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RE: Respiratory Infection Treatment
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by TheFifthDay on December 11, 2008
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I bumped up the temps, and I'm getting ready to bump up the humidity. I got some Tylosin and I started that treatment last night. And Rob, do you know where I could get some of those fans?
And one more thing - My husbandry is going to improve after this, but I just wanted to let you guys know that I haven't had any problems with my snakes since I was 8 or 9 (When I started keeping them). I have owned about 70 individual snakes and none of them have had problems due to my care.
Thanks everyone for your answers
Jon Short
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RE: Respiratory Infection Treatment
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by Cro on December 11, 2008
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John, you bring up some very good points.
While we all agree that a reptile friendly Veternarain is the best thing, that is not possible for many people, depending on where they live.
Sometimes, we have to take the bull by the horns, so to speak, and take a chance in treating, by way of our own diagnosis of the condition.
The fact is, that many, many antibiotics might work in curing a respiratory infection in a reptile, IF it is bacterial in nature. If it is viral or parisitic, those will not help.
If the husbandry conditions that lead to the condition do not improve, the animal will relapse, and become sick again, just as soon as the antibiotic wears off.
Almost any sick reptile will have a weakened immune system, in addition to the main symptoms that are being treated. And the problem is, that the antibiotic that cures the main condition can further weaken the immune system, by killing off beneficial bacteria in the gut.
A weakened immune system can happen because of parasites in an animal, or toxins from mold, or viral sources, or toxins in the water and food or caging.
Stuff like the aspen shavings, or most of the other wood based products, scare me a lot for reptile enclosures. While they look good, and most of the time do not create problems, that is not always the case.
Some products like the fir bark nuggets become very dry and dusty over time, and can become irritants and can also dehydrate snakes and cause difficult shedding.
Almost all all of the aspen shavings that I see have tiny, tiny dots of black mold on them. It is almost impossible to prevent that, as the trees are full of sap when harvested and shredded, and then stacked into piles where the mold and fungus spores in the air can land and germinate.
Even if the product is heat treated, it does not kill all of these critters. And there is also the possibility of pesticide spraying of the trucks during interstate transport of the bales of shavings, as well as residual toxins from spraying of the forests where the trees were harvested in the first place.
I much prefer news paper, or paper towells, or, for display animals, natural gravel. If I do use a organic substrate, I prefer something like peat with a acid pH (lower the pH number the more ascidic) as these products tend to keep mold, yeast, and fungus from growing.
As far as temperatures, many people are keeping tropical animals a bit too cold, from my experience. Although it is true that night time temperatures in the tropics can fall to pretty cold, as can ground temperatures, in captivity, the snake has only a tiny area of a cage to thermoregulate in. It is better to keep boas and pythons a bit above the room temperatue ranges if possible. But, do not cook them by going too hot also. That can be just as bad.
And John, as far as the Tylin 50, it is the same thing. And Tylin 200 is the same, but 4 times as strong, etc...
If you google Tylan 50, you will find several sources for purchasing it at good prices.
The unfortunate thing with other products, is that they often cost much more, and many require a script from a Vet, which creates many more problems. Tylan is an old stand by, but if someone has access to other antibiotics, then by all means use them.
Best Regards
John Z
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RE: Respiratory Infection Treatment
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by Cro on December 11, 2008
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I was doing a internet search for the Fortaz product that Rob mentioned. My research shows that it should be very good for respiratory infections, however, I could not find a vet supply online that would sell it without a script from a vet.
Apparently, it is also used on humans for the same purpose.
Anyway, while searching I came across a pretty cool resource about veternary medicine, at least as far as the products produced by Merck are concerned.
It is the online version of the Merck Veterinary Manual, and it has a lot of very good information.
Check it out at :
http://www.merckvetmanual.com/mvm/index.jsp
Let me know what you think about it.
Best Regards
John Z
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