Blister Disease

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Originally Posted by sw204me

what are the early signs of scale rot?

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I believe it primarily affects the ventral scales and will start out as an orange discoloration around the edges of the scales.

FYI, I'm definitely not an expert and am only parroting what I've researched. Hopefully someone with first hand experience can chime in.

and thats caused by the tank and the bedding being to weet?

Thanks Lawrence... the second set of pictures are from a snake whose owner decided that for the winter it was fasting and hadn't checked in on it for months. It was wallowing in its own excrement for the entire time... and the thick scabs are from the resilient snake fighting the infection and/or from sloughing dead tissue. I'm pleased to say it was rescued by a very competent keeper and it is on the mend. I can post updates when I get them. Basically incorrect husbandry (mostly improper cleaning, or too moist environments) can make your snake susceptible to these infections.

From what I've seen around (thankfully never had any in my collection), scale rot, dermatitis, and blister disease are all slightly different from what you will observe initially. Scale rot can be as innocuous as a blackened edge of the ventral scales, but can progress to the state you see in the pictures above. Dermatitis is exactly that, an irritation of the skin that you will observe from an infection (redness, sores, etc). Blister disease starts with the skin swelling with a clear-yellow fluid around the ventral scales. They look like little baggies full of liquid. Since all of these are the result of an infection and invariably cell death, you will get necrotic tissue that needs to be sterilized and will eventually be sloughed. The first pics are of the stage where much of the dead infected tissue has been removed/lost and now irritated skin with no protective layer is exposed. At this point it is critical to keep the snake in a clean, dry environment or re-infection will occur and healing cannot progress.

i'm just curious if that second snake was put on any antibiotic or if topical treatment alone was successful?

That second snake has been given Baytril injections and a round of Fenbenzadole just in case. Amikacin was the preferred antibiotic to use, but it was not available.
Right now it also gets one soak a day in a solution of MelaFix a topical antibiotic also used to treat scale rot in fish. Once dried off from the soak its belly is coated with Polysporin triple (twice a day). Papertowel substrate is changed at least daily.

wow, that's pretty intense treatment. i'm glad the snake is pulling through though--that's pretty much the worse case of belly rot/infection i've ever seen.

does anyone think that it might not be a bad idea to give the current snake baytril injections to help fight any infection? (i don't know if it would be or not, i'm just presenting the question and trying to learn myself.)

Thanks for asking that specific question... I too would appreciate an experienced/educated answer to that. If I find out elsewhere I will post here as well.


From where those pictures of the second snake were originally posted, several users had commented they had seen worse... I can't imagine! This snake has a very dedicated rescuer... I am looking forward to positive updates.