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help, please help

R

ryno1513

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first let me say hello, i am new to the forums. second i really need some help. i currently own three large burms. one a 11ft albino male, the second a 10ft. green female, and the third being one i just acquired yesterday. ok i got her for cheap at a reptile show she is a 13+ft albino female. i got her for cheap because the kid i bought her off didnt have the time to take care of her. she has a RI which the kid did take her to the vet for and he did give me the needles with the betryl so i can at least get that cleared up (which by the way, she takes the needles very very well. doesnt even squirm) my question is her mouth is very very red. i am affraid she may have mouth rot, i do have a vet appt. but not for another three days and this is killing me, i really want her to be healthy and happy so i can start breeding her. i would post pics but my camera is currently broken. please if anyone can help me just let me know if it may be normal in some way for her mouth to look very red and a little puffy (could this be from the RI)
thank you very much in advance
Ryan
(by the way all my cages are 8ft long by 4ft deep by 3ft tall. all the snakes are in seperate cages and all are temp and humidity controlled at 90degrees and 75% humidity, i only say this because i know someone will ask)
 
Ryan, the burm with the RI.. lower her humidity to help dry up the mucous in her lungs. Once she is over the infection you can raise it again.

Stomatitis (mouth rot) is usually a secondary infection. If the previous keeper wasn't keeping her well, she may have rubbed her face on the enclosure she was in... and if not kept clean then an infection will take root in the mouth. Get yourself some Virosan, and a buddy or two to help you. You'll need to dilute the Virosan so it's very light blue in color. Restrain her head, open her mouth with a rubber spatula, clean out any cheesy substance (if any) then squirt the Virosan onto the infected areas. You can use a large syringe without a needle for this, very handy. Be careful to not get any in her glottis or deep into her mouth where she will ingest it. We will usually restrain the animal on a table or bed with the head hanging down for this procedure when it needs to be done. Let the Virosan drain for a few seconds and dab her mouth with a paper towel to clean up the drips.

The Baytril may help with the stomatitis, but have the vet take samples just in case it isn't enough.

Good luck!
 
Regarding the mouth - I will assume that when you say normal, you mean in a healthy animal (because it is normal in the presence of some infections). That clarification made, no it is not normal. While mouthrot, or stomatitis, is likely in this instance, I do not like to suggest diagnoses without at least a picture. As Michelle stated, stomatitis is frequently a secondary infection - which is to say that it develops after, or as a result of, another infection...often made possible by a weakened (or otherwise occupied) immune system. As such, there is no need for rubbing, trauma, or dirty conditions for stomatitis to develop in a snake with an RI (though any of them could be contributing factors). If there is caseous matter, remove it as Michelle described. I personally recommend using a swab to apply the Nolvosan to the infected area vs just squirting it over with a syringe.

*thank you for providing the information about the temperature and humidity...the decision to adjust either is important, and should not be made without knowing the baseline (ie. some people automatically say to decrease the humidity - but sometimes that is just the wrong response because, in fact, the humidity is already too low and the dryness is contributing to the problem).

As a side note, I'm hoping you got lucky and the vet had/gave the large animal (cattle) sol'n vs the small animal (dog)...it makes a big difference in the volume you have to inject.
 
I should probably clarify the *squirting* method. We had just finished treating a large retic with severe ulcerative stomatitis. She had so much necrotic tissue that swabbing would have done little good. I would use a swab to open up as much of the area and any loose tissue was cut away as well. I could then squirt the diluted Virosan into the cracks I created. I would use the spatula to cover the glottis, and with her head hanging down there was no problem about her ingesting it. She's all better now, by the way, and eating with great gusto!

As Harald said, you could use a swab to apply it. Especially if it's just swollen and off color. For getting around a lot of necrotic tissue that is too stubborn to remove just yet, squirting it in and around was the easiest, quickest method for us. I would only recommend this method with a large snake, though, lol. It would be too difficult to control the stream in a small mouth. :eek3:
 
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