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Butter issue thread

Good luck with him. I've been wondering the outcome of this snake since the beginning of you posting about the backbone etc. Poor thing...I hope he turns around for you.
 
When I flipped on the light to get him out for the medicine, his chin was nearly horizontal. I'll take that as a good sign.
Poor guy is in Deep Purple at the moment, too.
 
Another question for Jeff, Lil and all the other more experienced folk... once his airway is clearer, I'd like to offer him a meal (15g mini-mouse). With all the anti-biotics, I'm wondering if he'll have enough flora in his gut to digest. I've got nutra-bac at home and was thinking I should use some, but how and how much?
TIA
 
For the first feed i would recomend only using a very small amount just to see how well he copes with it.
 
You could put Nutribac in his water, but then you have to change the water every day. When Addy was getting antibiotic shots, and going to the vet every other day for two weeks, then getting her abcess cleaned twice daily, I just stopped feeding her, but she was a fatty snake and could afford to go without for a while. I don't think it would hurt to give your guy some small calories. Maybe even put him on a small meal on a five day schedule.
 
Oh, how I use Nutribac is a small pinch in the water, if I'm doing it that way, or, on a mouse, I put a dab of it right at the base of the tail. Like use the other end of a spoon, dip it in the Nutribac powder, then dab that on the mouse. Like a 1/8 inch dot of it.
 
Hmmm... while diligently not working, I started thinking (usually dangerous to bystanders)...

He got a shot yesterday, and his next one is due Saturday, then the next Tuesday (Merrry Christmas, Butter...<STICK!> oh, well, has to be done). He's also getting morning doses of baytril. I also would like for him to EAT, as he is getting leaner by the day. But I'm thinking that I want to avoid giving him a shot the day after he eats. I guess it's unaviodable, though, if I want him to both eat regularly and get his daily oral and 3-day shots.

So... I guess I need to figure a feeding schedule that works around the every three days shot. Assuming he eats for me, I think probably the best idea is to put him on a 6-day feeding schedule until the shots are done. Give him a shot this Sat morning, and offer a small mouse that afternoon, and then do the same thing for every other shot. I'll have to try hard to avoid stressing him out too much with the daily baytril, though.

Anther feeding question... since he's underweight (the vet actually said "Emmaciated"), what about feeding him rat fuzzy/pups instead of mice?
 
Thanks for the encouragement, everybody. I appreciate it.

This morning's update: Last night, Butter stayed pretty much motionless, remaining in the same spot (moved forward and back about 6 inches, is all), but it was a pretty cozy spot, as I have a ceramic element beaming down broadside on his bin to get the cool end up into the 70s, and he pretty much kept his body against it. He layed with his chin mostly level instead of his head pointing strait up as it had been Tues/Wed. His mouth was a little bit open, like he was doing a bad job as a ventriloquist (if that makes visual sense).

Whereas yesterday, I was able to administer his medicine all by myself, albeit a bit clumsy, today, I needed the whole family. Butter writhed and wiggled and put up pretty good resistance. Bronwyn (wifey) held the wiggly parts, and Cooper (son) did a great job tending to the q-tip shaft (I snipped off the fuzzy ends) after I had the syringe in his mouth. All the medicine went down the hatch, and Butter is, at least for the moment, indignantly searching for an escape route from the bin.

Oh yeah... and his eyes have cleared, so I expect a shed in the next day or two, which I think will ease his stress a bit, too.

I'll take all this as progress. Thanks for following along!
 
I would recommend small meals, fuzzies sound great but rat pinks would do nicely also) until he's feeling better. The stress of having to digest a large meal may be too much. I would also recommend that you slit the skin on the mice to aid in digestion.
 
I never even realized that slitting them would aid in digestion...maybe that is why my guy tries to rip open his pinky's belly half the time.
 
Kim - yup, in 2 weeks he gets another $100 picture taken. I just checked on him and his head is flat on the paper.

Janine - I totally forgot that I have fuzzies in the back of the freezer! Thanks for reminding me. I'll serve up a couple of toast warm, slit and (nutri-bac) dusted fuzzies.
 
OH! Sorry Susan... wrong attribution! Thank YOU for jogging my memory about the fuzzies.

Kim, there's some fairly compelling testing that indicates that slitting the mouse's back lets the digestive juices do their thing faster. When I first heard that, my thought was that if it's fully digested when it comes out the back end, what's the difference. But the data sure looked good, and I've noticed that mine poop quicker and seem to be bulking up quicker now that I'm slitting. And besides, I never had a use for the cuticle scissors I got in a kit years ago. Now I do.
 
I too slit the backs of small prey items 3 or 4 times but only up to fuzzy size. It does seem to make a big difference to digestion times.

Hope your guy continues on the road to recovery!
 
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