Raised scales? Beginning of scale rot? Mites?

My bet is that this is some sort of a systemic infection and the ball is septic. I suppose it could be rat bites but I still think he's septic. I know your going to take him to the vet. DO NOT GET HIM ANYWHERE NEAR ANY OTHER SNAKE. And wash your hands very very very well, don't let him touch your clothing or anything till he is treated.

Ya those look to me like old scars from rodent bites, but the collapsed scales on his head could be dehydration or something, do you see what I am talking about from the picture of his head?, the scales look crunched down, I wonder what that is about...

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Originally Posted by singingtothewheat

My bet is that this is some sort of a systemic infection and the ball is septic. I suppose it could be rat bites but I still think he's septic. I know your going to take him to the vet. DO NOT GET HIM ANYWHERE NEAR ANY OTHER SNAKE. And wash your hands very very very well, don't let him touch your clothing or anything till he is treated.

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Yep, taking all those precautions. :gj: I don't see any redness or anything that looks irritated/infected, so I'm hoping it's not septic but I'm sure the vet will tell me either way. Was hoping someone would cancel today and I could get in, but no luck so far. Tomorrow, though.


Ham- I don't really know a good way to describe the scales. There aren't any indentions, the scales are just rough and pushed up a bit, but with no fluid or anything pushing them up. (Whether or not something was under there- like ticks, mites, etc, I don't know.) His vent looks normal, and his belly doesn't have any marks or bumps on it. You can't see muscle, skin, or redness under or around the scales, and he doesn't seem to care if you push on them. Of course, I have no idea if snakes' brains are wired in a way that they would feel pain from skin-type irritations/injuries.

They way they all seem the same size makes me think encysted parasites, but it definitely does NOT look good.

I agree...the more I look at it the more I think it really is a dermal infection from some type of parasite.

Let us know after you get back from the vet. By the way...good on you for handling this and getting him to the vet. Believe it or not ......some would not.

So I was wondering how the vet trip went....did they figure anything out?

The vet thinks they might be water blisters. NOT blister disease, but blisters from being in too high of humidity. He scraped some of the bumps and came up negative for fungus, and he didn't see any signs of bacterial infections. Said he couldn't rule out past parasites but didn't find any current ones hiding under scales, and wants me to bring in a stool sample whenever the snake poos next. (In case of internal parasites, which wouldn't really change how he looks on the outside but a good thing to check for anyway.) He told me to just be careful on husbandry (temps/humidity) and if anything changes (More symptoms, more bumps, etc.) to come back in. If the first shed doesn't help/change things he wants me to bring him back in to be checked out again, but he was thinking that what it looked most like where blisters from humidity. To be safe, obviously I'm still being pretty careful with QT issues since the vet said that testing negative isn't always an indication it doesn't have fungus, just means it didn't turn up on the test.

nevada....I did read that internal parasites can cause blisters (so to speak) on the outside. So really try to get that stool sample to him.

Sorry I am just anal at reading everything....lol...and they say...you can never be too informed

Not to question the vet at all......buttttttttt....I did not think your humidity was that high was it? Maybe I am just remembering wrong.

There is a guy on here called Crittervet. Maybe shoot him an PM with the pics.....ya know...just for a second opinion.

I can't really force him to poo, so it's kind of a waiting game on that one.

I don't know what humidity he was at before, I keep mine at between 30-40% but I don't know what the store keeps theirs at. haven't been back to check.

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Originally Posted by Nevadamoon

I can't really force him to poo, so it's kind of a waiting game on that one.

I don't know what humidity he was at before, I keep mine at between 30-40% but I don't know what the store keeps theirs at. haven't been back to check.

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:O What...oh cmon.....:rofl:

Yea 30 to 40% is low ...we typically recommend 60%. But ya know...I haven't been doing this long so really what do I know. :rolleyes:

Just never have heard of that...typically you hear about scale rot if it is too wet?????