Feeding during scale rot treatment

[LucaTheDamaja]

Hi All,

Wish I joined this forum earlier. Anyway. I have a male ball python that I'm treating for a bad case of scale rot.

I had been busy moving and neglected my husbandry. When the time came to move (Jeff) I noticed he had a nasty red rash. This was memorial day. I called the animal hospital on memorial day and brought him in the next day.

The Dr. prescribed SSD cream and an antibiotic IM injection every 72 hours. He had eaten a small rat two weeks before memorial day and has not eaten since. I have to handle him a lot to give him regular baths, apply cream, and injections.

During his second visit (4th of July weekend). The doctor noted that he lost 10 grams and recommended I force feed him if he did not eat after his next shed. After some research I realized that force feeding by someone inexperienced can do more harm than good. That being said he still has not eaten. He's opaque now and seems to be healing nicely, but he's looking thin.

I'm waiting for him to shed to try feeding one more time. I plan on calling the vet before his next visit (next week) to inform him on the situation and ask if he can perform the force feeding if necessary.

All that being said. I was wondering if anyone else had this issue while treating a snake with IM injections and lots of handling.

I feel terrible about this whole situation and I'm doing all I can do have him heal up, but I'm worried about him fasting, going on almost 3 months now (I know this happens, but I'm convinced it's do to the scale rot treatment).

Thanks for listening - Luca.

PS- He's kept in a sterlite tub, with a UTH set to 87 degrees on the hot side. The cool side stays in the upper 70's and humidity is between 60-70% now that he's opaque. I kept the hot side on the lower scale due to the scale rot/burn.

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Given the treatment I can imagine the extent of the problem, and the last thing you need is to add stress.

You need to concentrate on the treatment and worry about feeding later.

BP undergoing treatment usually do not eat.

You do not force feed an animal that knows how to eat this is VERY stressful in a normal situation even worse combined with everything else and unless your BP is on death's door feeding can wait.

[LucaTheDamaja]

Thanks Deborah. I appreciate the input. During the research I've done It seemed like this was the way to go. His scale rot is looking much better and finally clearing up in some areas.

I'll focus on the treatment and when that's done I'll give him a couple of weeks to settle back into normal life.

I appreciate it.

-Luca

[LucaTheDamaja]

Just wanted to give a quick update on Jeff.

I finished his last set of antibiotics and gave him some space during his shed.

After his shed he looked much better, he still has some scabbing, but overall much much better. I bathed him and applied some SSD cream. I decided to get him a live mouse last night, and he took it right away. I'm extremely happy.

He has another vet visit this week and I'm going to guess he may get some more Antibiotics & SSD cream.

I'm extremely happy that he ate and I wanted to leave this here in case anyone in the future has a similar issue. I will update when he is fully healed as well.

[LLLReptile]

I just wanted to chime in to continue offering food and if he does not eat, to not worry about it. A surprising number of snakes will continue to eat even when undergoing treatment if their cage conditions are suitable; sounds like you have husbandry dialed back in and that the snake is showing you he is definitely ready to eat.

You did not note the size of your snake; 10 grams of weight loss is not much for most snakes older than a few months. For your own knowledge in the future, a) 3 months of non feeding is okay if the snake is choosing not to eat (ie stressful treatments, not that the owner doesn't feel like getting rodents for 3 months), and b) weight loss/fluctuation is normal, and not really worrisome unless the snake is losing more than 1/3 of its body weight or you can clearly see the spine sticking up and the snake starts to look triangular in cross section.

Sounds like you have everything dialed in now though, and good to go.

-Jen

[LucaTheDamaja]

I just wanted to chime in to continue offering food and if he does not eat, to not worry about it. A surprising number of snakes will continue to eat even when undergoing treatment if their cage conditions are suitable; sounds like you have husbandry dialed back in and that the snake is showing you he is definitely ready to eat.

You did not note the size of your snake; 10 grams of weight loss is not much for most snakes older than a few months. For your own knowledge in the future, a) 3 months of non feeding is okay if the snake is choosing not to eat (ie stressful treatments, not that the owner doesn't feel like getting rodents for 3 months), and b) weight loss/fluctuation is normal, and not really worrisome unless the snake is losing more than 1/3 of its body weight or you can clearly see the spine sticking up and the snake starts to look triangular in cross section.

Sounds like you have everything dialed in now though, and good to go.

-Jen

Thanks for the feedback! I should've included weight. Last time I weighed him (over 2 months fasting) he was 664grams. I'll be getting his weight tomorrow. He definitely looks thin (thinner than usual), but I wouldn't say he looks triangular.

That being said he did take the mouse the other night, which I was very happy about. He's going to the vet tomorrow and I'll know if he needs any more antibiotics. I will feed another mouse next week and then get him back to his f/t rats.