Scale rot or something else?
Not sure what if its scale rot or something else, any tips on treatment would be really appreciated. I left my albino ball python in the care of my older brother while I've been out of town with dad my snakes enclosure was pretty dry he eats fine still and is active at night still! Help please!!
http://i.imgur.com/HyxMYPA.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/IMKmD7P.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/bSvYesB.jpg
Scale rot or something else?
I'd say go ask a vet for help. They can do hell of alot more for you than we can over the Internet.
Re: Scale rot or something else?
I say burn and agree with using silver sulfadiazine until you can get to the vet. Now to correct the issue at hand...how did he get burned?
Did he burn himself while outside his enclosure?
How is he housed? In a tub, aquarium style glass enclosure, or PVC enclosure?
How are you heating the warm side? Under the tank heat mat? Flexwatt? Is it regulated by a thermostat to 90 degrees and monitored with a temp gun or thermometer?
Are there any direct heat sources such as a heat rock or is the heat mat placed inside the enclosure instead of outside and underneath?
Re: Scale rot or something else?
Great job on investing in a good t-stat! Reptile Basics has a number of good thermometers, and use the following myself ($49) to check surface temps and have never had a problem:
http://www.reptilebasics.com/412l-thermometer
I use Acurite thermometers to monitor general ambient temps and humidity and they're only $12 at WalMart. The Acurites have a probe I use to measure the warm side and I use the unit to monitor the cool side and humidity. I use a hot glue gun to secure the probe wire (never use tape anywhere). These can usually be found by the light bulbs or ordered directly off their website:
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Acu-Rite-I...mometer/896347
I would suggest that you also look at changing the type of enclosure. If you can, look at the enclosures Reptile Basics has or go on over to Animal Plastics and look at their T-8 enclosures. I don't have a ton of snakes now, but use to own/foster many in the past. I buy the T8s from Animal Plastics. Actual lead time is about 2 weeks.
If you have to stay with glass for now, warm, wet towels covering 2/3 of the screen top (changed daily) has worked well for me in the past along with occasional misting.
Re: Scale rot or something else?
Best practice is to sandwich the t-stat probe between the UTH mat and the bottom of the enclosure. In my own humble experience though, I have only found this to work well if there is a recessed channel for the probe like in my T8 enclosures...
I do use glass enclosures for QT tanks and have found this to not work very well as this creates a pocket-effect with the UTH and doesn't read/heat very well in this setup. So, I place my t-stat probes inside the tank; directly over the heat mat. I then secure the probe wire with hot glue (again, zero tape in the enclosure anywhere) but keep the probe completely free and resting over the UTH (looking inside one of my QT tanks from the top):
http://www.ballophile.com/public/probe1.jpg
BTW: You won't need the foil tape, just used it to show my point in the above pic.