I had a very gravid female with a respiratory infection in April 2023. (I isolated her, put her on paper and everything)
After a swob the vet advised two antibiotics for different Bacteria. One was baytril. I had to sign a disclaimer as the snake was gravid and the Vet said there was no research regarding the effect of antibiotics on the eggs of gravid snakes or the snake.
With the two injectables, one every 2 days and the other every 3, I was more worried about the stress I would cause with injecting her almost every day and sometimes twice a day.
The injectables went on for 2 months until 19 June 2023. A bit over a week before this time she was completely better.
My main worry was that she would become egg bound from stress.
Anyway. she pushed out one partly calcified slug egg around Jun 1st 2023.
She had her pre lay shed on June 6th 2023.
And to my amazement laid 7 apparently good eggs with veins on July 7th 2023.
My daily stabbing stress related egg bound fears have been removed, but
I am still not sure if it will affect the hatchlings. Any ideas or experiance with this?
I will update in a 2 months when and if they hatch.
So glad to read that the stress didn’t result in her being egg bound and that she is healthy again.
I hope everything will be okay with the eggs and you get 7 healthy noodles.
Speaking as an up coming breeder , stories like this make me very apprehensive about breeding.
Good luck to you and your clutch.
Well @ascended I tell you what. We are going to be positive these next couple of months and because of it those 7 little babies are going to present to you and the whole world healthy perfect little bodies without a flaw! I’m sure of it!
@caron Thanks. Im hoping they will be ok. They look fine so fare I candled them and they all had veines. The main thing for me is the female is ok. I was worried but she is a tough girl and is still good weight. @buckeyeballs don’t be too apprehensive and let it put you off breeding, The infection is not that common if the environment is right. Even less likely to get both eggs and the infection at the same time. and its treatable.
It only took so long because the first vet was not a reptile expert (despite advertising that they were) and did not swob. (couldn’t manage it)
Yes most definitely keep her under a close watch! I’m so glad you have a vet lined up for situations such as these. Keep us updated on mom and babies as well @ascended!
It would not be a bad idea to have one lined up “just in case?” I am blessed. My vet is literally 5 minutes away. She’s my former boss as well! Lol!
I hope you’ll have 7 beautiful, healthy little noodles. <3 So glad mama is doing well!
As far as stress goes, how DO snakes (or other herps) typically react to injections? I once had a large dog who didn’t seem to notice anything was happening, a smaller dog who seemed annoyed, but not defensive (like she thought a bug had stung her, which… is probably what animals DO think), and a kitten who carried on like he’d been stabbed (but other cats who were very “meh” about vaccines). It seems like it would be hard to work around the tough skin/scales…
@adra - Awesome profile picture.
I have not had to inject any other ball pythons, or any other snakes for decades. I did inject some Elaphe moellendorffi a few decades ago for a pet shop I helped. Those snakes did not seem to mind.
So it might just have been that she was heavily gravid and uncomfortable or overly sensitive. Others may know more.
Regarding the injection with scales, its fairly easy to slip the needle between the scales.
I had a ball python many years ago that I had to give injections to for an infection and the hardest part for me was holding the snake still since I had to do it myself. The small amount of medication in the syringe and the small needle made it undetectable to the snake……. (I heard no complaint from the snake anyway! Lol!
I once had to give my beardie Draco injections because he wasn’t eating and needed vitamins and calcium. It was fairly easy, just had to hold him up upside down (not for long because they cannot breathe upside down), then i just slid it in between his scales on his armpit and injected him. He would squirm a tiny bit when i injected him but then he was fine afterwards and acted normally. It is a lot easier though when you have a second person to hold while you inject.
Maybe that was my problem. The first (non specialist vet but advertised as specialist) Gave me a really weak baytryl solution, so I had to inject the whole syringe practically . It didn’t seem right to inject so much so I found another actual specialist vet and asked for a second opinion regarding strength and quantity.
By the time i got a stronger solution and so less volume injectable from a reptile expert vet, she was probably sick of it and maybe had some tissue damage from the large amount of injected fluid.
Again, the lesson for me is I should have found a specialist before I had a problem. I was just in a rush to treat and save her so I took what I could get at short notice.
edit: the other problem was the non specialist vet could not manage a swob, so only gave me one kind of antibiotic instead of the 2 she needed following a swob from the expert, That prolonged the process of injecting, and while gravid.
Time for an update.
The eggs hatched today, all the hatchlings seem fine and un effected by the extended antibiotics and stress on the mother while gravid.
(I heard no complaint from the snake anyway! Lol!
!