Sick snake - Experienced advise wanted

[Albert Clark]

Thank you guys! She actually came to me already thin, and was sold to me as "a finicky eater". It became very apparent that she was actually sick with in the first few days, so she's already been at the point where she's refusing food before treatment. She didn't start out with much reserves, and she's VERY steeply triangle shaped right now. Hard to find any muscle padding to put the injections into.

My vet is pretty good, but not so much a reptile vet as an exotics vet that will see reptiles, so I'm not always entirely confident in his advice. He'll sometimes say things that apply to other snakes and reptiles, but not ball pythons in specific, or things that are outdated (such as suggesting UV for basking, or saying a snake that know to be female is actually male because of her spur size). He actually wasn't going to do a culture for the RI at first, but did it anyway at my insistence. Thing is, I've dealt almost entirely with healthy snakes that have been in my care since they were babies. I know what a snake with a good body condition and healthy weight can take if they refuse food, but Snickers is so dramatically NOT a healthy size compared to my other snakes that any downward trend is alarming, so I don't quite trust my own judgement either.

I'll definitely grab some benebac for her water though. I've been keeping her humidity and temps up, and will be trying out an F-10 treatment this weekend once the fogger I ordered gets here, so hydration should still be good.

OK. Gotcha. But remember the Benebac is for the intestinal flora and should be given by mouth. It can be a powder that has to be mixed with water or the pre-mixed liquid version which is easier to work with. The pedialite is a fluid replacement that can be instilled in the drinking water and the soaking dish.