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Snake Medications, Administration

greymaiden

greymaiden

Love and Hisses
I'm sure this has been asked before, but I did a search and couldn't find it.

I have a yearling butter motley that has been put on baytril and metronidazde. Baytril, of course is an antibiotic, but I'm not sure what the other is and it isn't coming up on a search. Does anyone know what metronidazde is? (possibly misspelled)

I took the snake in for regurging (multiple times) so the vet put him on a small dose of anti-biotics and this other stuff pending culture results. Is it something to balance the digestive chemistry of the snake? A nutrient solution to help him while he isn't eating?

I have a pretty good vet who specializes in exotic animals like reptiles, so he generally knows what he is doing and I trust him.

Also, a simpler question: How do I get my snake to keep his mouth open to give him his meds? If I hold his head with one hand, and open his mouth with a toothpick with the other, then when I put the toothpick down to pick up the dropper he closes his mouth! Today I just shoved the dropper in his mouth, but that can't be good for him and I worry about injury. Is there a better way?

Thanks for all your expertise. I'm worried about my sick little guy :\

Jamie Lynn
 
I'm not sure what the 2nd medication is, but having another person help you when you administer the medication may help.
 
Metronidazole (Flagyl) is an antibiotic that is good for helping put the gut flora back into homeostasis and also works as an antiinflammatory for the intestine to help settle it down. It also has effects against some protozoal parasites and is a first line of defense for many gastrointestinal bacterial imbalances in mammals as well as reptiles. Very commonly used for stress diarrhea in dogs, reptiles with bacterial overgrowth in the gut, and for curing Montezuma's Revenge from that trip to Mexico when you drank the water...

As for medicating, if you are by yourself then it's just easier to use the syringe to open the mouth gently. Be sure you get the medication far enough back or even down into its esophagus. You can see the tracheal opening in the floor of the mouth right behind the tongue. Just don't block that with medicine.

As a special note, this drug is not for long term use or for use at very high doses as neurologic symptoms can result.
 
Thanks Connie, that explains a lot. My little guy is on a pretty low dose of it every 48 hours for only two weeks, so he should be okay :)
 
When I have to tube feed or medicate a snake by myself, I find it easiest to start by sitting on a chair. Next, I put the snake's tail between my knees to hold him vertically upright, and hold his neck area with one hand. With my other hand, I hold the syringe or tube. Then I open his mouth with one of the fingernails of that hand (the one holding the syringe), while inserting the eyedropper or tube into his mouth. If he is really squirmy, I end up steadying the end of the syringe with my mouth until his mouth his open (yes, sounds gross - but parrots use their beaks like that too, lol! And both syringe end and mouth can be cleaned!). It is not as complicated as it sounds, and you get used to it after a while. But it is a lot easier with a helper!

Connie is right about overdosing - back in the "old days" when experimenting with Flagyl, I overdosed a few corns. They acted just like some corns that were overdosed on No-Pest Strips - either died or crawled around on their sides or backs, and did a lot of "stargazing" behavior. It can be a miracle drug, or a nightmare, if used improperly. Glad you have an experienced herp vet to help you.
 
Hi,

I have been "lurking" for a while and enjoy the site very much. My experience with humans is greater than with snakes so I just wanted to say that Montezuma's Revenge is most likely a bacteria that would not be treated well by metronidazole. In humans it is more often used for protozoal diarrhea or another type caused by "bad" gut bacterial overgrowth that can happen after taking another antibiotc for some other infection.

By the way I caught the corn bug last fall and presently own an amel (I think female and huge, born in July or August 04 and over 2 feet), a male butter and a male Oketee. Now I just have to decide what morph females I want! We also have several garters.

Jo
 
I find using a straight metal feeding tube with a ball tip to be about the best way to administer meds orally to a snake. You can use the tip to help open the mouth and then place it down the snake's esophagus far enough to help prevent the snake from spitting the medication out. I use some plain water after the meds to make sure the snake got the whole dose.
 
Susan said:
I find using a straight metal feeding tube with a ball tip to be about the best way ...
Click to expand...
Where would one order something like that? Have looked in the past and couldn't really find anything.
 
Glades Herp always sold them in the past.

But I don't know if they still do. I will probably look into selling them because they are so useful and not easy to find. Not sure if the other online herp dry goods dealers have them or not. Lindsay Pike at Urotopia (sorry, don't have contact info, but he is from the Tampa area) was also sellling them at the Tampa show.
 
Montezuma's revenge is a catch-all phrase for Traveler's diarrhea which can be caused my a variety of things including many forms of bacterial, protozoal, and viral infections being most common, but simple stress can also be a cause without the infectious component. The most common bacteria implicated, to my knowledge, is Escherichia coli, but at least where I saw cases coming from, it was more often caused by Giardia or Entamoeba histolytica, protozoal organisms caught by drinking contaminated water (or drinking drinks with ice cubes made from local water supplies). Metronidazole does in fact treat some protozoal organisms like Giardia and Entamoeba as well as some bacterial infections (especially effective against those seen with stress colitis, with bacterial overgrowth with other antibiotic usage, and anaerobic infections). The added benefit of its calming antiinflammatory effect on the gut may help with even those caused by viral infections, purely by quieting the gut until the body can clear the virus.

So yes, I agree, since Montezuma's revenge does not have just one cause, there is no one drug that works for all cases. It greatly depends on the area one travels to. However, coming from my experience, in the areas of Mexico near Arizona that people I knew visited, the principle cause was Giardia and Entamoeba in cases we saw. Certainly food poisoning from E.coli and other contaminant coliforms should be looked for as well.
 
I've had good luck medicating snakes with red rubber catheters, too. Like Susan, I flush them with a little water to ensure the full dose was given. Since they are quite long, I will cut the end off and heat the edges to round them and create somewhat of a ball tip.
 
You should be able to have your vet special order you a set (I prefer the set so I always have something the right size for each size snake). Also look were bird supplies are sold as many bird breeders use them to feed their baby birds.
 
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