Antibiotics/ Advice
 

Wondering if anyone knows where to buy antibiotics, or might have some?! I have been searching and it's hard to find inject-able antibiotics. I have to treat three snakes with a respiratory infection and know what medicines to use...

but not how to get them without having to spend hundreds at the vet who I don't trust anyways, because I had a baby snake die on their treatment.

If anyone is either a veterinarian or is able to give some advice or location of antibiotics please message me! Hoping to bring the collection and non breeders back to 100% perfect health with a bit more than home treatments.

Looking for fortaz, ceftazidime

-Jordyn

Those are all prescription-only in the US. If you don't trust the one vet then you'll have to find another to treat your snakes.

Also, just because an animal dies doesn't mean the vet isn't any good. Sometimes there's nothing the vet can do.

Did you have a necropsy done on the baby that passed away? Did it also have RI?

There are a lot of vets in the Chicago area, maybe try another one? Some reptile vets are very pricey but not all of them are. Good luck!

http://www.exoticpetvet.com/
http://www.animalhouseofchicago.com/

Not injectable, but oral antibiotics are available inexpensively without a prescription courtesy of a loophole that permits those owning fish to purchase them without a prescription. The loophole has been turned into big business and there are sellers on Ebay that offer a selection of antibiotics. A real boon for preppers and the like.

I am in no way advising treatment,I am not a vet; I am merely answering your question.

Yes the snake that died had a ***RI diagnosed by x-ray and cultures before she died. I believe the treatment they administered was an incorrect dose, not that that was the reason she was sick but it did kill her almost right away when she had been trudging along before. Also they have just given me inconsistent answers about the other snakes who I have taken to them who got sick from the original one. Anyways not bashing vets or anything (I'm studying to become one) and yes even the best treatment sometimes isn't good enough. But I've got to find someone with capabilities of obtaining medicines whether that means a DVM or not. eBAY so far hasn't had the medicines I need, but will keep checking.

Did the culture show if it was a viral or bacterial infection, and if bacterial, which antibiotics would work on it?

So...as a physician, I'm gonna jump in here...how did an X-ray diagnose an upper respiratory tract infection (as you termed it URI)? By definition, a URI is a viral infection, which would be culture negative on agar plates, so antibiotics would be useless. An X-ray would not show anything on a URI. If you are studying to be a vet, then you know that physical exam and appropriate testing are essential to good medicine. If you are in vet school, then you have access to the labs/clinics at your school, as well as your clinical professors and they should be able to guide you. If you are in undergrad and are "pre-vet", then you have a lot to learn.

I meant just a RI. the bacterias cultured were pseudomonas aeruginosa and providencia rettgeri. Obviously I have alot to learn which is why I am asking for advice on forums like this one, as well as from other vets, but they don't want to get in trouble and therefore refuse to give helpful information without examining themselves; thus the dilemma. The antibiotics prescribed were ceftazidime (fortaz) injections and metronidazole. but since the latter in for not for anaerobic and aerobic bacteria I am not sure if it would be prudent to use at all. Fortaz has been working well on clearing up the respiratory problems and mild stomatitis in one of my breeders and I was hoping to utilize the same for my other 2 snakes who are infected.

you understand why they are reluctant to give definitive advice without examination, right? for the moment, it's a pain in the butt for you...once you're a practicing veterinary physician, you'll make the same decision. even vets get dinged with malpractice and/or get called before their medical board for inappropriate practice patterns. meaning that you gotta have a legitimate physician/patient relationship established in order to treat....

having said that, i can add (and you may or may not already know this, so disregard if you do) sounds like you're getting traction w fortaz against the pseudomonas. the providencia, at least in my world, tends to be more nosocomial..and typically gastrointestinal type stuff. but, if it showed up on culture, you may need to deal w it. in theory, the fortaz should have activity against that as well. idk what your sensitivity showed. reptile physiology is pretty sketchy when it comes to antibiotic metabolism. you prob already know this, but injections in snakes can be precarious...make sure you know exactly what you're doing. funky renal-portal system.

also, i'm guessing you've addressed husbandry issues that may have contributed? temps and humidity changes/corrections? sanitizing enclosures? not trying to bust on you, just trying to give suggestions as you have asked for. i hope all works out, best of luck.

Definitely understand the moral problem of giving advice without examination, they could do some serious damage if I had reported or mistook the symptoms as well. I have only enough fortaz to treat one snake sadly. So far the treatments have gone well and that snake seems to be healing.
I'm doing what I can for the others without fortaz and they are seeming to improve, but I just don't think a ball python would be able to get rid of two bacterias that strong without antibiotics. I am researching to try and find anything similar if no one knows where I can buy fortaz. (I found a powder version, but just don't want to screw up the chemistry mixing myself, being inexperienced with the specific molecular properties etc, though it's probably doable).
My animals were all kept in sanitary conditions, proper heat, hide, humidity, eating well; the only problem was I bought from someone untrusted and four out of my collection (housed near snake A) contracted mites from this snake(the one who died). These then transferred the infection from the sick snake. I stopped the mites before they got to the rest of the snakes and lizards, but hoping to cure the three now infected(who didn't see the vet).
Luckily I was shown by my exotics vet and coworkers how to do injections, so I have been giving them successfully on snakes other than my own before I ever had to utilize this treatment process.
I would like to treat the ones whom I know are infected with the same fortaz/metronidazole just so that the treatment is uniform for all sick snakes and the healing one doesn't somehow get reinfected from the quarantined ones. But one vet told me metronidazole wouldn't be his preferred method, then never emailed me a more specific suggestion.
I have read about baytril helping with stomatitis, but not sure if this will really combat the two bacterias and overall infection...?