I could use expert opinion/sick albino boa

Hi
I took in an albino male from a guy i know because he couldn't take care of it and lost his heat for 3 days during the winter.I fully expected it to get an Ri but it did not.It was skinny and had a bump on the side of it's nostril.i took it to a local reptile vet and they took a needle and inserted it into the bump, and withdrew some liquid.
He checked his heart and used a sonogram(spelling) and listened to his lungs and whatever else they listen to.So he sent me home with 10 Baytril pills saying he had E-coli and told me 1 a day in a small mouse for 10 days.I did this and he seemed to be better until several days ago when the bump swelled up and drained out(over about 10 days).He is still skinny but eats and was gaining weight.I do not know what to do.I have fresh liquid Baytril myself but dont know if i should do the liquid in the side as the vet put into gut.,the last visit was $180 not saying he isn't worth that but i should learn to do some of my own care. I do not feed live and either did the other guy.He bought it from a guy on kingsnake over a year ago that did feed live.
Can anyone give me any ideas besides go to the vet.I have baytil 2.27 liquid.
He is a super friendly boa!!!Washed out but i will keep as a pet.
Please help me out.

Rich,
Abscesses are sometimes associated with E coli (gram negative bacterium) and hopefully your vet did actually verify this as the cause and not just assume E coli as a cause. Baytril is sometimes prescribed orally but performs better when administered intra muscularly. Many vets prescribe the oral version because abscesses at the injection site have been reported. This can be avoided by alternating the inject site. Temperature also plays a role in the drugs effectiveness and it is usually dosed at a Metabolic scale dose (MSD) of 37 C (98.6 F). It is usually dosed at 5mg/kg with frequency determined by the body weight of the snake.

If the snake did not respond to the Enrofloxacin (Baytril) you may need to discuss an alternate treatment with your vet. Amikacin is highly effective against gram negative infections. It also carries a high risk of dehydration in ill reptiles so discuss this with your vet carefully. This is typically dosed at a load dose of 5mg/kg IM followed by 2.5 mg/kg again with timing determined by body weight.

Unfortunately to verify the treatment worked you will need to return to the vet for another gram culture. If the treatment was unsuccessful then at least you have some options to bring up with the vet.

It sounds like the bump on his nose is an abscess. I saw a Burm once that needed to have an abscess drained in her mouth BEFORE starting her on a course of antibiotics before she got better. If the abscess has liquid present, it may be asking to much of the antibiotics to break down.

Unfortunately, this is something I would not recommend doing at home and under a vets supervision - you need sterile supplies, and general gas anesthesia for sedation... And I'm not sure I trust your vets judgment. I'm not sure how he/she just on-the-spo decided it was definitely E coli and sensitive to Baytril, as a culture takes 72 hours to grow and test out at a lab. I have also never heard of feeding snakes pills via their food. Snakes gut are completely different then ours, and would imagine absorb tablets very differently then ours do. I don't even think that's recommended in Plumbs Handbook. I've only ever heard of giving Baytril via intramuscular injection in snakes - in which case you have to make sure you have the injectable liquid, not the oral suspension.

I would have the bump open, culture the infection, drained and cleaned professionally, and filled with some sort of antibiotic ointment to prevent from re-filling, and started on the appropriate injectable medication (possibly to be changed pending culture results). This is going to be at your vets discretion of what he/she thinks is best, as I am no expert (just an exotics vet-tech), and I can't see/diagnose your snake over the internet... But I would imagine the process will at least be similar to this, and it's going to cost more money.

I hope this helps. Cheers!