Advice for my BEL and her RI

[Ax01]

u seem anxious to breed her and have made several mentions of her bowl wrapping. it’s your animal(s), your money and u will ultimately decide what to do. but let me ask, if u can’t trust a specialist, who can u trust? it's concerning that she did not drool prior to her illness which makes me think something is wrong. maybe it will turn out to be no biggie and it will be like how some peeps walk with a limp. sure something’s wrong but u can still live with a limp and do stuff, live life, etc.


Wintre looks great BTW. really glad she lost the black spots u had mentioned from her allergy to medication.


Edit: there's vet recommendations on the forum including this one here in the bay - http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=1#post2464964 if u are looking for other options.

[treaux]

u seem anxious to breed her and have made several mentions of her bowl wrapping. it’s your animal(s), your money and u will ultimately decide what to do. but let me ask, if u can’t trust a specialist, who can u trust? it's concerning that she did not drool prior to her illness which makes me think something is wrong. maybe it will turn out to be no biggie and it will be like how some peeps walk with a limp. sure something’s wrong but u can still live with a limp and do stuff, live life, etc.


Wintre looks great BTW. really glad she lost the black spots u had mentioned from her allergy to medication.


Edit: there's vet recommendations on the forum including this one here in the bay - http://ball-pythons.net/forums/showt...=1#post2464964 if u are looking for other options.

Thanks for the input. I agree that at this level of diagnostics, I wouldn't want to go anywhere else and feel like I should follow through. Even if they don't give me an answer to what is causing it, it makes me feel better about continuing with my first breeding project. I've been planning this for a while now and it got delayed about 9 months after Wintre got sick, which makes me happy she's showing some good signs lately and appears to be in good health other than this drool thing. The upsides are that they didn't find anything contagious in the fluid and she doesn't have any outwardly signs of infection. The blood work should confirm that and at that point I feel comfortable breeding her. She is also a pet for me so I want to lower the chances of risk for breeding as I want to have her a long long time.

As for the black bumps that turned in to hives, there doesn't appear to be any scarring or marks left over. The vets at UC Davis were very intrigued by her reaction as they also hadn't seen it happen before and had me send them all the pictures of it for them to study.

Working on a return appointment still and will update this thread when I have more info.

[treaux]

So another Wintre update. Upon having blood work done and x-ray, it appears everything is normal other than a slight white count elevation and the fluid in the back of her mouth. Doesn't look like an RI, but there is definitely inflammation somewhere and a possible infection still. Vet prescribed Ceftazidime and Meloxicam injections which I started tonight. Will collect a stool sample and have it checked for parasites when I can. Otherwise, poor Wintre is in for another month of injections. Hopefully this will clear her up fully!

[Ax01]

sending well wished to Wintre. i got my fingers crossed for u guys and my snakes got their tails crossed as well.

[treaux]

sending well wished to Wintre. i got my fingers crossed for u guys and my snakes got their tails crossed as well.

Thanks for the well wishes. We are a week into the injections now and I can tell she's not feeling great. She tends to just camp out on the hot spot and not move at all when she's on antibiotics. I guess that's a good sign since the vet recommends elevated heat (simulating a fever in humans I assume) to help fight infection. I have her back in the T8 (now dubbed the infirmary) where the temps are a little bit more stable and sure enough she has not moved from her hide on the hot spot (now set at 95 degrees, with an 80 degree cool side). I'm not going to offer food until after the Meloxicam as it can cause GI discomfort and irritation. I doubt she will eat anyways at the moment.

Here's her current state:

[Ashley96]

Hoping for the best! There's so much about snakes even vets don't know so this is really a giant learning experience for everyone involved. Just reading this has been a learning experience. It's still unfortunate poor Wintre has to go through this mysterious illness She looks gorgeous as ever tho!


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[bcr229]

Honestly I wouldn't pair her with any males until she has been symptom-free for at least six months. Yes, waiting stinks. Having two sick snakes stinks even more.

The reason I thought of it was a poster on the boa forums who only waited four months after her boa's RI cleared up to pair it, and the problem ended up being a viral rather than a bacterial infection. Now her whole collection is on lockdown.

[treaux]

Honestly I wouldn't pair her with any males until she has been symptom-free for at least six months. Yes, waiting stinks. Having two sick snakes stinks even more.

The reason I thought of it was a poster on the boa forums who only waited four months after her boa's RI cleared up to pair it, and the problem ended up being a viral rather than a bacterial infection. Now her whole collection is on lockdown.

I agree and she's out of breeding plans for this year for sure. The vet wasn't overly concerned with her being contagious as they didn't find anything "worth culturing" when they did the cytology, but I'd worry more about the stress of breeding making her run down and having whatever it is come back full force. She's really my pet first and I plan on keeping her in the bedroom from now on in her own T8.

I was excited at the thought of breeding her for my first breeding project, but I also have my Lessers reaching breeding size this year and one has already locked with our pretty Lemonblast male. Second lesser is almost up to size (they are all eating like pigs lately) and will pair with our Crystal dude, so still might make white snakes in the first season.

I just want to see Wintre get better. She seems to be popping more since I started the antibiotics, which is worrying. I fear the month will go by and she will not have gotten any better. I am still looking for a better vet as UC Davis seems very clinically knowledgeable and great at diagnostics, but lacking experience and interest in dealing with snakes.

[BeksNY]

Hi all,

I'm the other half of the "we" Treaux references above. I'm just popping in to say thanks for the well wishes for Wintre and for the resources you all offer and create here. Being a part of this community, has given us lots of incredible food for thought as we consider our husbandry and pairings, etc.. So... thanks, everybody, and keep up the good work and exciting discussions!

xoxo,
Beks

[Albert Clark]

Wow! The saga continues and she seems like she's been through so much. Hoping to see her fully healed and ready for the next breeding season. Good luck. Wintre is a amazing ball python.