General health

[Jamie]

Hi y'all.

Firstly, moderators - please can you leave this post here for a day or so til I get a few replies as my last post got moved out & not so many people got to see & reply to it. TIA.

I have 2 Surinam RTB's & am having some general health issues:-

The female hasn't fed in a while-6 months. The male has, but his feces is loose & he's still pretty skinny. He refused a f/t rat today (left overnight). I have to leave prey in the tank as they won't feed in boxes.

My idea is feed as regularly as possible, but with smaller prey items - is this the right idea?

Secondly, I've seen pedialite & gatorade mentioned on here but in the UK we don't have them. Can some kind member please list the ingredients so I can maybe search out a comparable brand here. Can they be administered together - what are they generally used for (re-hydration?) & what ratio to water do they need to be mixed with.

Thank you all in advance, these snakes are my pride & joy & I really want to do the best I can to get them back to full health ASAP. Some of you may recall a blocked nostril in my female, good news, it's cleared up.

Jamie
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[JuliusSqueezer]

My first guess is parasites. Second guess is that the cage is too hot as to why the loose stool and underweight problem.

Are you feeding them together in the same tank? If so this is an accident waiting to happen and could also explain why one of them isn't feeding.

You say you feed small meals often? How so? In any case, this is not how their digestive systems work. They should be on a schedule of one or two girth sized rats once every 7,10 or 14 days...depending on appetite. feeding smaller meals more often will not allow them to replentish gut flora and will cause food in the intestines to puterify because when more food is swallowed...all the enzymes rush to attack the fresh food with more nutrients leaving the old meal to sour...also slowing the metabolism rather than speeding it up as one might think which will lead to impaction.

I have no idea what products are sold in the UK that are comparable to pedialyte. Are you sure it isn't sold there? It is a clear fluid sold where baby food is sold in grocery stores here for the purpose of treating dehydration. You can mix it 50/50 or use if full strength. You can dropper or preferably tube feed small amounts as needed for severe dehydration and also soak them in it.
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[morti]

I tend to agree with Julius... That snake needs a vet visit soon.

The electrolytes are the most important ingrediant of pedialyte or gatoraid. Almost any sports drink should have them

-Morti

[XzyluM]

I agree with Brett. He stated mostly everything. A vet visit is really recommended by me.
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[Jamie]

We have diarlyte for treating the runs in babies. I'll try that.

I defo don't feed together, one is seperated off while the other is feeding. So far I've been offering appropriate size rats, but thought maybe smaller items for a few weeks might help. I'll continue trying to feed & also try the diarlyte. If no luck on getting the stools to firm up, I'll get them to a vet.

Thanks
Jamie
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[Jamie]

Sorry, forgot to ask, is there anyway to replenish gut flora other than getting them back to regular feeding?

They came to me underweight, so I'm trying to get them back to normal, don't want you to think I'm irresponsible.

Jamie
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[impermanentrage]

To replenish natural gut-flora try:

NutriBAC

I am curious as to whether or not your animals are imported or not. If they are? I would put my US $'s on parasites as the safest bet.

On another note, i think its spot on that you said "ya'll". [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]

Entropy,
Alex
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[Jamie]

They were wild caught, but about 6 years ago, so any parasites I guess would have been gone by now.

Will see if I can get that bacteria stuff, thanks.

What did you mean about me saying 'y'all'?
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[impermanentrage]

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> They were wild caught, but about 6 years ago, so any parasites I guess would have been gone by now.

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

Nothing could be further from the truth.

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> Will see if I can get that bacteria stuff, thanks.

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>

If not, they should have it in the UK.

<TABLE BORDER=0 ALIGN=CENTER WIDTH=85%><TR><TD><font class="pn-sub">Quote:</font><HR></TD></TR><TR><TD><FONT class="pn-sub"><BLOCKQUOTE> What did you mean about me saying 'y'all'?
_________________

</BLOCKQUOTE></FONT></TD></TR><TR><TD><HR></TD></TR></TABLE>


Well, i suppose i would need to hear you actually say it first. [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_biggrin.gif[/img]
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[Jamie]

Many thanks for the advice. Sad news is I lost my male today. Trip to the vet ASAP for the female. I'm distraught &amp; my 8 yr old daughter is too (he was her lil fella). A sad day.

My ignorance shows - how would they have/pick up parasites?

BTW - I recall the Carolina accent from a visit there 20 years ago, reckon my 'Y'all' would sound pretty good!! LOL

PS - thanks once again for taking the time to reply &amp; recommend that product. I'm fairly experienced but this site is still my bible.

Jamie
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[impermanentrage]

Well, parasites are genrally the rule, rather than the exception in the case of WC animals. In particular , when dealing with an animal that is kept in an enclosure where constant exposure to the parasite[s] during all courses of it's life cycle will lead to what in the wild would simply be temporary , or a mild infestation. They pick up parasites from food sources (generally in the wild), water sources (the same), or invasion through the skin during the larval stages of some.
What you have described sounds alot like coccidiosis. That would explain the diarrhea . Although, the only real way of determining whether or not your animal truly has an intestinal parasite is to take a fecal sample , place it into an air tight container, place it in the fridge, than take to the vet for fecal floatation, and microscopic evaluation. If coccidia does indeed proove to be the case? Than the vet will likely provide albon for you to give orally.
You may wish to have a necropsy done to the animal that has recently expired (my apologies to you).

Good luck,
Alex Loomis [img]modules/Forum/images/smiles/icon_frown.gif[/img]

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