Snakes that only eat f/t?

[dsmalex97]

You need to take him to the vet if you suspect an RI. Just giving any antibiotic (and getting it offline? Those drugs could be expired or mislabeled or factory rejects, etc) may not fix the problem.

The vet needs to do a culture to figure out which bacteria is causing the problem THEN prescribe the appropriate antibiotic that the bacteria is most susceptible too. The vet should also show you how to dose the animal; the right amount of medication, over (x) amount of days and how to give the injections or tube the snake of the meds are to administered orally.

The anti-biotic they usually use is Tylan. Its not something I just randomly chose. No one else has done this? I watched videos on how to give a snake a shot, its not rocket science. And I mean, what else would cause wheezing, mucus build up, loss of appetite, and loss of weight? Seems obvious no?

[GoBoilers]

Ah the cattle industry! I should amend my statement: antibiotics that have the best odds of beating an infection are only obtained by a licensed vet! Some sulfa drugs as well as tylosin can be obtained from feed stores...but there's a reason for that: they're just not as effective as newer antibiotics, but for the cattle industry, when you're dealing with 1000 head, you want the most economical option while still having somewhat of a fighting chance with infections.

So what are your cons?

1) This product is in a dosage designed for 1000# animals...if you don't get your dose correct, you risk serious injury to your snake.

2) Tylosin has not proven to be as effective as either Baytril or Amikacin for snake RIs. Your snake is already debilitated, you need to decide if the risk of waiting around to see if the antibiotic works is worth the time lost and your BP becoming even more debilitated hence making even the appropriate antibiotic at this point less effective.

3) The injections for Tylosin are daily injections (as opposed to once a week or so with Baytril). You risk alot of stress and irritation to your BP (again, a BP that is already debilitated).

It's up to you...p.s. you may want to up his temps and humidity in the mean time!

p.p.s. Yes, he can smell the other snakes!

[GoBoilers]

p.p.s. I forgot to mention that Tylosin is used in cattle at a SUB-THERAPUTIC dose...ie. it is not used for ACTIVE infections, rather it is used to prevent infections from occurring in the first place by giving it to cattle on a consistant basis. If a cow does come down with an active infection, only antibiotics obtained from a vet are used (Baytril, etc.) (which should tell you something about the power of Tylosin to treat an active infection...in other words, it doesn't).

[dsmalex97]

Ah the cattle industry! I should amend my statement: antibiotics that have the best odds of beating an infection are only obtained by a licensed vet! Some sulfa drugs as well as tylosin can be obtained from feed stores...but there's a reason for that: they're just not as effective as newer antibiotics, but for the cattle industry, when you're dealing with 1000 head, you want the most economical option while still having somewhat of a fighting chance with infections.

So what are your cons?

1) This product is in a dosage designed for 1000# animals...if you don't get your dose correct, you risk serious injury to your snake.

2) Tylosin has not proven to be as effective as either Baytril or Amikacin for snake RIs. Your snake is already debilitated, you need to decide if the risk of waiting around to see if the antibiotic works is worth the time lost and your BP becoming even more debilitated hence making even the appropriate antibiotic at the point less effective.

3) The injections for Tylosin are daily injections (as opposed to once a week or so with Baytril). You risk alot of stress and irritation to your BP (again, a BP that is already debilitated).

It's up to you...p.s. you may want to up his temps and humidity in the mean time!

p.p.s. Yes, he can smell the other snakes!

hmmmm now your making me re-think all of this...I was thinking it was all the same stuff. Looks like I'm off to the vet...I hate spending money on stupid fee's its just a pet peeve I have.

[GoBoilers]

I know, but it's probably best for your BP to know quickly what's going on...not all antibiotics are created the same. One might be better for killing one bacteria than another and visa versa. It's best to do a culture and figure out exactly what bacteria is infecting your BP so that the right antibiotic is chosen right away as opposed to the "blind guess" technique ie. if one antibiotic doesn't work, try this one next! Especially if your guy has already lost some weight...time is really a factor and even though it's more money up front, you may save a little cash by getting the right antibiotic off the bat as opposed to having to buy 2 or 3 antibiotics because the one before didn't work. You're also helping to prevent overall bacterial resistance to antibiotics by getting only what you absolutely need and keeping our current stockpile of antibiotics effective for a longer period of time! MRSA is one example of a super-bug that was created out of our tendency to throw antibiotics at everything!

And be sure to up those temps! That can have an equally important impact in his overcoming an infection!

[GoBoilers]

p.s. Good luck!! I hope everything turns out okay!!

[dsmalex97]

p.s. Good luck!! I hope everything turns out okay!!

thanks appreciate all the help!! Temps are higher as well!!

[kc261]

There are lots of antibiotics available without a prescription. Tylan is only one of them. There are at least a few different ones available for farm animals, and a few available for aquarium fish. We can even get antibiotic ointment for humans.

However, what we can't get OTC is a culture that will tell us what sort of infection it is, and which antibiotics will help. Even broad-spectrum antibiotics like Baytril won't cure every infection, so if you want to give your snake the best chance of getting better ASAP, go to your vet and get a culture done. Then your vet will know which medicine to prescribe.

Here is a link to an old thread in which the possibility of treating a BP's RI with Tylan is discussed:
http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ighlight=tylan

I believe one person reported first hand success using Tylan to treat RI in a BP. Of course, we don't know for sure it was the Tylan that worked. Maybe the BP never had an RI. One time I managed to drop a drop of water right on the nose of one of my snakes. Immediately after, she whistling, popping, wheezing, and bubbling, just like they are supposed to with RIs, except her symptoms faded within a few hours. Something similar could have happened in this case and in others where snakes supposedly recover from RIs with no treatment or alternative treatments (or even those that get "properly" diagnosed and treated by a vet that is clueless about herps).

More importantly, several people pointed out problems with Tylan. Most of the 2nd hand info that was shared in that thread was about treating boas, not BPs. Maybe it is a very good RI treatment for boas, but that won't necessarily help a BP. Also, Tylan is apparently only effective against either gram negative or gram positive bacteria (don't remember which), but not both. If you don't know what kind of bacteria your BP has, you can't know if Tylan will be effective.

As far as your feeding question, an RI can definitely put your snake off feed. I recommend taking him to a vet, getting a culture done, and treating the RI. I wouldn't be surprised if once he is well again, he starts eating again.

[zantedeschia]

He couldn't see them, could he smell them?

My male corn definitely knows there's a female nearby. Not only did his behaviour change when I got her (he calmed down and got alot more tractable), if I handle him right after I've handled her, he'll sit there and smell me for several minutes. It's really neat to watch.

(another interesting unrelated thing - if one of us has a corn, and someone else in the room has say, a python, the corn will freeze if they get close enough.)