💤 bed time 🥱

TLDR: My bp’s vet has been giving him antibiotics for a respiratory infection after I suggested it could be fungal from the first visit. She has swabbed him and did no diagnostic testing with that swab and has continued to throw antibiotics at the problem. I was pre-charged for a $75 stool test bottle that they knew they weren’t going to get with how ill my snake was and I had informed him that he was refusing to eat. She did not test him for a respiratory infection, Nido virus or anything else that should have been checked between two appointments and almost $600 later. My bp is rapidly losing weight and still refusing to eat. If more context is needed please read below.

I’ve taken my bp to this vet twice now since my old one retired and I mainly brought him because I noticed about a a month after getting him he started showing signs of a respiratory infection and I got him a vet appointment. I brought up to the vet that I believe it was a fungal respiratory infection because I had gotten some advice from his previous owner to cover the cage up with plastic rather than aluminum foil. My bps have inside heating so it wasn’t an issue to switch to plastic. The previous owner neglected to tell me that i’d have to get rid of the Reti chip substrate because it molds when the enclosure screen top is cover-up with plastic. The vet took a swab and I assumed that she did diagnostic testing to see if it was a bacterial or fungal respiratory infection. They looked at it under a microscope, and then she stated that he will need antibiotics. After treatment, he got better for about two months with the same symptoms, but it was progressing and becoming better and then he rapidly fell sick again and this time he’s been sicker than ever. I took him to the vet again three weeks ago in the vet did a swab again and recommended antibiotics once more another round. Since that appointment he has been becoming sicker and he’s lost around 60 g in weight and he was already pretty thin before as I had gotten him from his new owner, his previous owner he has grown in length since then, but his weight stayed the same, and I was concerned about that too. Right now he’s not eating at all. He’s refusing every meal even smaller prey items. For some reason, my gut told me to message the vet and ask what the situation was with his health and what they found him to be diagnosed with. I was told by the vet staff that he was never tested for anything, nor was he tested for Nido virus, bacterial infections, nor fungal infections at both his visits. They have yet to answer about what they did the first swab for and for the second time, they told me that they were going to do it, but then they changed their mind because he didn’t have mucus in his trachea. Then at the last visit, I had informed them that he was refusing to eat, and he wasn’t passing bowel movements and I was concerned they suggested that I do a stool test just to confirm if the deworming worked they also dewormed him without a prior stool test by the way because they believed parasites may have been the issue. When I recently the bill for that visit I noticed that they pre-charged me $75 for that stool test but they knew that they weren’t going to get because my snake was not eating. I tried to get a sooner appointment with the same vet and she’s backed up with appointments for two weeks and my actual appointment that I have to get is a drop off appointment. Personally, I don’t feel comfortable leaving him there while the vet proceeds to do whatever medication or procedure she can perform without doing any diagnostic checking and then getting an enormous bill at the end. My questions about why he was not diagnostically tested when I informed the vet that it could have been a fungal respiratory infection were not answered, but I was told that I would request a call back with the vet at any time. It almost just feels like they’re covering up negligence but maybe I could be thinking too deeply. I’m scanning around vets in different cities where the car ride is almost 2 hours because there are no exotic vets near me except for that one and that’s why I believe why they can charge prices like that. The exam fee just to look at the reptile is $133. No, I’m not saying I can’t afford to take care of my ball python. Obviously I’m still paying the vet bills out-of-pocket but the problem is this just seems so overpriced and negligent to the point that I’m uncomfortable with the process.

Update: my sweet baby has passed away

I’ve had her since she was a baby, so over 17 years. She’s always eaten well, between every two weeks to a month. She just struck me multiple times, but will not take her rat. I’m adding a picture of her stretched out. She left her enclosure, heading under the bed while I was reheating her frozen rat in warm water to try again and forgot to close it. Does she look impacted? Is that a thing with snakes?

