Behira - 2016 Female Ivory Ghost - First BCI

[dakski]

Behira saw the vet today.

The short of it is that the vets (all 3 vets looked at Behira) are convinced that she is reaching sexual maturity and in human speak, having a bad puberty.

It's analogous to some people have their faces covered in pimples when they go through puberty and others you wouldn't even know.

The main vet, who owns the practice, and who saved Yafe, told me, essentially, "Good you are a caring and cautious owner, but I know a sick snake when I see one (that's all I usually see) and Behira is not a sick snake. She's eating, hasn't lost weight even given the shedding frequency and likely hormone issues, other than the redness her scales are perfect, she's having perfect sheds, perfect waste movements, and seems active, alert, and strong. Her stool sample was normal and her white blood count is as well."

She promised that she would intervene IF she stopped eating OR developed lesions etc. I asked about a swab and she said, "Where? There's no open wounds and her skin looks sealed, vibrant, and healthy."

She said the electrolyte soak made sense, IF she was dehydrated or had malnutrition. She said if I want to soak her, just use water, or a light iodine mix, but that latter was probably unnecessary.

She agreed with feeding her more often and that staying on the warm side could be hormonal as well.

For everyone's edification, they did a quick ultrasound (not expensive and not painful for Behira in any way) of her sex organs and related area and saw nothing abnormal.

I am a little conflicted, but I also respect my vet(s) tremendously. All 3 looked at her and had the same conclusion. I also circled back with Don Soderberg who was perplexed, but open minded and agreed that she wasn't acting sick in any way.

I want to be able to do something, but I also have to accept that I have done what I can RE taking her to the vet, soaking, researching etc. and maybe I just need to back off a little and give it some time and keep an eye on it.

I plan to soak her every few days, feed every 10 days, and keep an eye on her. If anything changes, I will post it here, and take her back to the vet.

I feel the visit today was cathartic in the sense that all the vets think she's doing great aside from the shedding. None of them think there is an imminent threat to her.