdown as we speak.

I was told that about the antibiotic with regards to freezing.

The thought of him maybe having had the infection for a long time was on my mind...but when I inspected him it didn't look far advanced at all...even the vet seemed to think we caught it fairly quickly. That leads to me to wonder if this was some type of quick acting virus rather than bacteria. I'll see if the necropsy shows anything.