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Amarali Boa with respiratory infection

22 15:26:30

Question
I bought an Amarali boa off a friend of mine who didn't know much about snakes and I found out she had kept Morgana (the Amarali) in a flex arium with two lights dangling above on chains. This obviously was not adequate as right away I noticed an audible exhale occur frequently. I took her to one vet and he prescribed 10 injections of cefotaxime this helped but did not cure the problem, as they were not experienced exotic vets. I then searched around and found a reputable vet who prescribed the more common anti biotic (enfloaxacin-baytril) I have heard it is commonly prescribed for respiratory infections. Now before I began using Baytril she was worsening as she began opening her mouth occasionally to help with breathing, mind you nothing changed she still ate, she still shed but she has been somewhat lethargic since I got her. She does occasionally move about in the night which is normal, she has stopped opening her mouth and now just has a long audible wheeze. So it seems to be improving slightly but my vet only gave me two to three weeks supply of baytril. My question is this it has been mentioned a couple of times from friends who have had sick reptiles in the past mostly boas and pythons they said when all else failed as far as broad spectrum anti biotics go they resorted to Tylosin or Tylan. They gave me a run down of the product and its use and success amongst reptiles with ri's, now I was not quick to jump on this idea but after some research I have found many who suggest it permanently cured the problem. I know some of the downsides are the fact that they target only mycoplasm or something along those lines but they are also apparrently not dangerous if used to the correct dosage. So I am curious about your thoughts on this? Any feedback would be much appreciated, my regards Kyle McNeil

PS: Sorry for the length I am honestly trying to prevent the loss of my pet, I am also curious due to the fact that I have two other snakes who might possibly already be sick now as she is in a huge custom enclosure in the same room.

Answer
I am familiar with Baytril and DO NOT use it on my boids.  It rarely clears the infection and does horrible things to the tissues around the injection sites.  The other two drugs you mentioned are not familiar to me.  I personally prefer Amakacin (not sure of the spelling- pronouned Am-a-kay-sin), it has always works VERY well on boids for me.  Ask your vet to try that.