bumps on skin and labored breathing

[rpguzman]

Hi all. I am a new keeper of garter snakes and it seems that one of the two juveniles I got about two weeks ago has some skin bumps and exhibits labored breathing sometimes. She seems a bit more lethargic than the other snake we brought home. I've read a lot online about everything from parasites to bacterial infections that might be the cause of either of these conditions. Any suggestions? Does this warrant a visit to the vet?

Thanks,

Romy

[adamanteus]

Hi Romeo, and welcome to the forum.:)
Yes... it sounds like a visit to the vet might be a good idea.
First thing I would do is separate the two.... don't want anything nasty to spread, if that can still be avoided.

[Snake lover 3-25]

it kind of sounds like a respitory infection.... but i'd take him to the vet.....

[guidofatherof5]

Welcome to the forum. A visit to a good Herp. Vet is sound advice.

[infernalis]

Ditto the above replies, and Welcome again..

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Romy :)

[rpguzman]

UPDATE:

Took the little one to the vet today. He said that the "bumps" were probably from injuries sustained before I got her. As for the breathing, he didn't think the ways she was breathing was particularly "labored." The visited ended up costing about 65.00, which I wasn't upset about as I expected this going into it. However, I felt like the vet didn't seem the lease bit concerned about anything I told him. Hmmm. Maybe I was overreacting--maybe I've read too many garter snake webpages and I'm being that overprotective "parent." In any case, the vet asked me to collect a stool sample to check for parasites. I'm thinking I'm gonna do this, just to be on the safe side. Thoughts? Especially cause I'm a newbie at being a snake keeper.

[infernalis]

It's one of those better to be safe than sorry scenarios.

[guidofatherof5]

Great job getting your snake to the Vet. Glad to here nothing major was found. Some pictures of your snake and the bumps would be great. Your Vet's attitude seems to be the norm now a days. I've run into a few of those in the people health care industry.

[Charlet_2007]

You said it guidofatherof5 !!! I took the little hypo to the emergency vet here in town my reg vet was out of town or he'd be here in a flash!! The emergency vet looked at my snake and was like I don't want to touch it and said that to me.. I told him and the nurse that if you didn't like snakes you shouldn't have became a vet.. I hate people like that.. That don't even give these poor guys a chance.. :mad::mad:

I took the little fellow back to my reg vet after he was back and he just loved and loved on him, baby talked to him and showed him off to every one.. :D:D


rpguzman what you probably have the vet that's in it for money or just didnt know what he was doing with reptiles.. Sad to say :(:(

I hope the little fellow get better keep us updated...

[Lori P]

Hi Romeo and welcome! Glad your snakes turned out to be ok. I would definitely do the stool sample; might as well knock out a parasite issue before it gets to be a problem. Hope you enjoy it here!

[drache]

if your vet was handling the snake, he probably knows something about them
some vets just will not see herps
I even had one who stopped seeing herps, although she has the qualification
hopefully with herps becoming slightly more main stream, more vets will study their health care and medical needs
at this point, just having a vet who's even comfortable with them is something to be appreciated

[rpguzman]

UPDATE #2:

My cousin, who himself is practically a herpetologist in training (actually, he's in sixth grade, but is really knowledgeable about herps), took his garter and mine to see another exotic animal vet (the mother of one of his friends who checks out all his animals for free). Well, that gut feeling I had about there being more to it that what the first vet told me...I was right. My cousin took in stool samples for both our snakes and it turns out that both of the little snakes had intestinal parasites. As for my snake's bumps, it seems that she did at one time have mites and the bites had left marks on her skin. The vet suspects that both of these snakes were not captive bred and likely had these ailments when captured. She also said the breathing is typical among snakes of this species. Which brings me to something very interesting...I did some more reading in this forum and came across a recent post by aSnakeLovinBabe that helped me to ID my little one. Lily--that's what I've decided to call her--is a striped keelback and not a garter at all. The other snake we got at the same time as Lily, which we've named Draco, is some kind of garter or ribbon snake. I'll post pictures in a new thread soon!

Thanks for the help everyone! We truly have an awesome community here and I look forward to continuing to participate in it.

[guidofatherof5]

Romy,

Great to see your care and concern for your snakes. Keep up the good work.
This forum has a wealth of information from great people.
Love to see those pictures when you get them.

[anji1971]

Glad to see you got a second opinion. With proper treatment, the little sweeties should be healthy in no time.
Keelbacks are beautiful, luckily this one found someone who really cares.:)

[Odie]

Hi, from Oregon, Romeo :)