Please help!!! Python has a relatively small, but still disconcerting wound

[hematophagous]

I checked on my baby Hephaestus today and I noticed this gash. It seems a little deep, but that may be an optical illusion. It seems a purpley-red around the wound so I am scared that it may be infected. I'm not sure if it's actually a gash, or a scale that somehow got ripped off....either way, I'm not sure how it happened or how severe the injury is.





I apologize for the poor quality of the images.
I have Heph quarantined and have cleaned the wound and applied antiseptic and some neosporin.
Any suggestions on the severity of this wound would be EXTREMELY helpful and appreciated.

[wilomn]

Let it dry out now and in a few sheds you'll never know it was there. Do you know what caused it? If so, remedy that and if not, go over its enclosure once more to make sure it won't happen again. It's not really that bad a wound.

[Coleslaw007]

Don't use Neosporin on your snake. The only antiseptic usually recommended is betadine, dilute it in water until it's the color of weak tea. Keep him on a clean cage and he'll heal up just fine. Keep things very sanitary and his humidity up. You don't have to keep treating the wound, it will heal on its own.

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[galequin]

that looks intense! I'd be freaking out lol glad it isn't that bad though, let us know if you ever find out what caused it

[martin82531]

Do you have any tape or any sharp edges inside the enclosure?

[hematophagous]

Ah, thanks for the suggestions! They helped me calm down a bit as I tend to go into freak out mode any time something seems wrong.
He's healed up a little bit, I've been taking him out daily to make sure the wound hasn't gotten infected and have been keeping him on paper towel sheets rather than loose aspen bedding.
And no, I don't have any tape in the enclosure, and haven't found any sharp edges, yet. Still baffled on what happened to cause this. It honestly looks like the scale got ripped off to me, but I can't seem to figure out why.

[galequin]

Do you feed live?

[Pythonfriend]

looks like one of the belly scales got somehow ripped off, at least one is missing for now.

it doesnt really look infected, but still it can get infected, i mean, its an open wound.

Going to paper towels and keeping it very clean is very good, it lowers the risk of the wound turning worse due to bacteria / infection. And applying stuff to help the wound heal and to disinfect/clean the wound also is a good idea, but i would use it only locally right on the wound and wouldnt overdo it.

i wouldnt let it dry out too much, if the wound doesnt show signs of infection and you ramp down humidity now it could lead to a worse scar later on. I would just stick with the normal humidity.

my left index finger looked worse a few months back after i accidently cut it badly and quite deeply, a scar will stay but it healed nicely. its just a wound, not at a critical location, expect it to heal and expect it to get better with every shed, with maybe a little scar remaining. Basically just watch the healing process and watch out for the wound getting infected and thats it.

Just keep us updated on the progress, thats always nice Everyone loves to see in pictures how something like this heals over time.

figuring out how it happened would still be nice. Chances are that you might find the scale attached to something sticky. A tiny piece of tape, some glue leftover from a sticker that later got removed. Or it was some sharp edge or some crevace where the scale went in and attached. Maybe it went under a thermostat or some other device that is attached using double-sided tape or glue or something. Anything remotelysticky will be extremely sticky on a snake, i encourage you all to play around with an old shed skin and some tape, its crazy how it sticks and how you cannot remove the old shed from the sticky tape without breaking it.

btw, that raises the question.... last shed was when? In shed, a sticky problem may only rip off a part of dead material that otherwise would be part of the next shed. After shed a sticky problem can remove scales.

Anyway, watch the recovery and good luck