Our new snake is sick...

[ozone]

Hello folks,

As some of you may recall, we bought our first snake just under two weeks ago, and several days later took it to a vet for a checkup (because I had a 7 day health guarantee). The snake appeared to be fine upon visual examination, but they took a swab from inside the mouth to run a culture test.

It's now 5 days later, and I just got a call from the vet who informed me that Ziggy has 2 different bacterial infections, and to bring the snake back in tomorrow to begin treatment - a series of 10 antibiotic injections over 20 days...that they said I could perform (wonderful).

Unfortunately, i was a bit shocked by this news, so I did not even think to write down the name of the infections nor the antiobiotic so that I could perform some research online tonight...but I'll get that info tomorrow. He stated that there are two medicinal choices, one antibiotic has an excellent chance of wiping out one infection, and about a 50% chance of killing the second infection. The other antibiotic, which has a great chance at killing both, they will not use because Ziggy is too young, still growing.

This may explain why Ziggy has been hiding for about 5 days now, only to come out at night to soak himself in his water dish. I thought he was just prepping for a shed - which may in fact still be true. Everything in the cage is brand new, had been washed, daily water changes, 75-85 degrees, 40-50% humidity, etc. I am not sure if it's something I could've prevented, or if he was likely ill when i got him and it just took a couple of days to show itself.

I'll update this thread tomorrow after I get the specifics.

In the meantime, any valuable insights that you experts may be willing to share with me...Is this type of thing relatively common?

Thank you for listening...now I have to go tell Joey that his new pet is ill

 

[carol]

In the meantime...
Kill the humidity, bump up the temps a little (80 on cool side/90 on warm), and if you can find it, put a drop of grapefruit seed extract in his water. Do a taste test first to make sure it is not too strong. Also, with all bacterial infections, you must be extra dilligent about sanitizing after every stool. You are better off using paper towels during an infection as well, wood chips and other substrates can harbor bacteria. If he is soaking often, I would clean his water bowl daily. Last but not least, don't panic, with some meds your little one should be just fine. The little one most likely came to you with the infection or got it from your rodent supplier. What vet did you take him to?

 

[ozone]

Hi Carol - thanks for the info. I will definitely apply your advice and switch to paper towels, clean even more diligently and bump the temp. I'll look for GSE tomorrow at some health food stores. Not sure how to drop the humidity though, as I don't have anything in the tank now to control humidity. Perhaps I'll run the A/C tomorrow, while using lights to keep the temp up. (?)

We took him to Wildwood Veterinary Hospital in San Jose per the recommendation of this herp website:
http://www.herpvetconnection.com/calif.shtml

Oh, his first meal in my home came after his culture swab was taken, so it was not from my rodent supplier (Mice on Ice).

Hopefully the injections and the handling required to do so won't stress the little guy out too much - don't want to give him the impression that we humans always mean trouble.

 

[MegF.]

Someone on this site had suggested 2 drops per 8oz. of water. I used that for mine after a regurge. She hasn't since, don't know if it's due to that, but it can't hurt.

 

[ozone]

Below are the lab results for my snake's culture taken by the vet. Somewhere on this report it apparently shows that Ziggy has 2 different types of bacterial infections. We are just about to start a series of 10 antibody injections (every other day for 20 days).

The signs of his health are seemingly mixed:
- He ate a pinky just fine on Friday (and 6 days before that), and had a healthy poop two days after each meal
- However, he looks rather skinny these days, especially in the upper neck area.
- He's been hiding more so than ever...buried under the paper towel which itself is under a cave rock. We never see him anymore.
- last night he must've come out for a brief time because their was a shed far away from his hiding place.
- However, it was only a partial shed...only the head portion. The eye caps were included in the shed.
- He stopped his soaking two days ago. Last week he would spend many hours per night in the water dish. The soaking stopped either due to where he is at in the shed cycle, or because I added two drops of GSE into the water mix.

The bottom line is that I am finding it hard to distinguish whether or not his listless and reclusive behavior is due to the shed cycle or due to the bacteria, or a combination of the two.

I wish to raise the humidity (currently at 52% humidity; 80degrees on the cool side where's he's been hiding) to assist with the partial shed, but I don't want to encourage his bacterial infection with increased humidity.

Anyway, I am hoping that this will all work out for the best, and that he'll be up and running again in time.

Here's the lab report for those who can decipher it:

 

[carol]

Corns often go into "hiding" during thier shed cycle this is completely normal for them. Most likely all his troubles are caused by not being in a clean enviornment at the pet store. Sometimes just giving them a clean place to be will get rid of infections by itself. Of course I am NOT encouraging you to stop the antibiotic treatments. But your little one will most likely be OK. To help him with the rest of his shed, place him in a deli cup (or an old butter tub, gladware disposable tubs....any small plactic tub with a lid that you can put airholes in). Fill the tub/deli cup full of moist paper towels and place him in it all day on the warm side of his tank. If this doesn't do the trick, soak him in warm water for about 10 minutes, then hold him in a moist wash cloth gently placing pressure on him all around to "help" that shed off. I would't bump up his humidity during an infection but being in the moist tub for a day should be OK. Good Luck, and BTW, if you haven't already, I would strongly suggest getting a copy of The Cornsnake Manual by Kathy Love.