Respiratory Infection update.

[oskyle1567]

I decided to start a new thread update from this post:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...pdate-Bad-news

Some good news i took Meaty "my normal" into the vets yesterday for a culture to figure out exactly what is going on. Not the cheapest procedure $165 for a culture and sensitivity test plus vet fees $45 but hopefully this will solve everything and get my animals on the correct medication.

I initially was going to culture honey "my lesser" also because she has a different strand of reparatory infection or pneumonia but my vet told me she didn't have enough saliva in her mouth to get an accurate culture. Does this sound right to you? She is clearing up though but still has slight congestion in her chest but doing much better than two weeks ago. Should i just wait to see if the congestion gets better/worse before i go ahead with the culture or should i head back to the vet to get the culture asap? In your experience how long after being off treatments does the congestion clear up?

Time will tell i guess and i hope everything is solved within the next month I will let you know what the vet prescribes next.

[Skiploder]

I decided to start a new thread update from this post:
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...pdate-Bad-news

Some good news i took Meaty "my normal" into the vets yesterday for a culture to figure out exactly what is going on. Not the cheapest procedure $165 for a culture and sensitivity test plus vet fees $45 but hopefully this will solve everything and get my animals on the correct medication.

I initially was going to culture honey "my lesser" also because she has a different strand of reparatory infection or pneumonia but my vet told me she didn't have enough saliva in her mouth to get an accurate culture. Does this sound right to you? She is clearing up though but still has slight congestion in her chest but doing much better than two weeks ago. Should i just wait to see if the congestion gets better/worse before i go ahead with the culture or should i head back to the vet to get the culture asap? In your experience how long after being off treatments does the congestion clear up?

Time will tell i guess and i hope everything is solved within the next month I will let you know what the vet prescribes next.

They charged you $165 for a swab + culture or $165 for a tracheal wash + culture?

I have a sinking feeling that due to her "saliva" comment, she charged you $165 to put a q-tip in your snakes mouth...........

[oskyle1567]

Well the $165 is the fee for the lab tests and diagnosis she charged $45 to stick the swab down the trachea. I did mention a lung wash and she said the swab method puts allot less stress and is more safe for the snake. Given the effects of the anesthetics and the decreased capacity of the lungs from the RI i guess it could cause the snake to stop breathing. As for the lesser not having enough saliva it was really up to me but she said the results would not be as effective and leaded me away from it.

[2kdime]

Did they put a swab in the mouth of the snake or one down the trachea?

[oskyle1567]

She put it down the trachea. The snake kept holding her breath before she put the swab in i was amazed on how long they could hold there breath!

[Crazy4Herps]

If the female has an infection, the bacteria will be in the trachea regardless of saliva contents. Perhaps your vet meant there wasn't enough saliva (as a symptom) to warrant treatment? If the infection is mild enough some vets recommend waiting to see if it will clear up on its own.

[oskyle1567]

Your probably right Crazy4Herps it is an expensive procedure so its probably best to just wait to see if she relapse. The culture only takes 3 days to test.

[oskyle1567]

The culture came in on sat. and the my vet and the owner of the practice are "looking into it" im more than frustrated... The only information they have gave me thus far is its immune to all the standard meds ie amikacin baytril fortaz I remember vibramycin being mentioned in our conversation but im not sure.. Can i take my results to another vet beause this is ridiculous i shouldn't have to wait more than a couple days for them to give me an outcome. Its tough watching these guys deteriorate like this and not being able to do anything about it..

[oskyle1567]

I got a call back from my vet "few" and there working with there distributor to try and find the medicine i need. I guess the drugs there looking at aren't very common and can be expensive. So i just need to hang tight but i feel allot better that they have contacted me and are working on it.

[Rickys_Reptiles]

Once upon a time I grabbed a lesser from a fellow locally.

It had a RI and I didn't mind, took it home and put it on baytril for 2 weeks to no avail. I took it to have a culture and it came back resistant to all the standard drugs, including baytril and fortaz. The snake died.

Although it has been spoken about here and there, I am convinced that there is a strain of RI, be it viral or bacterial that is resistant to our current medications. There are so many people who use baytril for only half a course of treatment, then sell a snake, that I question if we haven't already produced some kind of "super" bug.

Is your snake at least on something in the meantime while you're waiting for results? Have you tried F10 to nebulize?