HELP>>very sick snake>> scale rot? PLEASE READ.

So last week i noticed a few scales on my spider ball python were dark and crusted looking. I immediately went online to research what was going on. I realized he had scale rot so i sterelized the tank with apple cider vine-ar and scrubed it out with organic soap and hot water. I made sure there was no soap residue and laid out newspaper in his tank. I took out his water dish cause i didnt want him to get his bedding wet. that day after work i went to the store and got this off brand of Neo-sporin that i had compared to the brand name neosporin... they had the exact same ingredients so i figured i was safe. I came home and rubbed the stuff all over his belly, making sure to wash him in warm water before hand. the next day i changed his bedding and did the same thing. I noticed the stuff i was rubbing on him made his belly scales kind of flake off, but the brown crusted looking scales were starting to look a little better so i thought this was normal. I tried feeding him a thawed pinky, but he showed no interest... just kept trying to climp out of the box i was feeding him in. I thought that maybe he was stressed and didnt want to eat, so i put him back in his cage. the next day i was out of town so i didnt neo sporin him, but i came back in the morning to clean him again and neo sporined him as usual. his scales were even more flaky, but i thought that maybe that was the healing process. NOW TODAY i took him to work with me (in his clean cage of course), so that i could buy him a live mouse on my break, but when i opened his tank it smelled of urin and now his entire belly has a redish tinge like he is infected. NOW all of his scales on his belly look lifted up(but not brown) they are pink on the edges and feel soft and moist even though there is no water in his cage and the paper towels were dry. I DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO :((( it looks so painful... I just dont get why the neosporin stuff didnt work. There was no pain reliever in it. I tried feeding him again on my break this time with a live mouse and he still wouldnt eat it, after that i went to safeway and got actual neosporin and rubbed it all over him after i washed him with water. I feel like he is either alergic to the neosporin, or maybe the the back ink on the news paper???? PLEASE HELP. I have never had this problem with any of my other snakes. HERE are pictures. Hopefully it will post. Ugh he looks terrible! i tried finding a vet to help me, but none could help with my snake.


I just took a bunch of pictures. How do i upload them?????

photo bucket than copy the url

I don't have photobucket, but i just posted the same message on craigslist where i could upload the pictures::: http://seattle.craigslist.org/see/pet/3226008187.html

Well to start, what are your temperatures and how are you controlling/measuring them. Also, the neosporin probably was not the best choice. A vet visit is a must at this point. You should NEVER have removed the water dish, he needs to drink. Why do you remove the snake from his cage to feed him, and to top that why would you put a sick snake through all that stress and bring it to work, where it wont have the proper conditions to attempt to feed??? Feeding should be your last worry at this point. Get him to a vet, he will likely need antibiotic injections. And stop with the neosporin.

Moist soft flaky scales and a pink belly, are you sure he isn't shedding on top of the scale rot? Are his eyes blue/ cloudy?

I have a heating pad in his tank( which is what i use for my other ball python, and red tailed columbian boa) never had a problem. I used the Neo sporin because i have read on here and a couple of other sites that mild scale rot can be treated with it. i took his water dish out because he kept crawling in it and wetting the bedding, so i started spraying the glass on the tank cause thats what my other ball python likes. and feeding him (up until this point) had been my main concern because he wouldn't take to the thawed pinkies. It has been very hot out where i live so my car has been at least 80-85 degrees.

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his eyes arent cloudy, and the rest of his body shows no signs of shedding. He had shed a couple days before i first noticed the scale rot. at that point it had only been two scales that looked bad and a little bit of redness on the edges of his belly. In a matter of a few days its progressed to what it is in the pictures, and when the scales would flake off, they would flake off individually.

ok. where to begin. How are you measuring the temperature of the heating pad and what are they? How do you regulate it, as in do you have a thermostat, if not its possible he got a minor burn. I would not stress the snake getting the bedding wet from crawling through his water bowl, you said you use newspaper correct? switch to papertowels and change them regularly. So you are saying that you leave the snake in your car? How do you know its only 80-85 inside your car? Thats too cold anyway. If it is 80-85 outside it could easily be over 100 inside the car????? You cannot expect your snake to eat if your are overly stressing him by dragging him around in a car and leaving him there. You should only be attempting to feed every 4-7 days anyway. Just take him to the vet, let them look at it, the neosporin could have caused the damage to the healthy scales.

