Marnie's Snakes

[PINJOHN]

Very much enjoyed reading these two very different reports on a visit to the vet, both well written giving us a good insight into you opposite experiences.
As to your question about who to trust, my opinion is if the internet people you refer to are the members of this site then they get my vote over the vast majority of money making machines called vets.

[Light of Dae]

I'm glad you had a good experience at the vet. My vet experience wasn't so good. The vet was nice, but I got a bit of misinformation from her and her communication skills left something to be desired. First off, she said goldfish were OK if they were from a reputable source and recommended a local pet store. Then she didn't like the aspen and suggested newspaper.

I think your vet was just full of herself... She needs to learn a few things from Marnies vet. Goldfish are not OK, we("People from the internet") know this, she probably thinks they eat bugs too!

In fact I brought up the issue of parasites in goldfish and she just said that if they were from a reputable source it was fine.

I think you should inform her on 'Thiamise" (however you spell it... stoopid sexyladi, I mean sexdaily... sexydial... isexlady... dailysex... ladiesxy... dyslexia! Stupid dyslexia!)

I was just so intimidated, and I was sitting there thinking, "well what is more credible sounding? A licensed vet or "people from the internet"?"

"Credible sounding" Depends if you are talking about their title or what comes out of their mouth. Sure your vet sounds all credible with her diplomas n certifications n her veterinary license .... up until she opens her mouth n tells you that load of BS!
We the "People of the internet" on the other hand don't sound like we would be credible at all, I mean almost EVERYONE knows how much BS is out on the internet... Up until you've read what we've wrote.

[angrygamer]

*heh, I meant CONDRADICTS not CONTRACTS in my first post. Too late to edit!

Im curious, was she correct on the sex and species of your snake?

I'm still not sure, I posted some pics some time back, but I couldn't get him stay still enough...

When she sexed him, I asked her if she needed to probe him, and she said that should could tell by visualization.

As far as the species goes, someone on here thought he was a Wandering, and for the life of me I can't find the post.

However, after looking up pics of t.radix and t.vagrans comparatively to answer your question, he still looks more like a wandering.

Very much enjoyed reading these two very different reports on a visit to the vet, both well written giving us a good insight into you opposite experiences.
As to your question about who to trust, my opinion is if the internet people you refer to are the members of this site then they get my vote over the vast majority of money making machines called vets.

Well I mean there were things like using aspen and the danger of too high of a humidity to Garters that you all are familiar with but all of this just seemed to be in left field to her.

I have read up on a lot of resources on the 'net, this forum being one of them. When I referred to "people on the internet", heh, I did mean you guys in part but don't take any offense; I was thinking about what that sounds like through her ears.

Part of her bio reads:

Dr. xxx is a long tenured veterinarian with an interest in Chinese herbology, homeopathy, and accupuncture for small animals. She obtained her degree at xxx State. Dr. xxx loves a good cup of strong coffee and collecting gecko figures.

At any rate, one of my old Unreal Tournament and Call of Duty 4 clanmates is a vet. I haven't talked to him in a while, but I PM'd him this morning about picking out a good exotic animal vet. He might be able to give me some advice. Heck, he might even know someone.

[angrygamer]

"Credible sounding" Depends if you are talking about their title or what comes out of their mouth. Sure your vet sounds all credible with her diplomas n certifications n her veterinary license .... up until she opens her mouth n tells you that load of BS!
We the "People of the internet" on the other hand don't sound like we would be credible at all, I mean almost EVERYONE knows how much BS is out on the internet... Up until you've read what we've wrote.

Yeah again, I apologize, I was just trying to relay to you what it probably sounds like to her. I knew that when I left her office I was going to need to take some time to think about her advice...and this is where we are.

I'm glad it wasn't an emergency.

[kibakiba]

I think you should inform her on 'Thiamise" (however you spell it... stoopid sexyladi, I mean sexdaily... sexydial... isexlady... dailysex... ladiesxy... dyslexia! Stupid dyslexia!)

What? from vets to sexy ladies and sex dials? Haha. Love it.

[EasternGirl]

I know what you are saying about the internet...as there is all kinds of false info out there. I referenced our forum several times when speaking to my vet...I think the validity of the info that I was citing spoke for itself. He seemed very impressed with how much I knew about garters. It's not easy to find vets that really know reptiles, especially garters...I was actually shocked by how much this guy knew. But being a licensed vet doesn't mean anything...I mean think about all of the "people doctors" out there that don't have a clue what they are talking about. I think my vet's knowledge actually came from the fact that he has owned reptiles himself since he was a child...experience counts way more than book knowledge...which is exactly why this forum is far more reputable and has more expert advice than most vets out there.

[PINJOHN]

Dr. xxx loves a good cup of strong coffee and collecting gecko figures.

Hey she's a coffee fiend i take back every thing i said about her.....

[EasternGirl]

That bio on her kind of cracks me up. Like telling me she likes a good cup of coffee and collecting reptile figures is going to convince me she's a good vet. Well I like a good cup of coffee and I like collecting snake figures...can I get my vet degree now?

[chris-uk]

Part of her bio reads:

Dr. xxx is a long tenured veterinarian with an interest in Chinese herbology, homeopathy, and accupuncture for small animals. She obtained her degree at xxx State. Dr. xxx loves a good cup of strong coffee and collecting gecko figures.

Any vet that believes that homeopathy is an appropriate treatment for animals is a vet I would actively avoid. I think there is an arguable benefit in human, but how many animals will respond to a placebo? Chinese herbology... there's some benefits, but most what is good in herbology science has turned into medicine, what's left is some nice, natural (but less effective) medicine and smelly bowl of potpourri. Accupuncture I give more credence for musculoskeletal treatment, it's great for treating knotted muscles and it's surprisingly relaxing.
None of these alternative "medicines" have a lot of credibility for treating animals as a replacement for proper treatments. Nope, I'd avoid a vet that put that in their bio.

[kibakiba]

I love natural medicines (I react badly to most pills and medications) but I would never expect an animal to react well to something like that. I would expect it to make them sick, or even make it worse in some cases... Sure, some things could work but you know...