scale rot :-( HELP ASAP, vet havent helped

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Originally Posted by mackynz

What were you using to measure the temp of his hot spot?

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Do you mean the surface of his uth or the warm side of the tank? I wasn't using anything to measure his spot over the heat pad. Which someone mentioned before just using my hand isn't going to work cause of how different our body temps are

I've learned quite a bit from this problem.

I would grab an Acu-rite digital thermometer with a probe and a lamp dimmer (use as a rheostat) until you can get a thermostat.

Poor bugger! I would def say with certainly that that is a burn. Glad he seems to be getting a little better. Does your vet have any silverdine cream on hand? That's usually used for burn. The most important thing is keeping the cage and him hospital clean. You may want to invest in a temp setup like a tub. Have two and youll reduce stress and you can just do a switcheroo everyday to disinfect. His caging whatever that may be does need to be sanitized everyday. Burns and even severe scale rot is hard to deal with. Betadyne, and silverdine treatments along with antibiotics tend to get the job done. But it is a painfully slow process. The vet whom told you it was some fungus..... Well I would never ever go there again.


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Originally Posted by Homegrownscales

Poor bugger! I would def say with certainly that that is a burn. Glad he seems to be getting a little better. Does your vet have any silverdine cream on hand?That's usually used for burn. The most important thing is keeping the cage and him hospital clean. You may want to invest in a temp setup like a tub. Have two and youll reduce stress and you can just do a switcheroo everyday to disinfect. His caging whatever that may be does need to be sanitized everyday. Burns and even severe scale rot is hard to deal with. Betadyne, and silverdine treatments along with antibiotics tend to get the job done. But it is a painfully slow process. The vet whom told you it was some fungus..... Well I would never ever go there again.

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x2 It concerns me that you aren't using anything to treat the burn itself, just the secondary infection (Baytril).

Mack, he clearly was not using anything to measure the temperature, or he would have noticed the problem.

Like so many other folks who come home from a pet store, he was probably give a 'kit' that consisted of a heat pad, a tank, a half log, and stick on thermometer (aka, useless piece of scrap plastic).

I think one of the most important things the reptile community could do would be to pressure manufacturers to stop making equipment that doesn't work, and to make all heat pad manufacturers include bold (not fine print) warning that all such devices should be controlled.

Then it's time to tackle the pet stores.

People don't know, when they walk into a pet store, that keeping a reptile is more complicated than keeping a hamster. Most folks don't need to buy a book to keep a hamster alive, and most folks expect that pet store personnel can tell them how to properly care for the animals sold in that store. Pet stores foster this attitude by actually giving advice on animal care, instead of insisting their customers get a book.

There's no point served in condemning innocent owners who THOUGHT they knew how to keep their animal safe and healthy--yes, they should have bought a book, but they didn't know that they needed to. There's a fundamental gap between the reptile community and the average pet owner, and the information isn't getting to them.

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Originally Posted by WingedWolfPsion

There's no point served in condemning innocent owners who THOUGHT they knew how to keep their animal safe and healthy--yes, they should have bought a book, but they didn't know that they needed to. There's a fundamental gap between the reptile community and the average pet owner, and the information isn't getting to them.

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Something desperately needs to be done to close that gap, pet stores need to have better caresheets, things like a thermostat must be listed. I didn't know I needed one, and somehow the previous owner got away without burns, but I was measuring the hotspot and was able to correct the problem with help from this community, and I take complete responsibility for my lack of knowledge.

In my opinion the owner should take responsibility for for the animal they are going to care for. This means doing their own reasearch, cross-referencing with multiple sources to rule out bad ideas. Not just expecting everything to be handed to you, using common sense.. I would very much like to see the care sheet that says that you should use your hand as a thermometer for the hot spot.

I am glad that the OP is genuinely interested in correcting the problem, all to often people ask for advice and then refuse it when it is given. We all have questions and it's good to see someone who really wants the answers.

So much for "being a good keeper"!!! I've never seen a burn that bad in my life. That kind of junk doesn't happen overnight and only an irresponsible snake owner would allow that to happen.
There 's been good advice given, but I am absolutely disgusted with the OP. Sickening.

This is what I did to treat one of my snake burns, at the advice of a herpetologist/registered veterinary technician who also works as a reptile keeper at the zoo:

1) Warm water soaks for 20-30 mins, once daily, to help the process of getting the dead tissue off. That tissue will just host bacteria.

2) Gently "scrub" (lightly rub) the area with a veterinary sanitizing scrub like Nolvasan (chlorhex) or Betadine. Try to ease off dead tissue but don't peel it off and cause bleeding. This is done just after the warm bath.

3) After the bath and scrub, apply an antibiotic creme made specifically for burn victims, Silvadene, once a day.

Also, during "bath time," I would sanitize her entire cage, cleaning the hide and water bowl too. I permanently removed anything extra like foliage or bark. Not only did it make daily cleaning of the cage quicker, but it gave less areas for bacteria to hide and possibly enter her compromised belly scales. I would do this daily even if she didn't pass any urates or poop. Not worth the risk of a bacterial infection after a burn.

This process worked very well for me, and I saw a huge improvement just 2-3 weeks later. Good luck on your veterinary visit...I hope it's a good prognosis.

P.S. Invest in a thermostat ASAP!

Also, take my post with a grain of salt until you see a Veterinarian. That's #1 priority.

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Originally Posted by Dwish

2) Gently "scrub" (lightly rub) the area with a veterinary sanitizing scrub like Nolvasan (chlorhex) or Betadine. Try to ease off dead tissue but don't peel it off and cause bleeding. This is done just after the warm bath.

3) After the bath and scrub, apply an antibiotic creme made specifically for burn victims, Silvadene, once a day.

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Maybe it is correct, but "scrubbing" would hardly be a word I would want to hear when it comes to removing skin from a severe burn.