Vet is useless... need some advice

TrpnBils · #1 (**permalink**) 01-12-2010, 11:25 PM

Alright here's the deal. I'm a part time reptile keeper at our zoo, and we have a Madagascar Tree Boa with some health issues that the vet isn't addressing.

He's about 4 years old, kept at ~81 degrees on cypress substrate. Two of the other keepers that do herps aren't the best in the world and were tending to keep it too wet so I switched him to newspaper recently.

Problem: He's only eaten 5 times since September 1st and has been throwing himself into shed cycles like crazy. For example, he had a bad shed two Saturdays ago, and by the next Saturday he was back into shed again. It's been like this for months now... Every time that he has shed in the past couple of months, it's been a bad shed, even with high humidity during the shed cycle. The scales on the side and near the belly have been very wrinkly and dull in patches, which made me think it might have been the beginning of scale rot, which is why I switched him to newspaper. Today, he shed again and some blood came off of the scales underneath.

The vet has been there several times to look at other animals but has not addressed this one yet even though we keep asking her to. Today's reply was "well i just don't know that much about reptiles and I haven't had time to do the research on this yet"

By the way, she's registered as a herp vet among other things.

I need some ideas to throw at her or the curator because I'm at a loss of them right now.

John_White · #2 (**permalink**) 01-13-2010, 12:01 AM

A tactful approach may be best. Dr. Scott Stahl at
SEAVS: Stahl Exotic Animal Veterinary Services is a herp vet with a good deal of experience working with zoos. I would suggest that you provide Scott's contact information to your zoo vet and see what happens.

TrpnBils · #3 (**permalink**) 01-13-2010, 12:08 AM

I'll give that a shot but she's never been real receptive to suggestions...it's not the first time something like this has happened. The bottom line is that this snake needs help and he's not getting it.

sFlsniper · #4 (**permalink**) 07-24-2010, 06:38 PM

what did you find out about this problem. I've never heard of anything similar...

TrpnBils · #5 (**permalink**) 08-01-2010, 02:12 AM

I had been telling her since the beginning that I thought it was kidney related because of excessive drinking and a few other symptoms. She took blood once and let it go for too long before testing it so it wasn't usable. She tried to take it again but said it was "too stressful" so she didn't bother to get bloodwork at all. She continued to treat it topically (putting Dermaclens on EVERYTHING) like it was just bad sheds. Eventually the snake died and guess what....LESIONS ON THE KIDNEYS!!!

I am completely fed up with that vet but there is no talking sense into her. Now we have another snake with a tumor that's not being addressed. This "wait a few months and see" stuff is getting old and I have a feeling it's about to die a very public death because it's an exhibit snake that's too large to put anywhere we have available off exhibit. You can't wait and see when the tumor is growing visibly larger each week. Whatever... at least I know I take better care of my snakes at home than she does there.

It just irritates me that me, a non-vet, is more informed on some of the meds and conditions facing some of these animals than she does. There have been SEVERAL occasions over the past few months where we've had differing opinions about necessary care where I've been right! shouldn't that raise a red flag?

louise · #6 (**permalink**) 08-01-2010, 02:19 AM

could the snake have mites and that could be causing the constant sheds? also i have heard that if the shed is really bad they will go into shed again. does she drink the water or soak in it?

Icicle · #7 (**permalink**) 08-01-2010, 02:41 AM

Sorry to hear this,
I would of told her flat out to do them samples again.

sFlsniper · #8 (**permalink**) 08-01-2010, 06:08 PM

I sure would be talking to my boss!

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