first i had aspen in there. then when i noticed the scale rot i sanitized the tank and put down news paper. His scales looked dirty the next day from it so i switched to paper towels. when i put his water dish in it he kept climbing in it and soaking the paper towls so i took it out so he wouldnt be sitting on soggy paper towels all day while i was at work.And the reason i was "dragging him" to work in his tank is cause when you work from 10am-1am you dont really have much of a choice. I had to get him food on my break or the pet store would be closed. I'm sure its really easy for you to judge, but i have always taken him on car rides with me. He doesnt like being locked up in a cage all day, and neither would i.

Im not judging, im just informing you what is likely a very stressful situation for your animal. Why dont you buy the rat mouse whatever on your break and take it home with you and feed him there. You still did not answer the questions about the heat, which could be the cause of the scale rot or possible a burn. I too work long hours, up at 4am, drive an hour to work, till about 1800, drive an hour home, I have 10 BP to care for every evening, and a rat colony, and a monitor, and a cat. If you dont have time for your animals maybe you shouldnt have them. You also keep ignoring the suggestion to take him to a vet. They can give you proper advice, and will give you antibiotics that he will likely need to prevent infection if there is not one already.

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Originally Posted by Tigerlilly

first i had aspen in there. then when i noticed the scale rot i sanitized the tank and put down news paper. His scales looked dirty the next day from it so i switched to paper towels. when i put his water dish in it he kept climbing in it and soaking the paper towls so i took it out so he wouldnt be sitting on soggy paper towels all day while i was at work.And the reason i was "dragging him" to work in his tank is cause when you work from 10am-1am you dont really have much of a choice. I had to get him food on my break or the pet store would be closed. I'm sure its really easy for you to judge, but i have always taken him on car rides with me. He doesnt like being locked up in a cage all day, and neither would i.

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He is not a human being and doesn't care about being in a cage all day. In his natural environment he would choose to be tightly ensconced in a termite Mound or rodent burrow all day. You cannot ascribe human desires on him.

Now, you asked for help, but you seem to be rejecting it. He needs a vet, and you need that heat pad regulated by a thermostat, or he will continue to be burned. And since he can't whine to tell you he's in pain, you'll continue to self treat.

Leave him at home, buy a critter keeper to keep the mouse in and take it home at the end of the day.

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*i use a small zoo med pad, and didnt have temperature gauges until a couple days ago. Sooooooooooooooo soooooooooooo sorry for missing some of your questions.
* and as for the whole saving the mouse for later thing... I work in the restaurant industry. YOU DONT GET BREAKS. Period. Customers dont wait. Too many times have i had to buy mouse traps at 2am to catch all the mice that had eaten thru the cardboard boxes they were in and climbed up in my dash board. At one point, i had 5 mice loose in my car.
* and i'm not ignoring your suggestion! your suggestion is pointless because i already said i had been looking for a vet!!! i even called a 24 hour clinic but they said i needed someone who dealt with reptiles. Now tomorrow i will be at work from 10:00-4:30 and then back from 5:30- 1:30am. Sound like i'm able to take my snake to the vet? No. THATS why i posted. I wanted to know if there is any way to help him before i get him to the vet. I had assumed that i was doing something majorly wrong with the neosporin and hoping someone could could help me. So far, all you have done is interrogate me. thank you, SO MUCH for all the help.

Well there is no reason to be rude, but there is no point in treating your snake if you are continually doing damage from an inproper/unregulated environment, hence the questions. From the sounds of it, you have NO time for an animal at all, maybe you should think about that, and consider re-homing. As the poster previous to you suggested buy a critter keeper, that way you are not keeping mice in a cardboard box resulting in them chewing through it and getting loose in your car. And please stop leaving your snake in the car and dragging it to work, that is not healthy, the humidity and heat are not correct, you will not have a hot spot of 90degrees or so in your car, you snake cannot properly thermally regulate(i could go on and on about everything wrong with that). I would suggest you find a friend, family member or someone who can take the snake to the vet while you are at work. If not, for the time being you can give him a bath in a betadine solution to help disinfect the wounds. Keep the cage as clean as dry as you can, have someone goto your house once or twice a day while your at work and change the papertowel for you.

and for the love of god, stop using neosporin, name brand or otherwise. that is likely the immediate cause of the softening scales.

