h0mersimps0n
New member
admitidly I did not anticipate my second clutch this year and unfortunately I did not give enough time for the care of my babies...
anyway, they had been sitting around in glad containers with air holes punched in them with paper towel and a pepsi cap full of water. One snake per container. Well the pepsi caps of water sometimes spill over and the snakes sat on the wet towels for a pretty long time being that I am away on rotations (I'm a third year medical student).
Well last weekend (sunday to be exact) I decided it was way past due to change out their paper towel and feed them. I changed all paper towels and all 6 babies ate for their first time, no problems, no struggles nothing. Not even three days later I go to check on them again to make sure no one has regurged or spilled their water and I notice no tongue flicking, some slight twitching and for someone who's owned snakes, bred before and knows healthy from sick these guys looked sick without even a long glance. My heart sunk. What had gone wrong. THE WORSE PART: I go to open the containers to pick them up and see if I can stimulate them and a HUGE whiff of grape/fruitiness lofts from the containers. Anyone who's anyone who's taken micro 101 knows fruity grape smell = pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Panic.
Knowing no 5 week old baby snake kidney can survive the antibiotics necessary to fight such a strict aerobe bacteria I've just finish doing the only thing I know to do- clean the containers and clean the snakes bodies paying the strictest attention to cross-contamination. For the next few days no paper towel, no water. Only time will tell if I've rid them of the bitter sweet-smelling death.
I'm trying for the life of me to figure out how I contaminated them being that they sat in wet paper towel for 2 or 3 weeks without any fruity smell (they were all happy, healthy until last sunday when I fed them and they ate). There are only two things I can think of. 1.) something was on/in the frozen pinkies (pretty unlikely although I did find that some species of pseudomonas can live at 0C) or 2.) nosicomial bacteria I brought home from the hospital somewhere somehow (although I'm a germ freak about washing my hands, clothes, bodies......... I guess there is an always possible 3rd reason and that is like almost all bacteria psuedomonas is ubiquitous and I provided the correct temperatures and humidity sunday or something that spurred the infection...
<sigh>
Anyone every exerpience this? I feel terrible, I love my snakes and especially my baby snakes.
anyway, they had been sitting around in glad containers with air holes punched in them with paper towel and a pepsi cap full of water. One snake per container. Well the pepsi caps of water sometimes spill over and the snakes sat on the wet towels for a pretty long time being that I am away on rotations (I'm a third year medical student).
Well last weekend (sunday to be exact) I decided it was way past due to change out their paper towel and feed them. I changed all paper towels and all 6 babies ate for their first time, no problems, no struggles nothing. Not even three days later I go to check on them again to make sure no one has regurged or spilled their water and I notice no tongue flicking, some slight twitching and for someone who's owned snakes, bred before and knows healthy from sick these guys looked sick without even a long glance. My heart sunk. What had gone wrong. THE WORSE PART: I go to open the containers to pick them up and see if I can stimulate them and a HUGE whiff of grape/fruitiness lofts from the containers. Anyone who's anyone who's taken micro 101 knows fruity grape smell = pseudomonas aeruginosa.
Panic.
Knowing no 5 week old baby snake kidney can survive the antibiotics necessary to fight such a strict aerobe bacteria I've just finish doing the only thing I know to do- clean the containers and clean the snakes bodies paying the strictest attention to cross-contamination. For the next few days no paper towel, no water. Only time will tell if I've rid them of the bitter sweet-smelling death.
I'm trying for the life of me to figure out how I contaminated them being that they sat in wet paper towel for 2 or 3 weeks without any fruity smell (they were all happy, healthy until last sunday when I fed them and they ate). There are only two things I can think of. 1.) something was on/in the frozen pinkies (pretty unlikely although I did find that some species of pseudomonas can live at 0C) or 2.) nosicomial bacteria I brought home from the hospital somewhere somehow (although I'm a germ freak about washing my hands, clothes, bodies......... I guess there is an always possible 3rd reason and that is like almost all bacteria psuedomonas is ubiquitous and I provided the correct temperatures and humidity sunday or something that spurred the infection...
<sigh>
Anyone every exerpience this? I feel terrible, I love my snakes and especially my baby snakes.