RI help

[5potted]

My 3yr old female spotted python has a RI. Her first visit to the vet was last Tuesday where the vet had said I had caught it early, gave her a fortum injection then I had to bring her back three days later for another injection and to see if it was better. On the second visit (last Friday) her mouth was more red and the vet gave her another fortum injection plus Baytril. So it's now been 5 days later with a Baytril injection every day and fortum every second day and things seem worse. Previously the only signs were her puffing her throat but now when her mouth is opened it is a browny colour, mucousy and her forks are stuck together every now and then. I don't want to go back to the vet for her just to say to continue with treatment as the vet is over an hour away. In your opinion should I just continue with the treatment or does it sound like I need to go back for another check up.

 

[5potted]

fortum every third day sorry*. And she has access to a minimum 33 degree hot spot at all times

 

[mysnakesau]

Did the vet do a mouth swab to diagnose an RI? Puffy throats is something I found quite a common occurance in my spotted python when he was coming up to shed. Not once did I ever think his health was compromised but he use to puff his throat out like a frog every time. I have sold on my spotty, which is why I am using past tense.

Reason I asked if the vet did a mouth swab is that using antibiotics for no reason can be as harmful for your snake as an illness. Antibiotics kill ALL bacteria, including your snake's natural gut flora. So that leaves their immune system supressed, when the antibiotic wears off the nasty bacteria starts to take hold.

The problem with your snake sounds to me like it is having a reaction to the antibiotics. The symptoms also sound like beginnings of mouth rot but even if the vet mis-diagnosed the RI for something else, fortem and baytril are quite broad spectrum antiobiotics and may very well be used to treat mouth rot. But not all antibiotics are good for everything. Having a swab done would have properly diagnosed the problem so then the vet could have given the right course of treatment.

Is your vet competent with reptiles? Not all vets are and those that aren't quite often diagnose on guessing and have no idea what tests to perform to pick up what bug is causing the problem. I recently had three of my snakes to my vet, who is reptile-orientated, and he could tell just by looking in their mouth whether there could be a problem or not. The olives he said looked normal while my diamond he knew straight away something wasn't right. He still did the tests though. Swabs confirmed his speculation in all cases. Both olives were clear, but diamond came back positive with RI.

But among everything I have said, it is still my opinion, based on my own experience.

 

[5potted]

Thanks for the reply. Yes the vet did a mouth swab, first vet i'd ever been to that took mouth swabs. She specialises in exotics. If she's been on fortum over a week and baytril for almost a week shouldn't things be getting better not worse? I'm not freaking out too much as a previous python with a RI only started showing signs of improvement on the second last shot of fortum and she was on fortum alone so I think I might let her go a little longer and see if there is any improvements in a couple days, if not back to the vet.

 

[wokka]

fortum every third day sorry*. And she has access to a minimum 33 degree hot spot at all times

Sometimes sick snakes dont thermoregulate. Keep her at 30-33c whilst sick ( no cool end. I would ask why did she get RI if she had access to 33c at all times?

 

[JasonL]

Not all bacteria is so easy to kill, some bacteria is almost impossible to kill. Humans have even made a bacteria that can live in Nuclear waste..
There is usually more to a RI than just a snotty snake, IMO some RI's seem very resistant to antibiotics, and show their ugly faces every winter, thus seemingly never really going even though the snake seems fine over the warmer months. A good vet should try and isolate the bacteria(s) causing the RI and do follow up swabs even when the snake seems good again..

 

[5potted]

I've only had her for a month and the previous owner was cooling her already. When I purchased her I asked for the temps and I replicated them but the stress from the flight and changing enclosures has probably pushed her over the edge. Ever since I noticed she had a puffy throat she has had access to the 33 degree hot spot 24/7.

It's hard to see her get worse when she's on two antibiotics.

 

[wokka]

It's hard to see her get worse when she's on two antibiotics.

Like Jason said.There are some very resistant bugs out there so you may need sensitivity tests done to find an effictive antibiotic. A shotgun approach may not be the best way to go.

 

[5potted]

what are sensitivity tests? The vet took swabs, shouldn't that show what antibiotics she needed?

 

[KaaTom]

Are you cleaning out your snakes mouth daily as well, as the build up of the stuff in its mouth can make it worse. Sometimes too some things gets worse then start to subside...

 

[5potted]

When I had originally taken her to the vet there was no build up in the mouth so the vet did not see the need for that. Since she has been home and on the antibiotics its started to build up. I think that the RI was brought on by stress so having to get her out every day to give her shots could be increasing her stress which may be why it is getting worse but it should only be a matter of time before the antibiotics start working. If not back to the vet.