Scale Rot

Went on holiday for about a week and left my pewter bee boy with a friend. Came back and he had a mysterious hole / scab on top of his head. I'm semi-new to snakes and I'm trying to figure out what this is. Is it scale rot? A burn? Not sure if I should seek immediate vet h elp or treat with betaine and keep it clean for a bit to see if it will heal. http://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/2016...a0e5279940.jpg

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Do you feed live? Could be an infected rodent bite...

Left with a friend in its cage or something different?

New surroundings could have made it wander and search which resulted in a rub on its nose.

That's my first thought.

Such clear round margins...weird.

Almost looks like a cigarette burn. Sure this friend didn't have friends over and perhaps a party going on ...etc etc ?

I don't know, but this looks to perfectly round and deep to be an infected bite or rub on enclosure. Also looks "cauterized" for lack of better term. Like a deep round burn.

But I could be wrong.

Cigarette burn was my first thought as well. I'm thinking it was an accident of some sort. :(

His heat lamp sits directly on top of its enclosure, so I was thinking a lamp burn or from hot surrounding mesh/plastic. I do feed live, but he has not been fed since I last had him, at which point I did not NOTICE any bites, but may have overlooked a scratch. During holiday he was in a spare bedroom with no activity and no other animals.

Thoughts/suggestions for treatment? I've been told betaine is ok for wound cleaning, but i'm not sure how to treat it afterward. I'm concerned abt an open wound, but don't want to cover it with neosporin if it's infected, because I'm worried the softened scales may help it spread.

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Definitely not scale rot bc that happens directly to the ventral scales and not the mental (frontal) scales. Cigarette burn or something suspicious..:confusd:

If you can 100% rule out a burn from the external environment then you need to closely investigate you snake's enclosure and heating system. The heat source must be dangerously heating something, probably made of metal, like a screw.

Keep him on paper towels until it resolves. I would consider a exotic vet mainly bc the depth of the wound and possibility of secondary infection.

Not saying this is the case, but the thought of someone burning a snake with a cigarette is pretty sickening.