Nebulizing... I have a couple questions.

[BleedingOrange36]

Hey everyone,
My big female was showing signs of an RI a couple weeks ago. I followed every guideline I could find and bumped her heat, sanitized her tank, got her on papertowels. The day after I noticed symptoms I had her a vet apt. I got home from work, went and checked on her and she looked great. The vet also said she seemed fine. He gave me a round of baytril, and tested her stool and found some parasites. I gave her a suspension orally.
She seems to be doing great again, but I seen a couple tiny bubbles on one side of her mouth after handling her while cleaning her tank. I checked her mouth and it looked great. The only time she opens her mouth is after feeding, maybe to realigned her jaws?
I picked up some F10 at the start of this as finally got my hands on a nebulizer last night. My question is, what should I use in the nebulizer to mix the F10 with? I tried to find distilled water last night to no avail. I picked up some sterile highly sensitive eye saline. Would it be fine to you that with the F10? I've searched high and low for this answer and came up empty. I wanted to nebulizer her and my male I had in with her for 4 days. He had a little bit of dried mucous under his nostrils. But other than that he is completely healthy.
I have everything ready to nebulizer, I just need to know if I can use that saline solution or if that wouldn't work? Thanks in advance.

[oskyle1567]

I nebulize with distilled but i would just give your vet a call to make sure the saline will work.

[BleedingOrange36]

I'm thinking I may just take another trip to grab some distilled. What worries me about the saline is the ingredients. Boric Acid?
Thanks for the reply, I'm hoping to help them in anyway I can.

[oskyle1567]

I'm in the same boat. Its good you picked up a neutralizer it works much better than a fogger penetrates deeper into the lungs. Nebing without f-10 works also me personally i dont like putting chemicals into there lungs every time i do it. I do every 3 days f-10 and in between just distilled.

[kitedemon]

This is the instructions I have been given for using F10. NO do not mix it with SALINE SOLUTION it will neutralize the f10. I would question your vet however. One treatment of baytril? I am assuming that was a single injection? Baytril is an older drug and has been over used many bacteria are resistant to it. I see why someone would not do a lung wash culture (cost) but reptiles have very very slow metabolisms much slower than humans when was the last time your doctor gave you one antibiotic pill? Typically 3 weeks to 10 weeks is the dosing period every 3 days. There is unlikely to be any effect for a single dose of any antibiotic in a mammal let alone a snake. I would not personally nebulize anything with out vet consultation. I would strongly suggest you find a reptile vet and have another visit. At least return to your vet and ask for a round on antibiotics I would also strongly suggest a culture be done I believe the original dose will not effect the results at this point, not sure check that.

Hi Alex,

Mix 4ml F10 SC in a litre of water (dilution ratio 1:250) and nebulize the reptile for approx 30 - 40 mins every day until the RI is cleared. If its a snake, after nebulizing hold it head down and clean any mucus from the mouth with an ear-bud. If you see no improvement after a week or so, go to a vet. Nebulizing works if you catch RI early however if its severe you may also need antibiotics. You should also check your environment is set up correctly - temps, humidity, etc.

cheers, John
John Berry Reptiles
www.johnberryreptiles.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jberryreptiles

John is the European and N american distributer for F10.

[kitedemon]

A good friend on mine suggests something else a little unorthodox but she says it helps. She is a zoo keeper in a reptile zoo so I tend to listen to her. She suggests as odd as it sounds cat nip plants. Live cat nip plant that is. Catnip has been long used to treat coughs and has a mild antibiotic effect too. She claims it adds oxygen (it is a plant) and the fumes from the leaves help to open airways. I think it makes some sense. She does not claim it is a cure just aids the snake in breathing freely.

The next question is are A you sure it is RI and not just some water in the mouth. RI fluid is very slimy, not like spit but like phlegm.

The second question is have you gone over your husbandry very very carefully. Reptiles do not normally just get RI it comes from a depressed immune system and that usually points to a husbandry issue. Have you checked your temps all of them ambient air temps too? Do you have enough ventilation? Humidity is it in a reasonable range 55-65%? If there is an underling issue you will not get rid of the ri it will persist.

