everybody plz cross your fingers for us. . .

[Skiploder]

Our little girl J.J. who finished her 3 week course of the antibiotic Fortaz didn't show a great deal of improvement, even though after about a week she seemed to show improvement in behavior but was still making a clicking noise when you listened closely. We went away for a couple of days, husbandry was spot on, Herpstat controlling belly heat at 92 cool side substrate at 81, ambient around 81-84, 54% humidity. We got back today and the RI has become advanced, obvious mucous around the mouth and her left eye was enlarged and filled with a clear fluid (maybe from scraping against things, maybe infection spread). we rushed her to the animal 911 nearby, they have her now. She is under their care while they are administering different AB (a baytril mix?) and nebulizing the medications for faster absorption. We are sooooo worried whether she will make it through this, she was still active and inquisitive during the exam, not lethargic at all, so we are hopeful. When I first brought her into the vet because of very early signs of RI they didn't do a culture and the Ceftazidime was prescribed. I hope no one else has to go through this but if you ever do, insist on the culture to make sure to get the right treatment right out of the gate. It was awful to see her like this and we're sick with worry about how the next day or two goes while waiting for a phone call. We thought she was recovering for the entire last month, her last shot was on July 25th, but she was just on a plateau and it was shocking to see this rapid decline. plz cross your fingers for us. .

Have they cultured her now?

Your snake's eyes drain into their mouth via a lacrimal duct. This can plugged for a variety of reasons - and often during advanced respiratory infections the lacrimal duct becomes infected, swollen and subsequently does not drain.

This leads to an eye that looks like it's bulging out.

It extremely uncomfortable for the animal so let's hope that they vet knows the trick to drain it if that's indeed what it is.

Best of luck. I think it would be a positive thing if someone cultured this infection instead of throwing antibiotics at it.