My snake has an RI

[losmetros]

I have finnally came to the conclusion my snake has a RI. His head is swollen, his mouth is not able to close, and he is weezing. I am not sure what to do next, and I am hoping you guys have had some experiance with this. I have checked his temps, and hopefully they will be fine now. What meds, treatment does he need? I am really worried please help. He has been eating fine, however.

[DaemoNox]

Raise the temps a bit if you can, it often helps them get over it. It sounds like it might be a more advanced case (the mouth not being able to close is worring), I would definatly try to see a vet. Is he about to shed?

[losmetros]

No he is not in blue, nor was he. He is kinda swollen all over his body, but his head is hard to even look at. It is bad. Im trying to find a herp vert in SA, but no luck so far. His mouth won't close ALL the way, but it is mostly shut. It also seems to go down with movement?

[DaemoNox]

Here's a list of herp vets in Texas - http://www.herpvetconnection.com/texas.shtml

[Pet Corn Snake]

mabie a picture would help?


Get Well Soon mr Snaky!


George, :cheers:

[Markey]

I was told when the mouth is open the RI is probably advanced. You should get to a vet asap even if you have to drive over an hour to get to a vet.
My snake had the very early stages of a RI and I was given oral Baytril to give her for two weeks. It was not an easy task as the snake's TRACHEA is right where your tongue is in your mouth. I had to very carefully open Markey's mouth with a tiny spatula (found one at the Dollar Store. It came in a package of about five spatulas) and hold the spatula over the trachea while administering the Baytril. I had to gently slide the syringe down her throat to ensure that the Baytril went down. I didn't get the syringe down far enough on my first few attempts and some of the medicine came back out. I ended up medicating one extra day because of this.
I was also told to house her in a smaller tank while she recovered so I could regulate her temps more closely. I was told to keep the warm side around 88-90 degrees and the cool side around 80 degrees. This was pretty easy to do in a twenty gallon long aquarium. I used a uth and an overhead lamp on the warm side and I moved the lamp over just a wee bit to get the cool side to 80 degrees. I kept a thermometer on both sides so I could make sure the temps were where they needed to be. I made sure there were hides on both sides. I also gave her a big bowl of fresh water every day because the warmer temps caused the humidity to go down a bit and the water level would go down quickly. I really believe that the warmer temps helped Markey because when she was in her 260 gallon setup she preferred the cooler side almost ALWAYS and the cooler side stayed at a constant 70 degrees. I was told that the RI will not go away with those types of temps.....especially since the little booger wouldn't stay on the warm side.
She has been med free for well over two weeks now and I still have her in the hospital tank. I just wanted to make sure she's 100% better.
My snake did NOT hold her mouth open. The swelling of the head and body concerns me and I think you need to get your snake to a vet asap or you might lose him.
I'm so sorry that you are dealing with this. It's SCARY. Best of luck to you.

[Nanci]

Even if you can't find a herp-specific vet, can you find a bird or dog/cat vet that would be willing to take a look? They could at least set you up with drugs.

Nanci

[Cursed_Witch]

Im sorry youre going through this but this subject got me interested...

sorry my question doesnt have to do with what you are dealing with and i really with you the best of luck
but what is RI?

[Markey]

Respiratory Infection. An Upper Repiratory infection does not include the lungs. Mine had a very mild case of an upper respiratory infection.

[losmetros]

well i raised his temp last night, and this morning he was out and about, and the swelling had gone way down . Hopefully the heating will fix my problem totoally.