[BleedingOrange36]

This is the instructions I have been given for using F10. NO do not mix it with SALINE SOLUTION it will neutralize the f10. I would question your vet however. One treatment of baytril? I am assuming that was a single injection? Baytril is an older drug and has been over used many bacteria are resistant to it. I see why someone would not do a lung wash culture (cost) but reptiles have very very slow metabolisms much slower than humans when was the last time your doctor gave you one antibiotic pill? Typically 3 weeks to 10 weeks is the dosing period every 3 days. There is unlikely to be any effect for a single dose of any antibiotic in a mammal let alone a snake. I would not personally nebulize anything with out vet consultation. I would strongly suggest you find a reptile vet and have another visit. At least return to your vet and ask for a round on antibiotics I would also strongly suggest a culture be done I believe the original dose will not effect the results at this point, not sure check that.

Hi Alex,

Mix 4ml F10 SC in a litre of water (dilution ratio 1:250) and nebulize the reptile for approx 30 - 40 mins every day until the RI is cleared. If its a snake, after nebulizing hold it head down and clean any mucus from the mouth with an ear-bud. If you see no improvement after a week or so, go to a vet. Nebulizing works if you catch RI early however if its severe you may also need antibiotics. You should also check your environment is set up correctly - temps, humidity, etc.

cheers, John
John Berry Reptiles
www.johnberryreptiles.com
Follow us on Twitter: http://twitter.com/jberryreptiles

John is the European and N american distributer for F10.

My apologies if I was vague with my post.
The vet have her the initial injection and sent me home with 6 shots. I was directed to give her one shot a day for a week. I'm guessing it was a pretty low dose to be a daily injection.
The initial reason I brought her in was for obvious signs of an RI. Open mouth breathing, wheezing, clicking, head elevated. I noticed some mucous in her take on the sides.
At the time it started I had her tank elevated off the floor about 4". I had about 70% of the screen covered with foil and 2 small moist towels in between her light fixtures( 1 infared in center of tank to keep ambients at 83-85, a UVB bulb over her hot side where her UTH was reading 91, and a smaller infared that I had hooked up to keep her cold side in range) my ambient snake room temp is 78-81, and RH is at 72%. I was maintaining her RH at 63%.
I believe the culprit was the fact that she was below a outside widow ( she has been moved to a table top where there is no draft). We had three colder than usual nights where our outside temps dropped to the low 60's. I just moved into this apt in June and didn't realize there was a slight draft coming in and possibly cooler her down at night.
I have since sealed the widow with plastic tho alleviate winter time concerns. Her husbandry is spot on, all temps are checked with a high end IR thermometer. I am currently in the process of building a P.I.D temperature controller running into a PLC to control all aspects of her heating, and lighting..
She is not showing any obvious signs of an RI at the moment, I was just planning on nebulizing just Incase this was an early sign of a relapse.

[BleedingOrange36]

A good friend on mine suggests something else a little unorthodox but she says it helps. She is a zoo keeper in a reptile zoo so I tend to listen to her. She suggests as odd as it sounds cat nip plants. Live cat nip plant that is. Catnip has been long used to treat coughs and has a mild antibiotic effect too. She claims it adds oxygen (it is a plant) and the fumes from the leaves help to open airways. I think it makes some sense. She does not claim it is a cure just aids the snake in breathing freely.

The next question is are A you sure it is RI and not just some water in the mouth. RI fluid is very slimy, not like spit but like phlegm.

The second question is have you gone over your husbandry very very carefully. Reptiles do not normally just get RI it comes from a depressed immune system and that usually points to a husbandry issue. Have you checked your temps all of them ambient air temps too? Do you have enough ventilation? Humidity is it in a reasonable range 55-65%? If there is an underling issue you will not get rid of the ri it will persist.

How would I go about using the Cat Nip? I actually have three cat nip plants in my garden.

[kitedemon]

I guess just cleaning one and using new unfertilized earth (perhaps hydroponic methods? Not a green thumb) and just place it into the enclosure. Perhaps cleaned cuttings in a bit of water might work too but I am not sure live plants still do the same photosynthesis.


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