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ShadowAceD   JackAsp  
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 #1658805


ShadowAceD
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 Need Help With UnHealthy Gopher

I am not familiar with the morphs of the gopher snake, but my biology lab had three wild caught [New Mexico Region] gophers dropped into their lap unexpectedly on Monday. On Tuesday the teacher and I decided that we are going to nurse the animals back to health, because they all have health problems, and re-release them back into the wild. Neither one of us believe they should be kept if they are not to be bred or anything else. Now, on to to the problem.

I have taken the largest of the three home with me because she seems to be in the most dire need. She is around four to five feet in length, under nourished and pretty well tempered. The container she was previously kept in was a ziplock container that was obviously uncomfortable and caked in feces. She has fecal matter dried up on, in and around her nostrils; she is hissing constantly [it seems like she is either angry or trying to breath] doing open mouth breathing and, what I find to be most disturbing, ’throwing up’ water. I am taking her to a vet on Friday, as it is is the earliest I can, but I would like to know if anyone has any problems what is wrong with her. I know it is possible she has a pretty bad URI but the throwing up of water really has me concerned. I really want to get this girl back to health and put her back where she belongs but I can tell it’s gonna’ be a long road to recovery.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I own three other snakes, so I do have experience with them, just never encountered the water problem.
03/12/08  08:53pm

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JackAsp
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   Message To: ShadowAceD   In reference to Message Id: 1658805


 Need Help With UnHealthy Gopher

I’ll leave the gastrointestinal stuff to your vet, but just to help her through this weekend I suggest giving her a 40 minute electrolyte bath each day. Very, very shallow, just enough to submerge the cloaca. Having more of her skin wet won’t do anything; you just want to get some water and electrolyes into the intestinal bloodstream, since it might not be getting there well through the stomach. Use a closed container like a beer cooler or something, with a 50/50 mixture of warm water and either Pedialyte or whatever generic Pedialyte imitator happens to be on sale. I can’t help you with the actual cause, but the symptoms sound like they’re dehydrating her pretty dangerously, and this will help. The difference is actually measurable on a gram scale, believe it or not.
A ZIPLOCK CONTAINER? That’s horrible!
03/12/08  10:09pm


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