Cause for concern

[guidofatherof5]

Tonight, while doing bath rotations with my adults I was observing my girl Charlotte. She's my big orange female. I could tell she was about to dump a load in the water. Instead of fecal matter only, there was also blood. It's been months since I've had to use my Vet.(all my Vet budget is gone, emergency funds also) but it looks like I'll have to go in the red for her. Not sure what to expect. She's eating good and her attitude is normal. She's been back eating for about a month after a long month and a half break.
I'm not sure what to hope for. I'm guessing it's a parasite problem.
I'll have to wait and see.
Here's a photo from last year. Looks like I have to update her file with something more current. This is my daughter Hailee's(age 9) snake and she is very worried her girl.
http://www.thamnophis.com/thamphotos/data//500/medium/Hailee_Charlott.jpg

[aSnakeLovinBabe]

Steve, have you fed her any salmon recently?

[guidofatherof5]

Steve, have you fed her any salmon recently?

No I haven't but good point to bring up. Thanks

[ConcinusMan]

uh oh. Is it possible that your daughter may have been handling her at some point recently and accidentally "shmooshed" the snake without realizing it? I've seen that happen and it starts with blood in the stool and results in death within a short time.(a month or two)

[guidofatherof5]

uh oh. Is it possible that your daughter may have been handling her at some point recently and accidentally "shmooshed" the snake without realizing it? I've seen that happen and it starts with blood in the stool and results in death within a short time.(a month or two)

That's not possible since I monitor all of Hailee's handling and she is unable to unlock the enclosure. and get the snakes out.

[Snaky]

Not so good news. I hope the vet will tell you it's not so bad :)

[Mommy2many]

Hope all turns out well.

[ConcinusMan]

Yeah me too. That is one magnificent snake.

[guidofatherof5]

Charlotte has a 10:30 Vet. appointment this morning so hopefully we'll have some answers today.

[Charis]

We'll be thinking about her today! Hope it's nothing serious!

[guidofatherof5]

We just returned from the Vet. Hook worms:( http://www.dog-health-handbook.com/image-files/hookworm_egg.jpg (http://www.dog-health-handbook.com/image-files/hookworm_egg.jpg)
She'll go on Panacur oral solution. .1ml per 100 grams of weight. 3 days on, a 2 week break, then 3 more days of treatment.
I had concerns for everyone she lives with and now I'll be treating everyone in that enclosure(Scar, Lucky, Speckle, Big Girl, Lucky look-a-like)
My Vet. was nice enought to give me plenty of Panacur. He said I had enought to treat about 500 snakes.
I hope that will be enough:D

[ssssnakeluvr]

aahhhh...used to deal with them as a vet tech....easy enough to get rid of. it's great that it was something simple and easy to cure !!

[mustang]

hey we learned about them in enviormental (our teCHER IS FUNNY)he decided to dumb it down for us and took us through the life of sammy the hook worm

[ConcinusMan]

I'll bet Sammy didn't see this coming! (Panacur)

[mustang]

nope sammy was too busy leaching off others...like the IRS or the box owners association (home owners association which we had no choice but to join)

[ConcinusMan]

Can't even paint your house without their approval. Now THAT'S cause for concern. Hook worms got nothin' on those guys.

[drache]

good to know what it is - just a small pain in the neck to deal with

[guidofatherof5]

It's good to know what's causing the problem.
While I was at the Vet's Office the Vet. Tech taught me how to do fecal floats. She also gave me all the info. for buying my own supplies.

Fecal Diagnostic Kit Fecalyzer, Fecal Float Device, Parasite Diagnostic - 50 Tests - Test Kits - Vet Med Direct (http://www.vetmeddirect.com/Fecalyzer-Fecal-Float-Device-Parasite-Diagnostic-50-Tests--pr--01400850)

Fecasol- Flotation solution Fecasol Solution, 1 gallon - Test Kits - Vet Med Direct (http://www.vetmeddirect.com/Fecasol-Solution-1-gallon--pr--0140081G)

[ConcinusMan]

Hey, thanks for the links. Good to know. Wait a minute. Sodium Nitrate? isn't that the same stuff I use to stabilize my homemade wine?

[Mommy2many]

Relieved to hear that Charlotte will be OK.;)

[guidofatherof5]

Hey, thanks for the links. Good to know. Wait a minute. Sodium Nitrate? isn't that the same stuff I use to stabilize my homemade wine?

Sorry, I wouln't know anything about that.
Not my cup of tea:D Tea I know.

[ConcinusMan]

oh wait. Maybe I got that wrong. I'm pretty sure it's a preservative used in processed meats. Anyway, got way off topic. Still wondering how the heck that can be used to detect hook worms.

[confused]

It's good to know what's causing the problem.
While I was at the Vet's Office the Vet. Tech taught me how to do fecal floats. She also gave me all the info. for buying my own supplies.

Fecal Diagnostic Kit Fecalyzer, Fecal Float Device, Parasite Diagnostic - 50 Tests - Test Kits - Vet Med Direct (http://www.vetmeddirect.com/Fecalyzer-Fecal-Float-Device-Parasite-Diagnostic-50-Tests--pr--01400850)

Fecasol- Flotation solution Fecasol Solution, 1 gallon - Test Kits - Vet Med Direct (http://www.vetmeddirect.com/Fecasol-Solution-1-gallon--pr--0140081G)

Teach me? I read something about mixing the feces and touching a slide to the top of the liquid, is there more to it then that?

[guidofatherof5]

The first thing she did was mix it up, then strained it through a small metal mesh, to take out the big stuff. The remaining liquid was placed in a test tube and spent 5 minutes in a centerfuge. After that it was removed and topped off with solution so that if had a domed look. Then you place a cover slide on top and let it sit for 15 minutes. After that time, you lift the cover slide off and place it on the main slide. Then view it.

[ConcinusMan]

Mmmmm... feces. With shelf life!

[guidofatherof5]

Today Sunday, Charlotte finished her first run of Panacur. Her roommates are all on day 2. My girls aren't happy about being forced to take this medicine. Some of the angry looks I'm getting are going to come back to haunt me.:rolleyes: The only girl who didn't seem to mind was Lucky. She is something special.
I wanted to inject the med. into a pinky to make it less stressful to my girls but the only syringes I have are the ones I used to take my allergy shots. The needle gauge is too small to pull in the thick liquid Panacur. I'll have to locate some larger syringes.
Did another complete scrub down of the enclosure. My girls will have to be on paper towels until this whole treatment process is done. Haven't seen any more bloody feces since the treatment started. Hoping were on the road to recovery for Charlotte and this awesome group of radixes.

[drache]

I wanted to inject the med. into a pinky to make it less stressful to my girls but the only syringes I have are the ones I used to take my allergy shots. The needle gauge is too small to pull in the thick liquid Panacur. I'll have to locate some larger syringes.
you can take the needle off the syringe all-together (unless it's a one-piece), and just squirt the meds into the mouse's gut through the throat, once it's defrosted
just make sure to stick it down the throat far enough that the snake won't be able to squeeze it back out if the mouse goes down the wrong way

[guidofatherof5]

you can take the needle off the syringe all-together (unless it's a one-piece),

It is the one piece design. I do have one without a needle and I did attemp to squirt the Panacur down the pinkies throat but there's too much if it.

[drache]

shucks - what a pain in the . . .

[ssssnakeluvr]

ask your vet for a couple 18 gauge IV catheters.....you can put one on the end of a 1 cc syringe and give neds that way....works good for tube feeding babies that aren't eating :cool: