have you tried nebulising him with f10 its what i have used in past with great success

 

Same !!

The Nebuliser was cheap as chips off eBay -
One of those little handheld portable ones .
Used with F10 diluted as per instructions.

 

Ive never heard of an endoscopy being done for an r.i as usually it's a swab and then injections.

 

My Boa had a swab, injections, oral antibiotics and nebulised antibiotics. No endoscopy.

 

He said it's going to cost £400-£500, I'm obviously willing to pay it if she needs it, but is there any other treatment that should be tried first?

Ouch !

Ok I appreciate that it's a pet, but if it was me I would seriously have to consider the value of shelling out £500 on something that may end up being a waste of time. £500 would buy an awful lot of snakes.

So what would happen if they found something... maybe something that isn't curable or something they think is curable, charge you a fortune for and the snake still dies. You have to be realistic. Even though most are now captive bred they are still wild animals with limited intelligence and no emotions. Sometimes it's better to cut your losses when faced with the prospect of a huge vet bill, and sometimes it might be kinder to have the snake put to sleep if all normal procedures such as those your have already done, and those suggested here have failed.

Sorry if I seem hard and blunt, but I tend to be practical and not let my heart rule my head in these situations. I do wish your snake a speedy recovery, but IMO shelling out £500 for an endoscope investigation on a corn snake is simply not viable IMO.

[now to put on that flame protector suit :whistling2:]

 

Ouch !



Ok I appreciate that it's a pet, but if it was me I would seriously have to consider the value of shelling out £500 on something that may end up being a waste of time. £500 would buy an awful lot of snakes.



So what would happen if they found something... maybe something that isn't curable or something they think is curable, charge you a fortune for and the snake still dies. You have to be realistic. Even though most are now captive bred they are still wild animals with limited intelligence and no emotions. Sometimes it's better to cut your losses when faced with the prospect of a huge vet bill, and sometimes it might be kinder to have the snake put to sleep if all normal procedures such as those your have already done, and those suggested here have failed.



Sorry if I seem hard and blunt, but I tend to be practical and not let my heart rule my head in these situations. I do wish your snake a speedy recovery, but IMO shelling out £500 for an endoscope investigation on a corn snake is simply not viable IMO.



[now to put on that flame protector suit :whistling2:]

Mmmmm . I think I agree with you tbh . Especially as there are no guarantees ...

Maybe if it was my Snow Boa I'd maybe consider spending so much but even that would be a 50/50 decision .

I'd only invest that much ( and more ) on my faithful Italian Greyhound if he was poorly or suffering in some way.

 

power circuit

When I first got into the hobby 30 years ago my first snake was a red sided garter. I was given all the usual duff advice about it not needing a heat mat as it came from Canada where it snows etc etc... It was fed on worms and defrosted whitebait, which after joining a club found I should heat treat it first. Needless to say after a while it started having convulsions and I took it to a vet. The snake cost me £15, the vet bills £75 and the snake died the day after I spent £80 on a thermostat and heatmat. Whilst not the same fee's as you are facing, back then on my wages £170 was a lot to find in the course of a couple of weeks.

Rather than cut my losses and sell the gear I sought advice, attended meetings of the MKHS and purchased my first Royal, who went on to live to the age of 22 years.

I think it's different where dogs are concerned. They give back love, have emotions, provide companionship and are a lot more intelligent. It's also a lot easier and cost effective to insure a dog than a snake, where the premiums for reptile policies are almost as much as it is to buy a replacement. The average cost of a KC registered pup for most breeds is around £800 - £1200, that's more of an investment to protect. When its a £40 corn snake... not worth it.

To give you another perspective, my wife wanted to keep chickens so we had a supply of fresh free-range eggs. Each chicken cost £15. Last year one fell ill, with a lump above one eye, stopped eating and generally looked sorry for itself. Wifey wanted to take it to a vet - even though she agreed that these were not "pets" (even though she named each one !) - I took it to a local sanctuary who take in anything from a lynx to snow leopards, who put it out of it's misery and did a deed of providing the sanctuary with a free meal for one of the cats. We then went out and purchased a replacement for another £15... Sometimes you have to be logical and let your head rule your heart.

 

It seems to me that your vet has £ signs in their eyes. Any decent reptile vet will realistically work within a reasonable budget for a creature that is only worth between £30.00-£50.00. There is a point at which it becomes incumbent upon the vet to consult you on whether you want to continue with expensive treatment or consider euthanizing the animal. Some crap vets would have you paying £3,000 for a heart transplant for your goldfish. Next time make it clear to them what sort of budget you can practically work within, otherwise they'll have you coming back every other week for "check ups" While we have a duty to provide reasonable medical care for the animals we are responsible for, there is a limit. Don't let unscrupulous vets mug you off.

 

I took my quite newly arrived clown male up to see my local reptile vet (Ashleigh) when he came down with an RI -first RI that I had seen for quite a while. The vet gave him a thorough check, listened to his breathing looked at the gunk in his mouth and prescribed fairly broad spectrum antibiotics (Amikin) on the basis that he needed treating without delay and a swab could take too long to be returned, but with strict instructions on taking him back if he didn't improve in 10-14 days or if he showed any signs of getting worse. Total cost just under £50. 3 weeks of me giving him injections as instructed later he seems to be totally recovered and has had a couple of small meals, but I have booked him in for a check up on Friday just to be certain. OK we have been lucky with this one but I am amazed at how quickly he has recovered and at the low cost compared to what I would have been charged at the vet I used to go to a couple of years ago.

 

The only time I've had to take a snake to a vet was back in the late 1990's when my large adult male corn snake developed an eye infection. I had around three consultations, an anti-biotic cream that needed regular application 5 -6 times a day, and the infection cleared up in around 5-6 weeks. I was charged less than £20, and that was mainly for the cream. The vet was "pleased" to be given the opportunity of treating something different to cats, dogs and rabbits and, so didn't charge me for the repeat visits.

Like Uromastyxman mentioned, some vets see ££££ when there is a sniff of anything classed as exotic

 

I've been using f10 in a nebulizer as well as the antibiotics and still no improvement. She still isn't in too bad shape. She's not got any bubbles in her mouth, she isn't open mouth gaping and shes eating. But she still isnt improving, has anyone else had this? it's been 6 weeks now.

The vet is an exotic specialist and very highly recommended but I'm starting to really stress about the fact she's not getting better. Should I ask for a tracheal wash to see if anything shows up? The vet said this would cost around £100-£200 does that sound about right?