Recently, we have been having a lot of trouble with sick reptiles. I work at petsmart and I know that I keep a close eye on the reptiles care, temps, cages. I know that we are providing them the best care we possibly could. Last week or the end of the week before, one of the groomers from petsmart came to me and told me that one of her baby ball pythons had fallen ill. It had a swollen mouth, its nose was bubbling and runny, and it keeps gasping. I told her it sounded like a respiratory infection and it needed to see a vet, however, because of the holiday, the vets would not be open for a day or two. So she separated her baby ball from the rest of her reptiles and made sure its cage was kept clean, and that the heat was on point, if not a bit higher than normal. I also recommended putting some reptiboost in his water to give him energy that he sorely needed and electrolytes and vitamins. The reptiboost helped him out a lot by keeping him strong. She took him to the vet and the vet said it looked like he bit something and his mouth got infected. The infection then spread to his lungs. He was put on antibiotics. However, the poor little one didn’t make it. He passed a few days later.

Later that week she came to me again and said that her other baby was gasping. Imagine my horror. She took the little girl right away, determined not to lose her too. She spent over $150 on antibiotics, tests, and appointments. All for not, she came to me today and said that she died as well.

At practically the same time, Thursday of last week I believe, I pulled my Russian tortoise out at the store to show a customer and I realized right away that the poor thing was sick. His nose was bubbling, mucus around his mouth, eyes crusty, coughing, gasping. I rushed him to the vet right away. The tortoise was fine the day before. I have been a bit nervous since the groomer lost her babies and I’ve been checking everybody. He looked perfectly healthy. The vet (different vet btw) said that it was an upper respiratory infection, and that she “THOUGHT it MAY be viral.” He was given antibiotics once a day and placed in the quiet room (for sick animals, less stressful). His temperature was kept a bit hotter than normal, uvb/uva light, clean cage. He died Saturday, 2 days later.

2 or 3 hours later on that same Thursday I was feeding the snakes when I got to the ball pythons. I picked up the first baby ball and my heart dropped. There was extra mucus in his mouth. The vet had already gone for the day so she went the next day. Surprise surprise she was diagnosed with a respiratory infection. She is being treated with antibiotics orally once a day. She is also in the quiet room with a higher than normal heat. It was about 98/99 degrees in her tank when I left for today. But she is regressing. Her nose is bubbling now and I don’t get it.

There has to be something I’m missing. I am scared that my reptiles at home are going to get sick. I can’t stand it. I’m especially worried about my Ball Python Flicker since it seems to be hitting ball pythons especially. I raised her from a hatchling. We’ve been together for 13 years now, I can’t lose her now… Please can you see anything that I missed? I need help. If you need more info on anything just let me know.


Fell