Hello, I'm new to the site but I've been keeping snakes for 18 years. I find myself in need of a place to...more vent than anything and maybe get some help or some hope.
At the end of January my 8 year old cornsnake, Anna, came down with a respiratory infection. She was open mouth breathing, some clicking, with a small bit of mucus though seemed otherwise just fine. I work at a vet clinic and after some research, the doctor there prescribed me a two week course of Baytril. Over that two weeks, she didn't get any worse but she didn't get any better, either, so I took her to a proper reptile vet. At that clinic, we did a culture and I was given a course of Fortaz, 7 injections over a few weeks. The result was the same, Anna didn't get any better but she didn't get any worse. The culture came back negative for any growth.
So back to the vet where this time, we did a tracheal wash in order to try the culture again from a better source. The vet had wanted to do a body fluid cytology as well but, unfortunately, they couldn't get enough fluid from the wash to do both tests. So we went with the culture again. We had come to the end of the anti-biotics at this time but it didn't matter, Anna is still the same.
Through all of this, Anna has been herself. She is alert and active. She eats no problem. She has been a sweetheart through the procedures and the injections. About two weeks after realizing for sure what she had, she was isolated in a rubbermaid tub in a different room.
A few days ago, I noticed that Wes, one of my Diones rat snakes had a really swollen throat! It was like she had swallowed a little golf ball. The swelling is right behind the back of her skull. It is soft, fluid filled, and doesn't seem to pain her. When I opened her mouth, it was full of mucus. So...this morning, I took Wes to the vet. The vet thinks it is probably also a respiratory infection. There is no redness or irritation in her mouth to suggest a foreign body. Wes is not open mouth breathing, she is not clicking or wheezing. She is still alert though I will say that she is more...placid that usual. Usually she zips around all over but today she was very easy going with being handled. The swelling goes down when she is more active.
Now Wes is isolated as well, from both the other snakes and Anna. We have three Fortaz injections to give her just to try. I took her to the vet clinic where I work to do xrays but I can't read them myself and the vets at my clinic aren't exotics vets. The xrays have been sent to the exotics vet and I'm just waiting for them to call me. From what I can see on the xrays, no masses or anything like that.
To make things more frustrating, the second culture on Anna with the sample from the tracheal wash also came back negative for any growth.
I'm not sure what to do now! Anna almost seems better some days. She has her mouth fully closed and seems totally herself. Then I'll look in on her the next day and she is breathing through her mouth again.
And to make things even worse, I just checked my other snakes and one of my Russian rat snakes gave a few puffy little breaths. But he has just come out of blue and is getting ready to shed so I'm hoping that's the only reason he did that.
I don't know what to do! I'm very upset and worried for all my snakes. The doctor said that due to the two negative cultures, we could be dealing with a viral infection. I'm going to bring Anna (or maybe I should bring Wes?) back in for another tracheal wash to try and do the cytology we had wanted to do initially.
I've never had a sickness among my snakes before. I control their temps with thermostats and use flexwatt as a heat source. High end usually 84-85, cool end in the low 70's. Humidity at this time of year is low at about 40% but everyone always sheds fine. They are on aspen bedding and in PVC enclosures measuring 2x2 feet and 18 inches tall.
Does anyone have any experience with anything like this?
This was very long, thanks to any who read it and reply!