respiratory infection - Page 3

Snakesitter · 01-20-15, 03:25 PM

Helix, do you have a local herp society that might be able to provide some advice or a vet referral? You might try a web search or even ask the first vet's office is such a club exists.

yeloowtang · 01-21-15, 07:37 AM

I do have concerns about the vet !!!! but in all honesty , I can't say he's bad or good.
He may be one of the best ?? things may be done differently in Slovenia !!
here at least, cultures are done by swabbing the Mucus inside of the mouth to grow the culture.
It could be that if he's suspecting an upper R I he feels that his way of doing it is best ?? I really can' t say.

but for the fun of it, if you are equipped to grow a culture, go ahead and give it a shot.
be as sterile as possible, new swab, new dish etc etc. swab the inside of the mouth all over: top, bottom, sides.. then do the culture growth.

I'm trying to find the site I found a while back with pictures of all the bacteria with names that you could use to identify it with a microscope..
but computers at works must be the slowest on the planet and having trouble searching.. will try to find it.. searching for fungal infections in reptiles ID or bacterial ID in snakes with image, something like that.

doing this would be for your info only as I don't think a vet would recognise the results

but at least you would know..

all this said, I may very well be that your snake is acting normally ??
I have a few ball pythons that breath heavier than others and my SD reticulated python also breaths heavy when handled and they are 100% perfect..

maybe just a little more time, if the snake eats, sheds and defecates normally..!!! might be ok, just keep a close eye on it..

now to find that chart

**Aaron_S** · 01-21-15, 08:26 AM

Nostrils too small to wash for a culture? What?

So the vet, if they know anything, can do a tracheal (sp?) swab/wash/whatever instead.

I just know there's a way to do it even on smaller snakes without having to "wash the nostrils".

Snakesitter · 01-21-15, 02:45 PM

^^ Absolutely!

Helix Newton · 01-22-15, 08:12 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by yeloowtang

I do have concerns about the vet !!!! but in all honesty , I can't say he's bad or good.
He may be one of the best ?? things may be done differently in Slovenia !!
here at least, cultures are done by swabbing the Mucus inside of the mouth to grow the culture.
It could be that if he's suspecting an upper R I he feels that his way of doing it is best ?? I really can' t say.

but for the fun of it, if you are equipped to grow a culture, go ahead and give it a shot.
be as sterile as possible, new swab, new dish etc etc. swab the inside of the mouth all over: top, bottom, sides.. then do the culture growth.

I'm trying to find the site I found a while back with pictures of all the bacteria with names that you could use to identify it with a microscope..
but computers at works must be the slowest on the planet and having trouble searching.. will try to find it.. searching for fungal infections in reptiles ID or bacterial ID in snakes with image, something like that.

doing this would be for your info only as I don't think a vet would recognise the results

but at least you would know..

all this said, I may very well be that your snake is acting normally ??
I have a few ball pythons that breath heavier than others and my SD reticulated python also breaths heavy when handled and they are 100% perfect..

maybe just a little more time, if the snake eats, sheds and defecates normally..!!! might be ok, just keep a close eye on it..

now to find that chart

I'm going to take a culture today,I will post the entire process at evening or tomorrow,hope you find that site will all the photos of bacteria soon,I will do some digging as well. thanks!

yeloowtang · 01-22-15, 09:47 AM

I'm still searching for that one I referred to.. but here's a few links that may help
Gallery of bacteria - photo gallery of bacterial species. Images of common medically important bacteria.

Bacterial colonies

i'm not sure any of the info in the links are reptiles related ???

some that I found are in form of a book that needs to be purchased
ex:
https://books.google.ca/books?id=LW3...20list&f=false

and the more I try to find this, the more I think I saw what I want to find in a book !!! but I'm still searching, bound to find something useful

What I had seen was, all known bacterial and fungal infections in pictured petri dishes under the scope with names and suggested medications..

the search goes on, in the meanwhile, I hope your snake is doing better..

Helix Newton · 01-22-15, 10:48 AM

Here's what I did today,first I sterilized all the working space and the equipment needed(don't mind the dirty cooking panel,I didn't have time to clean that),than I prepared growth medium using only agar since sheep blood was unavailable for me today,when It was done I purred the medium in some petri dishes and wait for it to cool down.Taking a swab was the hardest part for me to do,I barley opened her mouth because she was very resilient,I hope I got enough for culture to grow tho.I examined my BRB afterwards and notice some dry red scales on her belly,is this normal?

Sterilization + culture plates

2.Skin defects

**Aaron_S** · 01-22-15, 12:23 PM

1. That isn't sterile.

2. Those pics suck. Could be dirt or beginning of scale rot. May be a shed. I don't know your current conditions.

3. What did you swab? How do you know you got the correct area or correct bacteria? How do you know which is the bad kind? What do you know about this type of bacteria at all?

Helix Newton · 01-22-15, 01:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aaron_S

1. That isn't sterile.

2. Those pics suck. Could be dirt or beginning of scale rot. May be a shed. I don't know your current conditions.

3. What did you swab? How do you know you got the correct area or correct bacteria? How do you know which is the bad kind? What do you know about this type of bacteria at all?

1.I know,but it's as sterile as it can be..if you don't know that blue light is UV-C sterilization lamp,the same they use in hospitals and laboratories aside from that I used Zepter - Therapy Air iOn for air filtering.

2.I know,the pics suck she is about to shed so I will try to make better pics afterwards.

3.I took a swab of inside of the mouth,I don't know if it was the correct area since there are no sign of infection in her mouth and I don't know witch bacteria will grow or even how do they look,that's why I will do research and do my best to find out.

Snakesitter · 01-22-15, 02:46 PM

Aaron is our resident diplomat. ;-) He does not hold punches, but makes excellent points. Good luck on your culturing experiment...but I would still consult a vet first, as they be unable to use your results.

Helix Newton · 01-22-15, 03:37 PM

I've noticed and I know I could have done it better but I didn't do a culture to disproof my vet I did it for my own educational purposes,who knows maybe I'll get accurate results

Snakesitter · 01-23-15, 03:00 PM

I never meant to imply it was to disprove the vet (as I understand, they never did a culture anyway). Sounds like a plan, and good luck!

Helix Newton · 01-24-15, 11:59 AM

Update:Nothing yet on the plates,but i think she is getting better,I just took her out a bit and and there was no coughing or sneezing and she looked much happier than before!

MDT · 01-24-15, 03:03 PM

Dude...respiratory infection=tracheal secretions. You have oral secretions. Invalid culture.

Helix Newton · 01-25-15, 02:10 AM

It doesn't matter anymore,she is getting better now.