Supportive care for an RI?

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Ashleigh86
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Supportive care for an RI?

Postby Ashleigh86 » Mon Jul 02, 2018 8:59 pm

Hello everyone! It’s been a little while since I’ve posted on here. So, Rinzler had a vet appointment this morning for an RI that started a few days ago. He’s got a stuffy nose, sneezing and wheezing. The vet listened to his chest and said it sounded congested, so he suggested a round of antibiotic injections and a swab culture from his mouth to test and make sure nothing else is going on. Is there anything I can do to help him heal better? The vet suggested lowering his humidity to 40% which goes against my research, but does it help an RI in an Indonesian BTS? He’s still eating and drinking fine and his poops are normal. His humidity has been good (never below 60%) and he sheds perfectly fine. His temp gradient is basking spot at 100 and cool side at the low 80s. He’s on coco fiber and moss. He has a cave under the warm side that is stuffed with moss that’s regularly moistened for humidity and the cool side is almost dry in case he needed to get off the moss. He’s in a 40 gallon and I get him out a few days a week for exercise and he’s still a bit skittish but better than when I first got him a year and eight months ago ( he’s around 2 1/2 years old). I use a mercury vapor bulb for heat and uvb and he gets a chow mix with calcium and multivitamin supplement once a week. Any suggestions would be appreciated!
kingofnobbys
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Re: Supportive care for an RI?

Postby kingofnobbys » Tue Jul 03, 2018 2:06 am

Try nebulizing F10 see https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/vi ... 5&t=232783 , you are not the last of the Mohicans see https://www.beardeddragon.org/forums/vi ... 5&t=242433
Materials You Will Need:
•Zoo Med Repti Fogger
•F10 SC Veterinary Disinfectant
•Plastic Box (I use the sterilite sweater boxes, the small ones that are about 13" long) with lid (I'd invest in one of these : https://www.bunnings.com.au/ezy-storage ... b_p2583393 or https://www.bunnings.com.au/all-set-47l ... d_p0018891 )
•Razor Blade/Box Cutter/Hot Knife; pretty much anything that can cut/melt through plastic
•Syringe that measures in cc or mL
•Sharpie/Marker
•Drill with small drill bit/hot screwdriver; anything that can make holes in through plastic ( I use an electric soldering iron - works a treat making holes in plastic tubs without stressing/cracking it)


How To Set Up Your Nebulization System:


1.Drill/melt ventilation holes in the lid of your box for ventilation. Leave one corner without holes, this is where the fog will come into the chamber.
2.In the box that the Repti Fogger came in, you will find a tube that hooks up to the fogger for the fog to travel through. Place one end of this on the un-drilled corner of the lid for your box, and using a marker/sharpie, trace the hole onto the lid.
3.Use your Razor Blade/Box Cutter/Hot Knife to cut out/melt out the hole you just traced. This is where the fogging tube will enter the chamber.
4.Next setup your Repti Fogger. This is pretty easy, and can usually be figured out on your own. Take the bottle and fill it up with cold water leaving just a little space at the top before the neck of the bottle.
5.Open up your bottle of F10 SC Veterinary Disinfectant and draw up 2.5cc (2.5mL) of the disinfectant into the syringe. Inject/squirt this into the water in the bottle you just filled up and GENTLY mix by shaking (if you shake the bottle too hard, bubbles will form, not dangerous/problematic just annoying).
6.Screw the lid on your bottle and put the bottle on your fogger and let the bottle drain until the chamber is full (you will know when the bubbles stop coming).
7.If you haven't already, hook up the extending tube to the end of the fogger that fog comes out (when looking from the front, it is the right side).
8.Stick the other end of the tube in the hole you cut/melted out in step 3.
9.Your Nebulization System should be ready, do a test run before adding any snakes. When the knob is set all the way up, the box should fill up with fog in 10 seconds or less.
10.This is the final step. Compare your Nebulization System to mine (seen below). If you have ANY questions/doubts PLEASE contact me. F10 SC Veterinary Disinfectant is very powerful and is only to be used in a 1:250 ratio (F10 SC:Water) MAXIMUM.
from http://www.thamnophis.com/forum/urgent- ... nakes.html

I also suggest
> moving him into a tub that's only lined with paper toweling while he's sick ,the germs will be removed each time you remove the paper
> nudging up the tank temperatures a few degC and keeping it worm overnight too …. the reasons for this ate to
a increase his metabolic rate
b. heat dry out his nasal passage and lungs
c . boost his immune system
> discuss administering some meds by nebulization path with your vet , as well as the F10., the meds will get into his lungs more efficiently .
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Suzle87
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Re: Supportive care for an RI?

Postby Suzle87 » Wed Jul 04, 2018 12:41 am

Nebulising with F10 as Kingofnobbys suggests worked wonders for Ventress.
He had 3 rounds of antibiotics that didn't seem to do much, but after a week of nebulising morning and evening for 20-30 mins each time with F10 he was loads better, the one thing I did realise though was when I just stopped the nebulising the RI returned, so I nebulised him for around 3 weeks after all signs of RI were gone, and then dropped it down to once a day ...once every other day etc etc to check that the symptoms didn't return from stopping too abruptly.
please let us know how you get on. All the best. :thumbs:

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