Need some advice -- respiratory illness

[bellepunkfille]

Hi, I have been lurking on this forum for a pretty long time and I regret making myself known only because of an emergency. I will intro myself soon, once this problem is resolved, promise.

I'm a bit worried about my new guy. I got him at NARBC in Anaheim on 9/4/2011. The seller said to me "Oh sorry, he's a ltitle cold" but I didn't think anything of it because the expo was pretty cold and every animal I've bought before from an expo was fine. The first time I fed him was last week because I wanted to give him time to acclimate to his surroundings. He was fed live, in his cage and he took the small rat fine (per the seller, this was how he was fed).

Today, I attempted to feed him again but he didn't want to eat and when I went to take a look at him, I saw something that concerned me. He seems to be experiencing bubbles and has developed some spots on his face? I have never seen this before and my other two ball pythons are healthy. They all took their food fine, no strange spots, and no bubbling or anything.

Is it a respiratory infection? Is it because the show was super cold? He is kept in a tub and I've bumped the temperature up to 92.3 with 0.5 night drop, which is a little higher than what I keep my other guys at since I am pretty worried. I wanted to take him to the vet tomorrow.

However, the seller has emailed me back this--

"hey kat just got your email the spots arnt anything to worry about looks like its just a little poop or something but the bubbles are, looks like respiratory he looks like he's in blue just keep the heat up and keep the humidity down see if it gos away after he sheds if it gets worst i'll take him back and work on him and will work something out i still got a bunch of balls and i have a clutch of albinos due to hatch in a month keep me posted thanks"

I guess I just need some advice on what to do. Please see these pictures.

http://www.iherp.com/KBGallery/22073...N_original.jpg
http://www.iherp.com/KBGallery/22073...h_original.jpg
http://www.iherp.com/KBGallery/22073...J_original.jpg

Please tell me also if I am just overreacting or if there's anything I can do for the moment and what I should do tomorrow (vet?). I am so worried Thanks in advance.

[lasweetswan]

I hope you're QTing since you said you checked your others and they are fine

[bp-guy]

i would take him to the vet immediately i wouldn't wait till he sheds cause the respiratory infection wont cure itself it will just get worse but the spots on his face probably will come off when he sheds. and when you take him to the vet make sure they do a culture to make sure they are going to give him the right antibiotics. i would just tell the breeder that you are going to take him to the vet cause you dont want it to get any worse and maybe he will compensate you for your vet bill since he was going to take the snake back and give you a different one.

I hope everything works out for you and if you get him to the sooner you get him to the vet the better cause if left untreated that RI will get worse and probably spread to your other snakes if you aren't quarantining him. If you dont already have him in Quarantine then you should do that right away.

[nick_kennedy25]

I would get him to a vet to be checked out. I noticed bubbles in one of my snakes mouth a couple of weeks ago and ten days later had taken three snakes to the vet to get meds for RI. They are separated from the rest and appear to be doing much better now. I would do what your vet said, but mine did tell me to increase my temps for the snakes affected and provide them with a ten minute soak everyday to keep them hydrated and help break up the mucous. This has actually been working and the snakes seem like they can't drink enough water while they are in there. If your vet doesn't reccomend this you might ask him/her about it. Giving them shots of baytril every day as well. I just wanted to share my story with you, but I would get him to a vet asap. Hope the lil guy does well for you.

[bp-guy]

I would get him to a vet to be checked out. I noticed bubbles in one of my snakes mouth a couple of weeks ago and ten days later had taken three snakes to the vet to get meds for RI. They are separated from the rest and appear to be doing much better now. I would do what your vet said, but mine did tell me to increase my temps for the snakes affected and provide them with a ten minute soak everyday to keep them hydrated and help break up the mucous. This has actually been working and the snakes seem like they can't drink enough water while they are in there. If your vet doesn't reccomend this you might ask him/her about it. Giving them shots of baytril every day as well. I just wanted to share my story with you, but I would get him to a vet asap. Hope the lil guy does well for you.

i hope your vet did a culture to see if baytril is the right meds that your snake needs to fight off the RI cause there are some strains of RI that are immune to baytril

[nick_kennedy25]

i hope your vet did a culture to see if baytril is the right meds that your snake needs to fight off the RI cause there are some strains of RI that are immune to baytril

No he didn't do a culture but actually gave him two kinds of meds (both antibiotics). The first obviously is baytril the other is a new one to me, it is called cefotaxime. Sorry for not mentioning that in my previous post. The meds appear to be working well and the only one still showing signs is the first snake we found sick (we started watching more closely after the first was sick), but even she is doing much better now. It will be a while yet before they are back with the rest of the collection but I think all of them will be ok. A friend of mine got me in touch with his vet also and he suggested I tweak my husbandry a bit. It wasn't far off but far enough to matter.