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Originally Posted by wwmjkd

and for the love of god, stop using neosporin, name brand or otherwise. that is likely the immediate cause of the softening scales.

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This is 100% correct.

Neosporin and other mineral oil based treatments will cause the softening and sloughing of scales.

A proper vet with prescribe a topical antibiotic like silver sulfadiazine which is very effective in treating scale rot. However, that snake needs a sterile environment and it needs to not be taken for rides in the car - it needs to be stress free and warm.

Wow, so many things wrong in the original post, where to start... I think most issues have been touched on. That belly looks either pink pre shed, or burnt. And if you say he just shed and have an unregulated heat pad, that would probably make that burnt. If he is sitting in his water dish, it is probably because he is too hot (Either that or has mites). Don't take his water away, he needs to drink. Ball pythons get stressed very easily. Please stop dragging him around to work with you, and stop feeding him in a box. Feed him in his tank. As far as getting a rodent, I have a critter keeper used to get them on my lunch, and they never got loose. You need to get a thermostat, and you need to get that snake to the vet. Here is a vet in the Seattle area 425-486-9000. We can't help you if we don't know for sure what's wrong. Different treatment for different ailments. Stop using the neosporin though, it is not good for scales. It will soften them, and they will fall off, as you are seeing. But it sounds like you really don't have the time for a pet snake right now. :(

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I got curious when we were setting up the baby bee's 16 quart tub. I got the smaller UTH for his tub and hooked it up without a thermostat and put the temp probe in the tub on the plastic. That small UTH got up to 110 before we unplugged it.

I hope you find a vet soon for your snake and he heals quickly. I'm sorry if you feel interrogated but most issues can be tracked to husbandry and the people here care-healing him is just half of it. You need to make sure his environment fulfills his needs.

There is a reason why no one suggests leaving your baby or dog, or any other animal in a car for any length of time. It is very dangerous!!

All of the other suggestions are very good. If you don't have time for the vet, maybe you can call them up, tell them your predicament and they might sell you the correct antibiotic ointment ans let you pick it up on your break.

Get a critter keeper for the mice. Problem solved.

Stop trying to feed that snake pinky mice, those are too small even for a hatchling.

Leave your snake at home. I assure you it likes the cage much more than being in a car. If you want an animal that likes the car, get a dog.

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The reason we are asking you questions is to help figure out what is going on and why. We can't just look at a picture and KNOW without a doubt what the problem is without asking for some information first.

1: Stop using the neosporin. As it has been said before, oil based ointments soften their scales and turn them into mush. A batadine soak would be a better option.

2: Your heat pads NEED to be regulated with a thermostat. Those heat pads can reach temps of 130+ degrees and will burn and possibly kill your snakes. We have seen this more times than we would like around here.

3: Stop feeding your snake a pinky mouse/rat. From the pics I saw on your craigslist post, he can be easily taking small rats. Also, stop taking your snakes out of their enclosures to feed them. It is unnecessary stress ( especially for a ball python ) and will lead to unwanted bites.

4: Make the time to get your animal to the vet. If you can't make time for them because your work schedule is too hectic, then maybe its time to reevaluate your pet situation.

We are here to offer you advice. Weather you take it or not, is completely up to you. I hope your snake sees a vet and gets better soon.

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Oh, and please leave a water bowl in the cage for the snake. Maybe place a smaller bowl in the enclosure that he can't get into.

And for craps sake, stop taking your snake places with you ( other than the vet )

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Originally Posted by Tigerlilly

* and as for the whole saving the mouse for later thing... I work in the restaurant industry. YOU DONT GET BREAKS. Period. Customers dont wait. Too many times have i had to buy mouse traps at 2am to catch all the mice that had eaten thru the cardboard boxes they were in and climbed up in my dash board. At one point, i had 5 mice loose in my car.

