Giving a Corn a shot

Hello everyone! I took Sam to the vet yesterday, and sure enough he has a respiratory infection. It's not too serious, but I'm going to have to give him two different types of medicine by syringe; one type every 2 days and the other every 3 days. One medicine can be injected in to the F/T mouse, but since I don't feed Sam every 2 days I'm going to eventually have to give him this medicine via syringe as well. I was shown how to give him a shot, but I was just curious if anyone here had and tips/suggestions from experience while giving the shot? Sam recieved his first 2 shots at the vet, i felt bad for the guy...obviously it hurt him since his muscles were all tensed up, but he was a good boy and didn't even try to bite! I will of course be having my sister or my friend restraining him for me...I suppose its good practice since we all want to be vets! Anyways, thanks for the help!

I've had to do it a few times and hated it. The second person to hold the snake is a good idea as long as they're comfortable with holding it still while it squirms.

Other than that, my best advice is that you have quite a thin layer of muscle to inject into. You need to insert the needle at a shallow angle, to avoid going through into internal organs. I assume that the vet gave you really good demo. My main problem was that I was so timid, on the first attempt I just ended up injecting it under the surface of the skin instead of into the muscle.

Personally I hate giving shots and I always get the vet to give shots if I have the choice.

bitsy said:

Other than that, my best advice is that you have quite a thin layer of muscle to inject into.

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Actually - listen to your vet and not that advice. Some meds can be given in multiple areas, but some need to be IM (as described above. Others should be SC (right under the skin) or IC (in the "body cavity." So, ask your vet where the injectables should be given - don't just assume it can/should be IM with ALL meds! What medication is it?

IM is the easiest - even on a hatchling - and usually DOES suffice. It's the most common, but not the place to put ALL meds for best efficacy. With injectable (SC or IM), it is best to inject it posterior to the heart and anterior to the kidneys for ALMOST all meds. Some can really damage the kidneys if injected too posteriorly.

Ah yes, sorry - I assumed it was going to be intra-muscular. KJUN's right - the actual location will be wherever the vet showed you.

My Eastern hoggy had to get ten shots every other day. The vet wouldn't let me do it. (But he would let me do turtle shots). When he gave her the shots, though, she didn't even notice- he was really good at it. Good luck!

Hey everyone, sorry for the late reply, I've been pretty busy lately. So far, no improvements in Sam...the clicking noise has been replaces with a more hissing/sneezing noise. Also, I'm starting to notice him opening his mouth more. How long does it usually take to clear up a RI with medicine? The medicine he is taking is Baytril every 48 and Amikacin every 72 hours. Unfortunately, 2 of the syringes are just not working...they don't have any locking devices on them or anything, they just won't push the medicine out, no matter how hard anyone pushes. That means he's going to miss one dose, as the vet is closed at this time...will that do much harm? He is returning to the vet on Monday (I'm having the vet give him his last two shots) and I guess we'll just go from there. I hope my baby gets better soon! D=

not sure on how long it takes, but good luck man! i hope he gets better soon!

_Sam_ said:

Hey everyone, sorry for the late reply, I've been pretty busy lately. So far, no improvements in Sam...the clicking noise has been replaces with a more hissing/sneezing noise. Also, I'm starting to notice him opening his mouth more. How long does it usually take to clear up a RI with medicine? The medicine he is taking is Baytril every 48 and Amikacin every 72 hours. Unfortunately, 2 of the syringes are just not working...they don't have any locking devices on them or anything, they just won't push the medicine out, no matter how hard anyone pushes. That means he's going to miss one dose, as the vet is closed at this time...will that do much harm? He is returning to the vet on Monday (I'm having the vet give him his last two shots) and I guess we'll just go from there. I hope my baby gets better soon! D=

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Go get a new needle syringe from Wal-Mart. They sell them for people that take insulin. It isn't THAT big of a deal. PLUS, (and I don't normally recommend this) you can re-use one of the other syringes. Don't re-use a needle, but you can draw it out of the broken syringe into a good one, get the air out, and give the snake a shot. Even if these are like the insulin shots that is sold by Wal-Mart (needle is an integral portion of the syringe), you can pull the plunger out and suck the meds into a NEW syringe/needle. You'd be better off figuring SOMETHING out than not give the snake it's meds. Not the end of the world since it should have a good titer of the meds in its bloodstream already, but you are much better giving it its meds than not. Duh. Skipping dosages leads to infections that can be more difficult to cure than the original problem!

PLUS, if you aren't seeing signs of improvement with that level of medication, you may want to re-evaluate your husbandry. Meds only help if the housing is correct. Generally, cornsnakes don't get URI if husbandry is correct! Medicating them without correcting any underlying husbandry causes is like running with the wind to try and fly a kite. It just doesn't do much good. If there is a problem, then fixing it will likely help your snake more in the long run than the medicine ALONE can.

KJ