We have a snake with ongoing RI. She came down with it right before laying a clutch. I am thinking she was kept in less than optimal conditions before we acquired her and perhaps the stress of the eggs did her in.

She was first treated with Baytril and did well, but near the end of the vial I called the vet and said we were running out. He told us it would be good to just slowly wean her off of it with smaller and smaller doses (has anybody heard of being "weaned" off antibiotics..?) which we did. She was better, mostly, she started eating again, but she still had a few bubbles every now and again. So I think she was taken off the Baytril too early perhaps.

I really like our vet and he's a wonderful guy, but I guess I just don't always understand the "why" of what he is prescribing. Her Baytril treatment was working just fine so...why the change to Amikacin?

We are almost 6 hours round trip away from him, and can only get out there on weekends so it's not exactly easy to just run back to the vet all the time. We weren't able to get any meds as none of the vets in Squamish carry the medicine or are willing to dispense prescriptions from other Vets. We then went back to the vet with the snake, and instead of another round of Baytril, he prescribed Amikacin. It did absolutely nothing for her, in fact she may have even got worse over the 21 days we were administering The Amikacin.

We then went back a third time and now he has prescribed us Baytril in the same amount/dose as the first time, but instead of everyday, he has her on an injection every OTHER day. I'm afraid the meds are going to run out before she is better once again and I REALLY don't want to keep her on antibiotics forever.

And since I know you guys will ask, her temps are perfect, she's got a 92 hot spot (Cornel's World CB70 rack with 2 strips of 4" flexwatt) with around 80 ambient +/- a degree or so. Her humidity is perfect, her sheds have always been perfect. None of the other snakes are showing any signs or symptoms of RI, or anything else for that matter. The vet did a test of her mucus and said that it's typical of an RI and it's not stomach acid, so that is a good thing, he said.

The strange thing is she is wheezing and gurgling, and wiping mucus everywhere (which actually has cleared up really quickly since beginning the Baytril again) and she was holding her mouth open. All of typical signs of RI...yet she is still eating like a pig. Every time I offer it to her, she eats. Which is great. But I'm just so frustrated that so far no treatments have worked and I fear that prolonging this is going to make it VERY difficult if not impossible to treat.

I was also told by the vet that once a snake gets an RI, there really is no "curing" it. I am aware that there will always be bacterias present, but does this mean she's going to have this RI forever? Have you ever treated a snake for RI and NOT had it reoccur?

So, if you have any insight, I would love to hear it. I contacted Corey (thank you!) and he has told me Fortaz works really well. I was also told (by the vet) that Fortaz isn't really used up here because of it's cost. But I just really want my baby to get better, she is one of my favorite snakes. So do you think I should try this course of Baytril, or should I stop it and ask the vet to order me some Fortaz? I really don't care how much it costs at this point.

Thanks!

Also, just because it's cool to see, here is her xray from the first visit