Antibiotic.. Betrol or something like that...

[dizzy]

My ball Reina has RI

I got her as a rescue, they were keeping her in terrible conditions... I think she must have had the bacteria and when I bumped her humidity up to what it should be it set it off. That's all I can think of. She didn't catch it from any of the other snakes, and her temps are fine, everythings clean.

Somebody that used to have a BP recommended a local place, Elkhorn Veterinarian. I called and they said they didn't treat snakes. I told them that can't be the case, and they said "yeah, we have one vet that says he's willing to treat a snake" and I assumed that must have been the DR. that treated my friend's snake in the past.

So I show up for the appointment and when I go in the back and start answering questions for the vet tech... At one point she literally said to me "I think you know more about this than we do!" I started to get worried.

Then the vet comes in... I had been thinking of asking him to probe her for me as I've never done it myself and I think she might be a he... She's small for an adult and she has VERY pronounced anal spurs... So I ask if he's ever sexed a snake and he tells me that Reina is the first snake he's ever examined! Ack!

So I know I should have taken her to a specialist but I had no idea Elkhorn was THAT inexperienced with snakes! I guess whoever used to treat exotics there is gone now. But I knew exactly what the problem was so I figured "yo doc give me some antibiotics for RI" should be pretty easy. Anything more complicated I would have walked out. lol

So he gave me something that started with a B. Betrol or Bextol or something. I'm not at home or else I'd go look at the label.

The strange this is... I went in there thinking to myself "I don't think you can stick a pill in a mouse, like a dog with ground beef.. So I'm going to end up giving her shots" I was prepared to do it, as long as I was taught how... But not looking forward to it. And then the vet gave me needle-less syringes and told me to open her mouth and just squirt it down her throat. It's been 3 days so far... I think things are going okay... I bumped her temps up a little and the medicating is going okay... No sign of improvement yet, it's early for that I think.

My question is though... is giving it to her orally going to be as effective as injections would be? The owner of the pet store I go to mentioned that they usually give injections because the stomach acid might eat the antibiotics.

Should I take her to a better vet like right now and get injections for her? Or will the oral meds help? Obviously if she's not better within the 14 days of meds I was planning on taking her someplace else. I was just wondering if I'm wasting my time stressing her out by shoving totally useless liquid down her throat.

Side note... As soon as I heard her making the little crackling noise I switched her to newspaper substrate to lower the humidity and keep it cleaner... I had reptile bark before that... As soon as I got back from the vet I used some of this Clorox sanitizing spray... It says it's safe around pets and children, no harsh fumes and you don't have to rinse it... I took everything out of her tank and sprayed the hell out of it, and then wiped it all out, cleaned her hides and stuff too... Should I sanitize her tank like this again every couple days to kill any bacteria in the tank? Or am I wasting my time with that?

[llovelace]

If you don't see an improvement in a week ask the vet to switch her /him to fortaz injections.

[dr del]

Hi,

Could it have been baytril?


dr del

[joshn6805]

Hi,

Could it have been baytril?


dr del

this is what im thinking too.

[dizzy]

Bingo! Baytril.

So is it likely to work oraly?

And yeah, if she doesn't improve then I'll take her to somebody that actually knows what a snake is. Crazy vet. I can't believe Reina popped his snake exam cherry.

And is it a good idea to keep sanitizing the tank?

Thanks alot everyone. I love this forum so much.

[llovelace]

Here are a few questions

1. How much does the snake weigh?
2. What is the strength of the Baytril solution?

[Freakie_frog]

First I have heard that oral Baytril is less effective than the injection due to their slow metabolism.

I keep Baytril on hand just in case (I'm lucky in that my vet trust me). I don't think I would ever try the oral stuff for two reasons.

1: The increasing stress on your snake will only help in infection. These animals are very prone to stress related illness to start with. Stressing them by trying to shove a tube down their throat and the get them to keep the medicine down (no Mary Poppings jokes please). I can have the injection given and the snake back in the tub before you'll have time to get the tube in..GET THE INJECTIONS.. you'll thank me for it.

2. Their digestion works much like ours. Their brain tells their stomach there is something they need to digest...start releasing stomach acid. If their brain doesn't send that signal then the medicine just sits there slowly absorbing in to the tissue. With an injection you remove the brain and just let the body do the work.. I give injections every other day and after a week or two the RI is gone.


GET TO A HERP VET AND GET THE INJECTIONS.

[kc261]

As a general rule, injections are a better, faster, more precise, etc way of delivering medications than orally. A snake's slow metabolism just makes this even more true than it is in humans.

The vet probably thought he was doing you a favor (most pet owners would prefer to give oral medications), and possibly didn't even know how to properly give injections to a snake.

I'd recommend trying to find a real herp vet and get the injectable meds.

[dizzy]

Here are a few questions

1. How much does the snake weigh?
2. What is the strength of the Baytril solution?

1. like 875 grams

2. I have no idea

[dizzy]

I don't have a tube to get it down her throat, I just have needle-less syringes and he basically told me to aim for the back of the throat... I thought I would get better at it after the first couple times, but I/she still manage to spill about 1/4 of it every time. *sigh*

Okay guys thanks for the advice. I will definitely take her to another vet.

I can't believe I wasted $135 so that @$%& could say he's treated a snake.

If you were him don't you think you would have had the receptionist inform me over the phone that you had NO experience once so ever?


Thanks for your help everyone.