Corn Snakes -Persistent, Severe Respiratory Infection? Sinus Problems?

Originally Posted by AbsoluteApril

I don't have anything good to add to this except my best wishes and I hope your vet is able to figure out what is going on. I'd suspect something viral if they are all showing the same symptoms.. hmm, I really hope you can get this solved and thank you for posting the updates.

Thanks for the kind words. I appreciate it.

It does seem almost viral in behavior, except for the span of time that it all occured in, with Sharra getting sick and then months later the other two simultaneously. And also nothing new was introduced to their environment that I can remember! It is so frustrating.

And hhmoore is right, if it IS viral, what can I do? Practically nothing it seems like. One of the snakes is older, one an adult age and one is only 2.5. They aren't especially expensive animals but that is irrelevant, I don't want any of them to suffer and I just wish I could get this figured out somehow. I also don't know that I could afford any kind of anti-viral testing or therapy

My vet did say he would consider trying a phone consult with Dr. Jacobsen of the University of FL, and Dr. Rossi in Jacksonville. So I guess we'll see what materializes with that.

Originally Posted by snakechaarmer

We actually did all of the snakes with a double treatment of fenbendazole and micanazole and one other dewormer in liquid form last friday. I wonder if it is a lung parasite, if that will do the trick?

I have no direct experience with it, but my vet told me (years ago) about a nonspecific somebody that was having a similar problem with colubrids, and it was ultimately discovered to be lungworm. I did a little research; and, from what I recall, fenbendazole is part of the treatment. I believe it was a frequent dose course over a shorter time span, combined with another medication...but I'm not aware of the current treatment strategies. If the eggs are found, I'm sure you vet can come up with the treatment info.

Good luck with them.

Wanted to do a small update.

The fungal cultures still are not back yet. The snakes have not gotten any better or any worse.

The vet tried getting phone consults with 2 other reptile vets and it's been 2 weeks and neither have returned his phone call.

I bought a nebulizer, the vet went ahead and gave me the prescription for Amphoceterin B, I had to special order it, and I did one nebulizing treatment of 1cc to 150cc saline on each snake today.

It was a nightmare and extremely frustrating but hopefully it will do some good.

Anyone still reading this, I am running into a serious problem with the nebulizer -

The vet prescribed the 1cc to 150cc saline for a 1 hour treatment. The problem I am running into is the medication cup on the nebulizer only holds 5mLs.

Can anyone help me figure out how to make a bigger medication cup?

Yesterday was so unbelievably awful because I literally had to sit there for about 5 hours, opening the container and refilling the nebulizer about every 3 minutes. This was letting the medicated air escape even more as I kept having to re-open the container.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks..

You have two basic choices - get a larger volume nebulizer (I'd recommend getting one designed for "continuous nebs"), or make a drip feed system. The first one is probably easier to get right, and less expensive than screwing up multiple nebs trying.

150cc in an hour?? Not going to happen unless you go to a "large volume neb"...but the particle size produced from that won't make it into the airways.

(Large volume neb is not the same as larger volume neb; which was used as a descriptor, not a name for the device.)

I got a slow-drip system from the hospital and brought it home and rigged it up to slow drip into the medicine cup of the nebulizer. I'm not sure that it worked flawlessly as there was some spillover and I had to monitor it still, though at least I wasn't opening the container every 2 minutes.

I wonder if this stuff can make me sick?

If you can get that, you can probably get a continuous neb kit

and I wouldn't breathe that stuff.....

Just curious, does the Ampho treatment mean the fungal cultures came back positive?
I'm guessing that the reason for nebulization is twofold - a) to directly coat/treat the airways, and b) to attempt to minimize systemic absorption. Ampho is metabolized pretty slowly...I know it can be found in urine for several weeks after cessation of IV administration (that's in humans). I'd be concerned with nephrotoxity, were you advised to push fluids?

I actually begged respiratory and the pharmacy for one and they wouldn't give it to me

I've been coughing pretty hard all afternoon. Maybe I'm just imagining things. LoL.