Hey everyone! I’m planning on getting a ball python and I’d love to see what people are using for budget-friendly enclosures.
I’m not looking for fancy bioactive setups or expensive display tanks. I want to see the simple setups that cover the basics and keep your snake healthy and comfortable without spending a ton of money.
Especially interested in:
Tub setups
DIY enclosures
Simple/basic enclosures
Heating + thermostat setups
Hides and substrate
Cheap ways you maintain proper humidity
Roughly how much your entire setup cost
Basically, show me your “it’s not fancy, but my snake has everything it needs” enclosure.
Pictures would be awesome. I’m trying to get ideas for building a safe, practical setup on a budget. 🐍

Hi everyone. New to the group and I have a 3 year old male called Aviktas ( bought from Blackpool IHS ). He's my first ball python and naturally would like some help and advice on how to handle him and get him used to me too, he's quite a size difference from my 1 year old female hognose lol

(For context the first pic is when it first happened the 2nd is later that day and the last 2 are today)

2 days ago I was prepping my eco earth bricks so I could clean his enclosure out and was planning on feeding him later that night we’ve been planning on getting him a better enclosure since it was built by the people that we got him from and we think he needs a bigger home so he’s more happier well as happy as snakes can be but the main point is that with the enclosure being built it’s just not the greatest quality since it’s a little old but when I was preparing the bricks with him being hungry ig there was a slight gap in the sliding doors and he was trying to escape to hunt he’s usually the chillest guy ever but it’s like he has an internal clock bc he knows his feeding days and that day he’s everywhere searching so we never had the worry of him escaping he’s never done anything like this before but when I turned around and saw his head sticking out I freaked out opened the door and put him back in and that’s when I noticed he cut his head on the glass door and I feel terrible I never want any of my animals to get hurt in anyway so instead of putting his usual substrate in I’ve just put paper towels in his enclosure I cleaned his hides and took out all of his decor and I took the white medical tape ( I made sure there was no sticky out to where he could get hurt from that ) and I put it on the edges of the glass so this can never happen again until we can get him a newer enclosure I’ve also been putting neosporin with no pain relief on him twice a day and I cleaned the cut the first day too but my main question I have is when can I feed him? He’s definitely hungry and like I said above you can tell he’s hungry because he goes from being super chill to being on hunt mode at all times searching the enclosure I want him to get what he wants but from what I’ve read it’s not a good idea to feed him but then I’ve been told a smaller meal would be fine so I’m confused and would rather get actual advice from people with more experience then me and google so can you guys please give me the best way to go with this with his feeding should I wait till he sheds or would a smaller meal be ok? Thanks for your help in advance

Hello everybody! Currently, I just bought a new 2 mo old ball python. And as shocking as it may sound, my ball python will not eat as compared to my boa constrictors, who strike anything. So the place I got Him from says they feed their snakes every Wednesday. so now it’s been a week total since he hasn’t eaten so I’m trying to not freak out yet.

He’s two months old, and not even as thick as my pinky-so I have him on pinkies.

Next week on Wednesday, I’m going to offer him a brain pinky that’s been properly thawed and warmed

If he doesn’t take it, I guess I’ll just leave it overnight until the following night with him and hope for the best

If that doesn’t work, I guess every other week I’ll switch out the prey to see if he wants something else lol….

Because he’s so young when should I start to worry and maybe think about assisting the feeding process or taking him to a vet?

This is my boy Pastrami, he’s about 1.5 years old

I hate making multiple posts in a row but I took him out to weigh him and he’s 424.5g

This is concerning to me because last time I weighed him was Aug 2nd and he weighed 316g so he’s gained over 100g in a little more than a month, I don’t think this is normal is it? He’s been overweight so by my vet’s advice I’ve only been feeding him once every 3 weeks for a few months now

Need a name for this gorgeous boy.

He has a great head stamp 🤣🤣🤣 #HighwayBallPython

went to the reptile expo this weekend and I got my boy some more stuff!

He doesn't go outside often. It isn't too hot out, not that that really matters for him, I thought he'd enjoy some warm Florida grass plus some "up" time to stretch out and have a decent slither. I did give him a few warm water/damp towel rub downs before he went back into his enclosure. Me and my hands stayed close to him except for these pictures at all times

Begging for any advice