Snake bleeding from mouth? please help!
Nevrengh
I took him to the vet... he gave me some antibiotics to inject him with daily.
This was monday. I noticed today (friday) that he was frothing from the mouth
(I had not seen this happen before) and unlike the bubbly pictures in my snake
books which typify respiratory infections, my snake's was bloody.
I had found a yellowish ball of mucus, which looked like a loogey with blood on
it, on his body a couple days before. It was somewhat solidified but also
googey. I gently opened his mouth and noticed that he has some blood on his
throat.
I tried contacting my vet, but he was gone for the day. No one else at the
office could help me. I called all the emergency clinics in my area (up to a 40
mile radius) and no one was on duty who dealt with exotics. Grrrr! Hopefully
this isn't a life threatening condition, but I'm really worried.
Has anyone dealt with this before? Is there anything I can do? Should I rush
him to the vet ASAP? I keep his cage at 85*F with a 90*F basking spot, a big
bowl to soak and drink from, and a hide area. I soak him in tepid water 15 mins
daily as per vet instructions. I am giving him injections of amikacin and
cefotaxime.
Please help if you can! Thank you so much in advance,
Jacqui
Brian
As you can see from my clueless Iguana postings, I'm definitely not a
Herp expert (Or any other kind of expert for that matter) but this is
just a thought that occurred to me. Is it possible that the bleeding
was caused by one of the injections? IOW, maybe the needle went in
just a bit too far? Or are these just barely under the skin
injections? I know several Diabetics and I know that needle pricks can
cause some pretty profuse bleeding at times. At any rate, just a
thought. Hope your snake turns out to be OK.
>Jacqui
Brian
Arklier
wrote:
>On 16 Mar 2002 05:38:40 GMT, nevr...@aol.com (Nevrengh) wrote:
>
>>I hope someone can help me! My ball python had a minor respiratory infection so
>>I took him to the vet... he gave me some antibiotics to inject him with daily.
>>This was monday. I noticed today (friday) that he was frothing from the mouth
>>(I had not seen this happen before) and unlike the bubbly pictures in my snake
>>books which typify respiratory infections, my snake's was bloody.
>>
>>I had found a yellowish ball of mucus, which looked like a loogey with blood on
>>it, on his body a couple days before. It was somewhat solidified but also
>>googey. I gently opened his mouth and noticed that he has some blood on his
>>throat.
>>
>>I tried contacting my vet, but he was gone for the day. No one else at the
>>office could help me. I called all the emergency clinics in my area (up to a 40
>>mile radius) and no one was on duty who dealt with exotics. Grrrr! Hopefully
>>this isn't a life threatening condition, but I'm really worried.
>>
>>Has anyone dealt with this before? Is there anything I can do? Should I rush
>>him to the vet ASAP? I keep his cage at 85*F with a 90*F basking spot, a big
>>bowl to soak and drink from, and a hide area. I soak him in tepid water 15 mins
>>daily as per vet instructions. I am giving him injections of amikacin and
>>cefotaxime.
>>
>>Please help if you can! Thank you so much in advance,
I would take him to a vet, but don't take him to a vet that's not
familiar with reptiles. It sounds like the infection might be more
serious than originally thought. Bloody phlem is a known symptom of
respitory ilnesses. Also, there are parasites that live in the lungs
of snakes and eat the tissue, but these are rather rare in captive
bred snakes. However, if you got your ball from a pet store, it's
likely that he may have been wild caught and possibly been exposed at
an early age. See if you can get a sample of the gross stuff in a
plastic bag and keep it in the fridge so the vet can look at it under
a microscope and make an assessment, just in case the snake doesn't
happen to be emitting it when you take him. I would recommend bumping
the basking spot temp up about 5 degrees. Elevated temperatures can
depress the activity of infectious bacteria and viruses, which is why
mammals have fevers when sick. Be sure the humidity isn't too low,
humidifiers can be bought for as little as $10. Try and disturb him as
little as possible, maybe even set up a screen around his cage. You
don't like being bothered a lot when you're sick, your snake doesn't
either.
> As you can see from my clueless Iguana postings, I'm definitely not a
>Herp expert (Or any other kind of expert for that matter) but this is
>just a thought that occurred to me. Is it possible that the bleeding
>was caused by one of the injections? IOW, maybe the needle went in
>just a bit too far? Or are these just barely under the skin
>injections? I know several Diabetics and I know that needle pricks can
>cause some pretty profuse bleeding at times. At any rate, just a
>thought. Hope your snake turns out to be OK.
>
>
>>Jacqui
>
>Brian
I would hope this guy isn't injecting his python in the throat. Normal
recommended place to inject snakes is about 2/3rds of the way down the
body in the side, so you don't accidentially puncture their lung if
you go too deep. This is usually more of a concern with thinner snakes
such as kingsnakes and corns, and isn't as much of a concern with ball
pythons in general though, since they're so fat and stocky bodied.
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Nevrengh
>of snakes and eat the tissue, but these are rather rare in captive
>bred snakes.
Unfortunately, he is wild caught (I know, I know... but it was either me to
take him from my brother or his idiot friend). I hope this is not the issue! He
was never treated for parasites as far as I know, but perhaps I'll request my
vet to give him some panacur or flagyl.
I'll bump his temp up, which is already hard to keep up at 85/90*F, I have a
100watt heat bulb + a 60watt heat bulb over him just to keep it at that. :/ I
also wrapped his cage with towels for privacy and insulation. I'll try using
the humidifier for him too.
>I would hope this guy isn't injecting his python in the throat. Normal
>recommended place to inject snakes is about 2/3rds of the way down the
>body in the side, so you don't accidentially puncture their lung if
>you go too deep.
Nope, I'm doing under the skin injections, on his side 1/2 way down. The vet
tech told me to pull back the plunger thing after I puncture just to make sure
I didn't poke a vein or artery. I have never pulled it back with any blood as
of yet. I'm also not injection perpendicular to his body, so I don't think I'll
hit a lung. Either way, he hates his injections (I would too!).
Thanks so much for the info! I'll try getting a hold of my vet again today.
-Jacqui