Symptoms and care after URI?

[H_Kris_H]

Hey there. I recently had a bit of an URI epidemic go through all of my sub-adult and adult ball pythons within the last few months. They were all diagnosed by a wonderful vet to have a similar problem; all of them had an over abundance of naturally occurring bacteria which began to run rampant after a lowered immunity due to exposure to cedar bedding that was mixed in with the cypress bedding (never using cypress again). Needles to say, most if not all of the snakes are feeling better. My cinnamon (who has a bad burn scar due to his previous owner) is still struggling with it.

However, all of my balls still have popping in their mouths when they breath and are rather drooly. Its not thick like the mucus what was occurring during infection, but it still is rather gooey and concerning. I have had the heat raised for a while (as I have been recommended to do by users/breeders/vets) as well as occasional soaks for all of them in warm water (also recommended by vet/breeders). They are all eating well, except fro my albino male who had it the worst and the cinnamon who is still struggling but they eat every other week or so. the albino is even much more active than he was when I first got him.

Is this a residual symptom that takes time to go away? Is it still infectious? What can I do to reduce the drool/saliva/mucus (it seems to make breathing less comfortable). Any thoughts? All are welcome. =3

[H_Kris_H]

... Help...?

[heathers*bps]

Are they on antibiotics?

[H_Kris_H]

Are they on antibiotics?

They had a full round of antibiotics, had a second culture done, and were returned healthy. =S

[Skiploder]

Hey there. I recently had a bit of an URI epidemic go through all of my sub-adult and adult ball pythons within the last few months. They were all diagnosed by a wonderful vet to have a similar problem; all of them had an over abundance of naturally occurring bacteria which began to run rampant after a lowered immunity due to exposure to cedar bedding that was mixed in with the cypress bedding (never using cypress again). Needles to say, most if not all of the snakes are feeling better. My cinnamon (who has a bad burn scar due to his previous owner) is still struggling with it.

However, all of my balls still have popping in their mouths when they breath and are rather drooly. Its not thick like the mucus what was occurring during infection, but it still is rather gooey and concerning. I have had the heat raised for a while (as I have been recommended to do by users/breeders/vets) as well as occasional soaks for all of them in warm water (also recommended by vet/breeders). They are all eating well, except fro my albino male who had it the worst and the cinnamon who is still struggling but they eat every other week or so. the albino is even much more active than he was when I first got him.

Is this a residual symptom that takes time to go away? Is it still infectious? What can I do to reduce the drool/saliva/mucus (it seems to make breathing less comfortable). Any thoughts? All are welcome. =3

Did your vet culture the infection?

How did the vet know it was a naturally occurring bacteria?

How did the vet pin point the cause on the bedding?

What was the treatment? - Type of antibiotic and frequency.

Your snakes need to go back to the vet. The infection needs to be cultured and treated correctly. If the first vet did not do this, then you need to find a vet that will treat your snakes correctly.

The other thing you need to do is stop soaking them. Regardless of whether your snakes are sick or well, soaking is something that does nothing but induce stress in them. Stress is something they don't need right now.

If your current vet recommended soaking your snakes as help with an RI, I would advise that you find another qualified reptile vet immediately. Frankly, that was rotten advice.

Bottom line - your snakes still have an infection. They need to go to a vet that will diagnose the bacteria responsible. They need to not be soaked. They need proper diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.

[heathers*bps]

It sounds like they need another round of antibiotics. And yes stop soaking them.

[Daybreaker]

Skiploder hit it on the head.

Having had a snake just get over an RI myself, I would recommend that once they are all "cured" of the RIs and not showng any symptoms I would recommend checking inside their mouths to make sure that the RIs are actually gone. I have been checking my girl once a week after her 30 day treatment was up to make sure it's actually gone and the symptons arn't just as severe to be noticable. If they are reoccuring RIs it's best to catch them from the get go instead of letting them get bad again since that's when they're harder to treat.

Good luck.

[H_Kris_H]

Did your vet culture the infection?

How did the vet know it was a naturally occurring bacteria?

How did the vet pin point the cause on the bedding?

What was the treatment? - Type of antibiotic and frequency.

Your snakes need to go back to the vet. The infection needs to be cultured and treated correctly. If the first vet did not do this, then you need to find a vet that will treat your snakes correctly.

The other thing you need to do is stop soaking them. Regardless of whether your snakes are sick or well, soaking is something that does nothing but induce stress in them. Stress is something they don't need right now.

If your current vet recommended soaking your snakes as help with an RI, I would advise that you find another qualified reptile vet immediately. Frankly, that was rotten advice.

Bottom line - your snakes still have an infection. They need to go to a vet that will diagnose the bacteria responsible. They need to not be soaked. They need proper diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.

First, I would like to thank you for your time in your reply. That was thoughtful.

However, the way in which you replied came off as rude. If that was not your intent, then please disregard my previous statement.

As for the cultures, yes, I got cultures on every single one of my ball pythons in order to make sure that they would be getting the correct antibiotic and the correct treatment. There was no way that the vet would be able to give the correct treatment if not for the culture, just like a doctor.

The cultures showed on each and over abundance of naturally occurring bacteria just as a culture would fr a urinary tract infection or yeast infection in humans. Ecoli and yeast are both naturally occurring bacteria in humans which can run rampant if altered by an outside anomaly, such as antibiotics in humans or improper/poisonous substrate such as cedar. My ball pythons never had a problem until I switched them to the cypress, in which I did find traces of cedar.

As for the antibiotics, each of my ball pythons had to go back to the vet twice for a second treatment and a second round of two antibiotics each. After which they were cultured again and sent home with a clean bill of health. At the moment I cannot remember the names of the antibiotics.

As for the soaking, (though you will probably find this to be a cardinal sin) I have been soaking these ball pythons since they were hatchlings at least once a month to assist with shedding and to get them used to the soaks. This would ensure that there is no undue stress during the time of shedding which would also be bad for them. And it worked. None of my balls pythons ball anymore, I have never had one hiss at me and I have never once had one puff at me. Not to mention the reason the soaking was suggested to me in particular was because the mucus that was in their mouths was drying in their noses and mouths, making it harder for them to breath. Trying to take teasers or tongs to pull it out was just hurting them.

For the next three days after I soak my animals, they brighten, they seem healthier and they can breath.

Needless to say, you didn't answer my questions; I simply wished to know what the residual symptoms of an URI would be. Aside from my cinnamon, who is slowly getting better, they are all breathing better aside from the occasional drooling and heavy breathing.

[H_Kris_H]

Skiploder hit it on the head.

Having had a snake just get over an RI myself, I would recommend that once they are all "cured" of the RIs and not showng any symptoms I would recommend checking inside their mouths to make sure that the RIs are actually gone. I have been checking my girl once a week after her 30 day treatment was up to make sure it's actually gone and the symptons arn't just as severe to be noticable. If they are reoccuring RIs it's best to catch them from the get go instead of letting them get bad again since that's when they're harder to treat.

Good luck.

Thank you very much. =3

As for any residual effects, did your animal continue to drool for a while? All I really wanted advice on was residual effects.

[devildog_dk]

Thank you very much. =3

As for any residual effects, did your animal continue to drool for a while? All I really wanted advice on was residual effects.

If anything it looked like she had some mucus that was in the process of drying up, but not much if any at all and it didn't stay there long.