Spankenstyne
06-05-2011, 12:09 AM
I figured I would log a sort of visual ongoing treatment of one of my Albino Checkereds. There doesn't seem to be a lot of info out there with pictures & follow-up on some potential health issues with garters, so this might be helpful for some.
A quick background is that this is one of my adult breeder female Albino Checkereds. Over the last while she has had a couple of strange lumps appear along her body, a couple near the neck area and a couple down near the vent. They looked to me like what has been described as possibly: a metabolic issue, a thyroid issue, skin infection, cysts, or even possibly like encapsulated nematodes. The last one being least likely due to the care & conditions it's kept in, but I still wasn't ruling it out completely more recently.
The lumps are soft to the touch and beneath the skin without any harder portions or any feel of anything solid inside. They originally appeared last year and then seemed to have disappeared, but then came back more recently and weren't going away.
A couple of minor skin issues also ocurred recently which I was treating & had been healing and appearing to get better. (The cause being a spilled water dish while I was out of town on business that got missed until i got back.)
Within the last week though it progressed quickly with some scabbing at the side of the vent, and a few places of red raised skin beneath scales. Then yesterday to having a large area under her chin of swollen skin & disfigured scales.
I took her to the Vet yesterday to have her looked at.
Unfortunately the Vet wasn't going to be in until today so we made an appointment for this am, which I was fine with since it wasn't appearing to be anything that couldn't wait a few more hours. I was willing to wait as she's a very experienced exotics/reptile specialist.
This morning when I pulled her out of her enclosure she had gotten even worse, the chin area had fresh blood on it & a couple of places along her body also had gotten worse.
The Vet examination went well, her vitals appeared very strong, her body/muscle tone was great, and behaviour-wise she has throughout this not changed at all from her normal docile but curiously active self (510g on an empty stomach, she's a big girl).
At first examination the Vet felt the lumps were very unlikely to be anything parasitic & that they felt to be likely just fluid but she would open up the lump near the vent to check, she'd prefer to leave the ones near the head unless necessary. I left her with the snake to do her thing as she was tight on time this morning and would have to do it after lunch.
I came back a few hours later and she confirmed that it was only fluids & we would begin to treat what seems to be an infection along with the surface skin issues with antibiotic injections. The surface issues she wasn't too concerned with & felt they should likely clear up quickly with treatment, she's seen far worse.
We also began a round of deworming just in case to eliminate that possibility.
As it is now she's in her bare-bones hospital tank at home while we treat her & in two weeks the Vet wants me to come back for a follow up. If we aren't seeing progress then we'll start looking at bloodwork & other tests, but she felt they weren't warranted at this time and would be an unnecessary expense at this stage.
The current treatment regime is as follows:
-Daily 20 min soak in a Betadine solution (diluted to a light tea colour)
-Every 3rd day I give an injection of Fortaz (.1ml)
-In two weeks I administer the second round of deworming meds (Metronidazole Suspenion 100mg/ml the dose is .5ml, same with the 10% Panacur Suspension .5ml)
I'll post some pics below for visual reference.
A quick background is that this is one of my adult breeder female Albino Checkereds. Over the last while she has had a couple of strange lumps appear along her body, a couple near the neck area and a couple down near the vent. They looked to me like what has been described as possibly: a metabolic issue, a thyroid issue, skin infection, cysts, or even possibly like encapsulated nematodes. The last one being least likely due to the care & conditions it's kept in, but I still wasn't ruling it out completely more recently.
The lumps are soft to the touch and beneath the skin without any harder portions or any feel of anything solid inside. They originally appeared last year and then seemed to have disappeared, but then came back more recently and weren't going away.
A couple of minor skin issues also ocurred recently which I was treating & had been healing and appearing to get better. (The cause being a spilled water dish while I was out of town on business that got missed until i got back.)
Within the last week though it progressed quickly with some scabbing at the side of the vent, and a few places of red raised skin beneath scales. Then yesterday to having a large area under her chin of swollen skin & disfigured scales.
I took her to the Vet yesterday to have her looked at.
Unfortunately the Vet wasn't going to be in until today so we made an appointment for this am, which I was fine with since it wasn't appearing to be anything that couldn't wait a few more hours. I was willing to wait as she's a very experienced exotics/reptile specialist.
This morning when I pulled her out of her enclosure she had gotten even worse, the chin area had fresh blood on it & a couple of places along her body also had gotten worse.
The Vet examination went well, her vitals appeared very strong, her body/muscle tone was great, and behaviour-wise she has throughout this not changed at all from her normal docile but curiously active self (510g on an empty stomach, she's a big girl).
At first examination the Vet felt the lumps were very unlikely to be anything parasitic & that they felt to be likely just fluid but she would open up the lump near the vent to check, she'd prefer to leave the ones near the head unless necessary. I left her with the snake to do her thing as she was tight on time this morning and would have to do it after lunch.
I came back a few hours later and she confirmed that it was only fluids & we would begin to treat what seems to be an infection along with the surface skin issues with antibiotic injections. The surface issues she wasn't too concerned with & felt they should likely clear up quickly with treatment, she's seen far worse.
We also began a round of deworming just in case to eliminate that possibility.
As it is now she's in her bare-bones hospital tank at home while we treat her & in two weeks the Vet wants me to come back for a follow up. If we aren't seeing progress then we'll start looking at bloodwork & other tests, but she felt they weren't warranted at this time and would be an unnecessary expense at this stage.
The current treatment regime is as follows:
-Daily 20 min soak in a Betadine solution (diluted to a light tea colour)
-Every 3rd day I give an injection of Fortaz (.1ml)
-In two weeks I administer the second round of deworming meds (Metronidazole Suspenion 100mg/ml the dose is .5ml, same with the 10% Panacur Suspension .5ml)
I'll post some pics below for visual reference.