The Nymph Strikes Back

[OuZo]

Episode 345,566,893,578,326,789,235,436.25

For those who have been following the saga:

Well a fair bit has happened since I last annoyed everyone with the mystery of my sick coastal Nymph. He started eating chickens but still won't touch a rat, only problem there is that we can't get any chickens . Every time we go to the market to get some they've sold out and we ordered some from interstate only to have them defrosted when they arrived today . Anyway, the lump in his tummy is maybe a bit smaller but he really sucks it in underneath, so much so that he actually flattens his body out and looks like an elapid. Having spoken to a different vet, they said that blood tests and antibiotics/vitamin injections should have been done way before x-rays and surgery so we went back to the vet and had some bloods taken. He's such a good snake...didn't flinch once and because he's a bit dehydrated the vet had to stab him about 8 times to get enough out to do all the tests. Got the results back which showed that his red blood cell count was low, he's malnourished and he's anaemic, all which are from him not eating for so long. Also his white cell count was high which means he has some sort of infection. So it was back to the vet tonight for antibiotic injections which we have to give him every day for 3 weeks .

He was pretty good with it but I'm still nervous about it lol. If we're lucky, an infection could be the only thing that's wrong with him which would be fantastic . We were also discussing the possibility of him being allergic to rats or mice. It's only an idea but the vet brought Nymph up as a case study at a recent meeting (can't remember the name sorry...exotic something or other ) where there were all these vets that deal with exotic animals and nobody had any clue what's going on with him! The fact that he can take a day old chick fine but regurgitate a rat or mouse is a bit odd. But anyway, we see how these injections go, then I think regardless of whether he gets better or not it's probably not a bad idea to have another blood test done to see what's going on again.

Anyway, just thought I'd give an update to anyone who's interested . I'm really interested to find out what it is cos it's obviously something rare...and plus I'm just hoping we can save him

Oh and for anyone who can help, if you know where we could get day old chicks we'd really appreciate it. We've rung about 40 hatcheries and they all say they don't knock em off there or something? It's weird....

[africancichlidau]

I've spent my whole life looking for a striking Nymph! And you had to go and find one before me

[africancichlidau]

about 40 hatcheries and they all say they don't knock em off there or something?

Buy 'em live and knock 'em off yaself?

[wombat]

Thanks for the update Zoe. I was wondering how Nymph was going.



-----------
Cheers,
Wombat.

The only stupid question is the question that is not asked.

[wombat]

Originally Posted by OuZo

Oh and for anyone who can help, if you know where we could get day old chicks we'd really appreciate it. We've rung about 40 hatcheries and they all say they don't knock em off there or something? It's weird....

Have you tried Pails for Scales located in Ballarat? They are advertising day old chickens for 60c. Check out this page:

http://www.pailsforscales.com.au/foods.htm




___________
Cheers,
Wombat.

The only stupid question is the question that is not asked.

[OuZo]

ROAD TRIP!!!!! Thanx wombat! I've been meaning to go out there and have a look anyway lol. We could pick up a whole bunch while we're there .

Buy 'em live and knock 'em off yaself?

You mean buy em live and get you to knock em off for us? We keep missing out at the market anyway...last week the woman started going on about how we don't want day olds cos you have to really keep them warm and take care of them etc etc and I didn't have the heart to tell her what they were for

[africancichlidau]

The guy took that tack with me until I asked him what the best way to kill 'em was

[OuZo]

Did he care? I felt bad lol

[foxysnake]

If you ring up a chicken farm and ask if they have any day old roosters, they'l usually sell them to you for hardly anything, the only downside is you have to kill them. - Most of those places, after the chickens have hatched they sex them and than kill the roosters - so easy pickings for you.

[womas4me]

Thanks for the update Zoe. If you find chicks to feed Nymph, you might be able to get avian vitamin supplements from the vet and place them on the skin of the chicks or inject them before you feed. This is how we get extra vitamins into any sick animals we are given. We have also started using Polyaid, which is a rehydration fluid with vitaminins in it to get sick, dehydrated reptiles going again. We get ours from the wildlife carers up here, so I'm not sure where to source it. Syringe feeding a snake would be difficult, but your vet would probably have some idea on how to do it. Injections of ADEC, b complex and vitamin C would probably help him too.

[OuZo]

If you ring up a chicken farm and ask if they have any day old roosters, they'l usually sell them to you for hardly anything, the only downside is you have to kill them. - Most of those places, after the chickens have hatched they sex them and than kill the roosters - so easy pickings for you.

Hey foxysnake, I didn't do the ringing but the other half (Soulweaver) said he rang about 40 chicken hatcheries (is that the same as a chicken farm? ) and they all told him they couldn't supply day old chicks for whatever reason. I might try ringing some myself just to give it another try.

Thanx for the info womas . We were giving him Electrodize every 3 days for a while there cos he was dehydrated and it really did good things for him. He perked up, started moving around his cage, he got stronger cos he became a real turd to give fluids to lol and he even shed which he hadn't done in ages. But then we saw him do the weird neck thing again (will post pics so you know what I mean) we felt like we weren't fixing his problem, just maybe making him feel a bit better which I guess isn't a bad thing. Is Polyaid like Electrodize do you know? Actually I just realised, if he's eating now surely we could inject the Electrodize into the prey so we dont have to intubate him? I figured in the end the fluids weren't fixing his problem and surely stressing him out every 3 days to do it couldn't be too good for a sick snake?

Here are the pics of the "weird neck thing". You can see in some how he's straining so much he's actually pushed his belly scales to the side. They're pretty bad quality cos I was taking it thru the glass while blubbering cos it looked so terrible

[foxysnake]

It must be horrible to have to see that happen to your snake Ouzo, by the way your photos are actually quite good. its a nice python, and seems to haave pretty good condition on in. Hope you end up finding whats wrong with the nymph and he gets better. Good luck.

[OuZo]

Thanx foxy, yeah it was horrible seeing him like that and not knowing what's wrong or what to do . He is in good condition and has only just recently lost a bit from his tail. But now that he's eating chooks we should be able to get some back on him which is good . Hopefully by treating the infection it might give him enough oomph to fight whatever it is that's wrong with him

[instar]

Hi Zoey, Its good news hes eating something. Is it voluntary or assisted? I hope you can get him to pick up, after all hes been through.
Best Wishes Inny

[OuZo]

Hey inny

He takes chooks without us having to anything....well, we have to pluck it lol. He doesn't like feathers for some reason . But that's cool...whatever floats his boat