Treating WC ETBs - Have I missed anything?

Stormyva · #1 (**permalink**) 07-06-2004, 05:50 PM

As many of you know I have gotten in 4 WC ETBs, two of which are in better condition than the other two. Well I have done everything that I can think of and it seems they are responding pretty well, but I want to make sure I have not missed anything.
- They have been soaked in water or water/iodine solution to rehydrate and take care of what appears to be scale rot. They are all pretty well hydrated, but I am going to give two of them another 24 hour soak to be safe.
- Scrapes & missing scales are being treated twice daily with a triple anti-biotic ointment.
- Remaining ticks have been removed
- No mites are visible. Cages were pre-treated with Permanone to be safe.
- Fecals will be done as soon as I can "get a sample"

One thing that still has me troubled are retained eye caps... even after soaking for 24 hours two of the snakes have retained eye caps that are yet to come off. I have been putting an antibiotic opthalmic ointment that the vet gave me on the eyes twice a day but they still are not coming off. Any ideas on those?

I am intending to offer a first meal on Friday (eight days after arrival) and will try a small f/t rat.

Is there anything else I can do other than wait to see how they do?

NicoleRussell · #2 (**permalink**) 07-06-2004, 06:38 PM

NICE stormy!!

trinitywolf · #3 (**permalink**) 07-06-2004, 06:43 PM

I think I am going to get some flack for this, but have you considered feeding them fowl to start them off? I hear people all the time saying that these guys do not eat birds, but I'm fairly convinced they do. Anyway, it would be interesting to see if they do better on fowl (yeah, I know...nasty poo).
I would say you are in a wait and see game Stormy. Sounds like you have them on the track to good health. Have you done a pre-emptive worm injection? I would not if I were you. Too many meds can be just as bad as none IMHO. Wait and see what you have to treat before pumping them full of dewormer.
I know you know this stuff, but leave them alone as much as possible too.
That one you are holding is beautiful man. Very, very nice! I'll cross my fingers for you.

Stormyva · #4 (**permalink**) 07-06-2004, 07:04 PM

Thanks for the compliments, but I am new to both Emeralds and treating wild caught so this is a totally new experience for me. You can do all the research and reading you want but nothing can truly prepare you for this kind of stuff. These poor guys were nasty when they came in... it amazes me that people that deal with imports can continue to do so and actually sleep at night.

No wormer yet.... on a couple of recommendations I did not "pre-treat". I am going to wait to until I get some fecals done to treat for internals.
I didnt even consider offering fowl for a meal... two of the snakes have taken live rats while they where with the seller and the other two have not been offered yet but they are looking better by the day so I am trying to remain confident that they will eat this week.

JuliusSqueezer · #5 (**permalink**) 07-06-2004, 07:07 PM

Yep Ted you are gonna get some flack. Have you ever kept an Emerald? Have you ever read the works of Dr Robert Henderson who actually spent a great deal of time in South America making observations including dissecting hundreds of freshly wildcaught emeralds and studying the stomach contents. His findings were the vast majority of adult emerald diet in the wild is arboreal rice rats...NOT birds. Bird in the stomach contents of emeralds was an almost nonexistant find. The babies were mostly eating lizards which makes sense because the rats nests are usually fairly well tucked away some place safe and pink arboreal rats don't go out and roam the branches much. Forever and a day, even top herpetologists "assumed" that emeralds had the large teeth for nabbing birds out of the air as they fly by. This is PROVEN to be false. Emeralds are totally nocturnal and they hunt by just drooping on a branch waiting for something to walk under them on a limb below. How many birds do you think they will encounter late at night doing this? It is true that on a rare occasion they will eat a bird and it has also been found that they rather enjoy eating birds. But birds aren't near as healthy for them as rats are and I see no reason to offer fowl first without even attempting f/t rats.

Stormyva · #6 (**permalink**) 07-06-2004, 07:15 PM

Thank you for that information Brett, it's clear that birds are not an option, but what about the other stuff?
You have experience with ETBs and treating a wide arrray of ailments....
Is there anything that I have missed, or anything that you would recommend?

JuliusSqueezer · #7 (**permalink**) 07-06-2004, 07:31 PM

The only wildcaught emeralds I have ever had came in as rescue. One had been tube fed for a year and refused to eat on it's own before I got it. Fecals were clear. I got him to finally take a small f/t rat and while digesting it, he bloated up and dropped dead. The other one was a large female with the dreaded "regurge syndrome" Anything larger than a mouse or a fuzzy rat would bloat her up like a balloon and she would puke it back up. She had an amazong feeding response but could only hold down very small meals spread very far apart (once every 3-4 weeks) It just wasn't enough to sustain her. Both of them probably had the same problem, the difference being that he didn't have near the feeding response. I didn't see it coming with the male but I did with the female. She was fairly poor and there was nothing I or anyone else could do to save her. As mentioned before in other threads, wc emeralds being imported to the US are held in holding cages that are not only crammed full and filthy but are along side of filthy crammed full bird cages. It is suspected that the emeralds are picking up some type of avian disease or pathogen that may not harm the birds but is 100% fatal to any emerald that ends up with it. The guy I took them from had done all he could do and had spent a small fortune with several vets. He was ready to put them both down but sent out a cry for help hoping a new face might be able to save them. I tried. I failed. He is highly experienced with arboreals and had them set up right. He mostly keeps chondros now. After all this mess, he lost heart and quit keeping emeralds all together.

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