Scale Rot, What should I give him?

Hi Everyone,

I found my BP has a case of scale rot today. The vets wont be around until monday and I really want to start helping him out now. He's on news paper and I thought I had some creme from the last tiem he got this a long time ago (probably expired) but I cant find it either way. What can I give him, I think I remember soem kind of anti-biotic polysporn works but I want to knwo for sure.
Please help!

Keep his cage dry, change the newspaper daily if you have to. Get some Neosporin without the painkiller, just plain Neosporin and use that daily. Depending on how bad it is a vet trip might not be needed, but without pictures it's impossible to say. So just treat with that until Monday at least.

Edit: only do this if you are SURE it's scale rot, and not something else like a burn...

This is the second time you have found your animal with scale rot, There obviously are some husbandry issues that need to be addressed also.

Hey, I just checked the pharmacy and they dont carry neosporin and neither do the other pharmacies where I live. I have a generic brand ointment here it has 500 units of Bacitracin Zinc and 10,000 units of Polymyxin B Sulfate per gram listed as active ingredients. Nonactive ingredient is white petoleum and its an antibiotic ointment. Will this do/is it the same product?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by llovelace

This is the second time you have found your animal with scale rot, There obviously are some husbandry issues that need to be addressed also.

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Last time he had it was 2 years ago when I changed his substrate and it was too moist. This basicly never happens and ever since the last time it happened I stopped adding any extra water to the substrate unless he was going to shed. The only thing thats different since then is that I've moved closer to the ocean and its cooler here in general. Maybe I do need to tweak things to account for that.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TimmyG

Hey, I just checked the pharmacy and they dont carry neosporin and neither do the other pharmacies where I live. I have a generic brand ointment here it has 500 units of Bacitracin Zinc and 10,000 units of Polymyxin B Sulfate per gram listed as active ingredients. Nonactive ingredient is white petoleum and its an antibiotic ointment. Will this do/is it the same product?

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It sounds like the same thing, generic Neosporin will say antibiotic ointment, just make sure it doesn't have the pain relief/killer in it.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TimmyG

Last time he had it was 2 years ago when I changed his substrate and it was too moist. This basicly never happens and ever since the last time it happened I stopped adding any extra water to the substrate unless he was going to shed. The only thing thats different since then is that I've moved closer to the ocean and its cooler here in general. Maybe I do need to tweak things to account for that.

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:O, please do try to read the husbandry sticky's that are provided.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by llovelace

:O, please do try to read the husbandry sticky's that are provided.

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Hi, I really don't want to come off as a know it all and I am willing to admit you probably do know more than me about raising and looking after snakes by how many posts you have. But your assuming things about me and my care that are not true. I've read those stickys multiple times and am perfectly aware of the humidity I am trying to target with my husbandy. I posted today looking for help becuase I couldn't remember the exact medicine for scale rot, and a very helpful person gave me the advice I needed without being condecending or judgemental. We all run into health problems with our legless friends and I am doing the right thing by being on this forum right now since I cant see the vet. You should try to be more helpful and less judgemental if you want people to value your input in the future. You seem to know a lot, and that si a good thing, you can help lots of people, as long as you learn to present yourself better.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by TimmyG

Hi, I really don't want to come off as a know it all and I am willing to admit you probably do know more than me about raising and looking after snakes by how many posts you have. But your assuming things about me and my care that are not true. I've read those stickys multiple times and am perfectly aware of the humidity I am trying to target with my husbandy. I posted today looking for help becuase I couldn't remember the exact medicine for scale rot, and a very helpful person gave me the advice I needed without being condecending or judgemental. We all run into health problems with our legless friends and I am doing the right thing by being on this forum right now since I cant see the vet. You should try to be more helpful and less judgemental if you want people to value your input in the future. You seem to know a lot, and that si a good thing, you can help lots of people, as long as you learn to present yourself better.

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Timmy, what I am trying to do is help/educate so this does not happen again, and trust me, I was in no way being condescending trust me ;), nor was I being judgemental.

As you stated before, this is not the first time, and if you don't fix the husbandry issues it will happen again.
Here are some tips to raise the humidity:

1. Cover 75-80% of tank lid with plastic wrap or foil.
2. Mist tank several times a day to bump up humidity.
3. During shed cycle add moistened sea sponges to tank to increase humidity.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by llovelace

Timmy, what I am trying to do is help/educate so this does not happen again, and trust me I was in no way being condescending trust me.

As you stated before, this is not the first time, and if you don't fix the husbandry issues it will happen again.
Here are some tips to raise the humidity:

1. Cover 75-80% of tank lid with plastic wrap or foil.
2. Mist tank several times a day to bump up humidity.
3. During shed cycle add moistened sea sponges to tank to increase humidity.

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I know your not wanting to be condecending and that you want to help but thats how it sounded. And like I said, the last time was when I screwed up changing the substrate and got it too moist. The way things are now I always got perfect sheds, never had the rot, or any other sign of bad humidity liek mold on the substrate. I really think this has to do with the weather here becuase its seriously always humid and cool.

I just don't want to see you get yourself in this position again, and a moist substrate is a potential hazard to your snake.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by llovelace

I just don't want to see you get yourself in this position again, and a moist substrate is a potential hazard to your snake.

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I really dont have much of a need to do that anyway when the humidity here is 56% today and thsi is a typical day if not dry since I think it rains 4 days a week. BTW there is good news, I did see a bit of a pink belly starting when I put on the antibiotic so with any luck he will shed soon and things will be fixed :)

Actually I personally wouldn't use any type of ointment on my snakes or Herps in general at all. Oil based products can make the affliction worse. More infection or worse infection can set in as well as healthy scales flaking off. I've treated a few rescue cases with betadyne baths 2x daily. And keeping the enclosure as sterile as possible and quite dry. Unless the snake is in shed. It won't be a problem to have lower humidity. The betadyne bath should be done at 88.f and put the betadyne in the bath until the water is tea colored. There's also an antibacterial salve I can't remember what its called but it's more like a cream and it isn't oil based. Oil on any reptile is just not
Good. Especially when you have to put it on repeatedly, or keep it
On for an extended amount of time. For scale rot I would not use neo or any other oil based product. Since youve seen scale rot before you know that it can take quite awhile to heal and I think using the oil stuff would just make the situation worse. Anyways hope this helps!


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