medusacoils
Mr. Enigma!
A few years ago, I purchased my girl Oracle. Beautiful Striped Snow that I had big plans for.
It all started this winter and has progressively gotten worse. It started off that she began losing weight. Even though she was eating well. She is five years old and weighed in at close to 400+ grams. Has, and still has, a ferocious appetite.
Earlier this winter she began losing weight. Very subtle weight loss. She was still eating good, but not doing good. Then she began to regurge, which is a really big concern for me. So I took her to the vet. The vet I use I have a lot of confidence in. They exclusively see, and if necessary, treat all the reptiles that NERD's (New England Reptile Distributors) and they have a lot.
The first thing they did is check her stool for parasites. That came back negative. They also treated her for a bacterial/uri, not because she had one, but because it was a potential. She clicks when she breaths. She still clicks when she breaths, but they think its just the way she breaths. Her mouth and nostrils are void of mucous. They also checked her trachea and that was clear.
After all this, I decided to take her home and just work with the treatment for a while and see how things go. She was on Baytril orally, twice daily. I held back on food while going to through the treatment. I also raised the temps in her viv to 90F on the warm side and 80F on the cool. After the course was completed, I began a post regurge protocol. She seemed to respond to that well, for a while anyway.
Then she began to regurge again. Also, I noticed that her belly was a bit distended. I called the vet again and we decided that we should check her for cryptosporidium. They performed a gastric lavage on her. The vet told me that they were able to get a good sample from her and sent it off for testing. Fortunately that came back negative for crypto. The vet checked her belly and the swelling is at her stomach and it is air. He took a few x-rays of her just too see and all of those were clear.
He wanted me to just go home and continue with the post regurge protocol and see how that goes. If I have anymore problems then to call or come back. Things, again, went well for a little while. A month later she regurged again. I also checked her weight and she lost close to 140grams. I called the vet again. He had me bring her back. He did a cloacal swab on her and took a blood sample. He also wanted to keep her for a while because she was dehydrated. I went home without her.
To my relief all of those came back negative. They checked her liver, kidneys and for any other types of infection. They had to give her some fluids intravenously and she was good. They kept her for four days. He has no idea what is wrong with this snake. Then Oracle came home again.
Things didn't improve this time. She was still having issues with weight and she would regurge even with smallest meal. I wasn't feeding her anything bigger than a pinkies head and I was waiting long periods between feedings. I decided to go for a second opinion. I got her record from the previous vet and contacted another vet who specializes in exotics.
She read through all the notes and examined her. She also re-weighed her. Now she was pushing around 220grams. She tried to take a swab of her cloaca, but there wasn't any fecal matter. We then decided to go with another gastric lavage and blood test. Those were both performed and came back negative. She also took several x-rays of her in an attempt to see if there was something going on. Those were negative. So now she has no idea what is wrong with her. Blames on failure to thrive which is something I think they are saying just because they don't know.
I'm asking for your(CS.com community) help. Maybe you can think of something that we haven't thought of yet. Maybe you had an experience with this and can give me advice.
Just to give you a break down on what has happened.
I bought the snake for around $200. I have spent over $1200 on her and I will spend more if I can make her better. I just don't want her to suffer. She is fairly active for a sick snake.
Here are a few pictures of her so you can see her when she was healthy.
It all started this winter and has progressively gotten worse. It started off that she began losing weight. Even though she was eating well. She is five years old and weighed in at close to 400+ grams. Has, and still has, a ferocious appetite.
Earlier this winter she began losing weight. Very subtle weight loss. She was still eating good, but not doing good. Then she began to regurge, which is a really big concern for me. So I took her to the vet. The vet I use I have a lot of confidence in. They exclusively see, and if necessary, treat all the reptiles that NERD's (New England Reptile Distributors) and they have a lot.
The first thing they did is check her stool for parasites. That came back negative. They also treated her for a bacterial/uri, not because she had one, but because it was a potential. She clicks when she breaths. She still clicks when she breaths, but they think its just the way she breaths. Her mouth and nostrils are void of mucous. They also checked her trachea and that was clear.
After all this, I decided to take her home and just work with the treatment for a while and see how things go. She was on Baytril orally, twice daily. I held back on food while going to through the treatment. I also raised the temps in her viv to 90F on the warm side and 80F on the cool. After the course was completed, I began a post regurge protocol. She seemed to respond to that well, for a while anyway.
Then she began to regurge again. Also, I noticed that her belly was a bit distended. I called the vet again and we decided that we should check her for cryptosporidium. They performed a gastric lavage on her. The vet told me that they were able to get a good sample from her and sent it off for testing. Fortunately that came back negative for crypto. The vet checked her belly and the swelling is at her stomach and it is air. He took a few x-rays of her just too see and all of those were clear.
He wanted me to just go home and continue with the post regurge protocol and see how that goes. If I have anymore problems then to call or come back. Things, again, went well for a little while. A month later she regurged again. I also checked her weight and she lost close to 140grams. I called the vet again. He had me bring her back. He did a cloacal swab on her and took a blood sample. He also wanted to keep her for a while because she was dehydrated. I went home without her.
To my relief all of those came back negative. They checked her liver, kidneys and for any other types of infection. They had to give her some fluids intravenously and she was good. They kept her for four days. He has no idea what is wrong with this snake. Then Oracle came home again.
Things didn't improve this time. She was still having issues with weight and she would regurge even with smallest meal. I wasn't feeding her anything bigger than a pinkies head and I was waiting long periods between feedings. I decided to go for a second opinion. I got her record from the previous vet and contacted another vet who specializes in exotics.
She read through all the notes and examined her. She also re-weighed her. Now she was pushing around 220grams. She tried to take a swab of her cloaca, but there wasn't any fecal matter. We then decided to go with another gastric lavage and blood test. Those were both performed and came back negative. She also took several x-rays of her in an attempt to see if there was something going on. Those were negative. So now she has no idea what is wrong with her. Blames on failure to thrive which is something I think they are saying just because they don't know.
I'm asking for your(CS.com community) help. Maybe you can think of something that we haven't thought of yet. Maybe you had an experience with this and can give me advice.
Just to give you a break down on what has happened.
- I have checked and double checked her husbandry. Her temps are perfect.
- She is sequestered from the other snakes in my collection.
- She has had three fecals (both swab and actual) done. All Negative.
- She has had two sets of blood test done. Both Negative.
- She has had two gastric lavage's done. Both Negative.
- I don't feed her anything bigger than a pinkie.
- She has lost close to 200grams at this point.
- She has a distended belly that is from air and is not solid.
- She has spent 4-5 overnights at the vet.
- She regurges often.
- She dehydrates easily.
I bought the snake for around $200. I have spent over $1200 on her and I will spend more if I can make her better. I just don't want her to suffer. She is fairly active for a sick snake.
Here are a few pictures of her so you can see her when she was healthy.
!!
