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A trip out.
Oct. 8th, 2007 04:29 pmJust got back from taking Zico to the vet.
See, this morning I was pottering around the bedroom when I heard the most horrible noise coming from his vivarium - and sure enough, there was poor Zico decorating the wall of his house with yellowish-green mucus. Poor lad, he was holding his tail out of the way and even had a somewhat pained expression on his face... it's interesting, though, that he always uses the same corner of his viv to defeacate. Snakes aren't supposed to be that bothered about it.
Anyway. I grabbed a pot and scooped up the most foul smelling mess it's ever been my misfortune to encounter from one of my own, and dashed off to the surgery to package and send it off to the lab. Thank god, they're couriering all the samples as there's a postal strike on - and not charging the clients any more for it, even though it's costing the practice considerably more.
Tipped the yuk into a pot, sealed and labelled, wiped the last greasy, sticky remains off with a swab, put that in the transport medium and sealed, labelled and packed that, too. Collared a sympathetic vet, got her to figure out which was the best set of tests to ask for, add her chop to the form and a brief history, then printed it and packaged the whole bally lot up. The lab should get it in the morning, and - fingers crossed - I should have results back by late wednesday or thursday morning.
Spoke to AJ, the vet who's most into treating 'exotics' - and has a passing interest in reptiles - and asked if she would be interested in looking at my snake. A lot of vets will treat torts and some lizards but don't like snakes... had she been reluctant it would have been off to Swindon armed with credit card to see the specialist herp vet. Expensive, but apparently very good.
See, hopefully it's something simple. And the treatment Zico has got so far - panacur (wormer) and antibiotics, as well as oral fluids, electrolytes, and probiotic - certainly won't do him any harm. The antibiotic we're using is broad spectrum and very safe for use on reptiles; if he's got a bacterial infection, the Baytril will knock it out. If it's worms, the panacur will do the job. If it's protozoal then the fluids will keep him going until we can get him onto the right meds to sort that out.
She gave him a good exam, checked skin, vent, eyes, nostrils and mouth, felt along his whole body so we're sure he doesn't have a blockage. No issues with any of the systems we can check visually, so it's a case of two more doses of wormer, six more doses of antibiotic... and wait.
Which is the bit I hate, of course.
Poor Zico, you can tell he's sick - everyone commented on how easy it was to open his mouth and how good he was when the dosing needle was gently pushed into his oesophagus... I've wormed otherwise healthy snakes and believe me, they do not sit and just glare at you while you do it. They wriggle and swear and poo and try to vomit and bite and it's quite exciting, really. Zico, although he was alert and curious about his new surroundings, just shot me a series of dirty looks.
Still. Keep 'em crossed for the poor lad, and we'll see how it goes.
See, this morning I was pottering around the bedroom when I heard the most horrible noise coming from his vivarium - and sure enough, there was poor Zico decorating the wall of his house with yellowish-green mucus. Poor lad, he was holding his tail out of the way and even had a somewhat pained expression on his face... it's interesting, though, that he always uses the same corner of his viv to defeacate. Snakes aren't supposed to be that bothered about it.
Anyway. I grabbed a pot and scooped up the most foul smelling mess it's ever been my misfortune to encounter from one of my own, and dashed off to the surgery to package and send it off to the lab. Thank god, they're couriering all the samples as there's a postal strike on - and not charging the clients any more for it, even though it's costing the practice considerably more.
Tipped the yuk into a pot, sealed and labelled, wiped the last greasy, sticky remains off with a swab, put that in the transport medium and sealed, labelled and packed that, too. Collared a sympathetic vet, got her to figure out which was the best set of tests to ask for, add her chop to the form and a brief history, then printed it and packaged the whole bally lot up. The lab should get it in the morning, and - fingers crossed - I should have results back by late wednesday or thursday morning.
Spoke to AJ, the vet who's most into treating 'exotics' - and has a passing interest in reptiles - and asked if she would be interested in looking at my snake. A lot of vets will treat torts and some lizards but don't like snakes... had she been reluctant it would have been off to Swindon armed with credit card to see the specialist herp vet. Expensive, but apparently very good.
See, hopefully it's something simple. And the treatment Zico has got so far - panacur (wormer) and antibiotics, as well as oral fluids, electrolytes, and probiotic - certainly won't do him any harm. The antibiotic we're using is broad spectrum and very safe for use on reptiles; if he's got a bacterial infection, the Baytril will knock it out. If it's worms, the panacur will do the job. If it's protozoal then the fluids will keep him going until we can get him onto the right meds to sort that out.
She gave him a good exam, checked skin, vent, eyes, nostrils and mouth, felt along his whole body so we're sure he doesn't have a blockage. No issues with any of the systems we can check visually, so it's a case of two more doses of wormer, six more doses of antibiotic... and wait.
Which is the bit I hate, of course.
Poor Zico, you can tell he's sick - everyone commented on how easy it was to open his mouth and how good he was when the dosing needle was gently pushed into his oesophagus... I've wormed otherwise healthy snakes and believe me, they do not sit and just glare at you while you do it. They wriggle and swear and poo and try to vomit and bite and it's quite exciting, really. Zico, although he was alert and curious about his new surroundings, just shot me a series of dirty looks.
Still. Keep 'em crossed for the poor lad, and we'll see how it goes.