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Would it be possible to switch your BP over to f/t instead of live? This would certainly help with your mouse problem. Also, I second Heather's suggestion that you start feeding your BP small rats, he definitely seems too big for mice.

I know you're really stressed out by your snake's problems, but I promise that everyone here has your snake's best interest in mind. I'm no expert, but I strongly suspect that not using a thermostat on your UTH has slightly burned your snake. This is a very easy mistake to make, especially if you bought everything from a pet store. Most pet store employees won't tell you that you need a thermostat for an UTH, and the directions with the UTHs themselves never seem to mention the need for a thermostat. It's a very common mistake, and easily corrected. The hydrofarm thermostat (http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-Heat...arm+thermostat) is very affordable, if you can't afford a higher end thermostat like the Herpstat (http://spyderrobotics.com/). And since it sounds like you won't be able to make it to the vet for awhile, stop using the neosporin stuff (as mentioned by others) and switch to Betadine (which can be found at Walgreens or other pharmacies). Good luck, I hope your snake feels better soon!

ETA: I forgot to add - please stop trying to feed your BP for at least a week - he is likely very stressed out at the moment and trying to feed him is not going to help decrease that stress. He will be fine if he doesn't eat for awhile.

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Originally Posted by Tigerlilly

*i use a small zoo med pad, and didnt have temperature gauges until a couple days ago. Sooooooooooooooo soooooooooooo sorry for missing some of your questions.
* and as for the whole saving the mouse for later thing... I work in the restaurant industry. YOU DONT GET BREAKS. Period. Customers dont wait. Too many times have i had to buy mouse traps at 2am to catch all the mice that had eaten thru the cardboard boxes they were in and climbed up in my dash board. At one point, i had 5 mice loose in my car.
* and i'm not ignoring your suggestion! your suggestion is pointless because i already said i had been looking for a vet!!! i even called a 24 hour clinic but they said i needed someone who dealt with reptiles. Now tomorrow i will be at work from 10:00-4:30 and then back from 5:30- 1:30am. Sound like i'm able to take my snake to the vet? No. THATS why i posted. I wanted to know if there is any way to help him before i get him to the vet. I had assumed that i was doing something majorly wrong with the neosporin and hoping someone could could help me. So far, all you have done is interrogate me. thank you, SO MUCH for all the help.

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Well then... I see you are completely open to the advice you requested. :rolleyes:

I'm sure that your customers would be pleased to know you've brought a snake and mice into the restaurant.

Buy a PLASTIC critter keeper for the mice. Of course they'll chew out of cardboard.

And you need a thermostat to control the temp of the heat pad. Without one, it will eventually kill your snake.


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your job starts at 10am. You have plenty of time to take your snake to a vet, sure you'll lose some sleep, but you have plenty of time.

Everyone on here is concerned for your bp, they are trying to help, and figure out the environment of your snake. Taking your snake to work, and car rides do not help the animal.

I know split shifts suck big time, I've done them myself.

Since you have been rude returning your answers, it frustrates everyone on this site.

Listen to what they are saying, and sacrifice some sleep to help your snake.

Everyone has said everything that needs to be done. You're talking to a group of folks that have decades of rescue work, keeping, and breeding of ball pythons.
I would whole heartedly listen. No ones trying to be rude. But you are making some ill advised decisions. Now you can fix this.
1. Immediately stop using any neo. Or oil based substance. As its been said it softens the scales. But it ALSO opens their scales up promoting infection, or fungal growth, bacterial growth. So you are promoting the very thing you are trying to treat. That needs to be stopped immediately.
Keep the tank hospital clean, in this instance it may be helpful to set up a couple hospital tubs. 2 tubs that you switch back and forth to. Set up exactly the same. This way everyday when you disinfect the one he was in you can just put him in the already cleaned one. This is important to prevent any infections. The neo treatments unfortunately have opened him up for potential serious issues. Until his scales regain their strength you have to take an offensive stance.
Treat with betadyne. You can get this at any drug store. 1x daily wipe his scales down with the beta. This will clean him and disinfect. Use a cottonball or even a clean washcloth.
The last you will need to get from the vet so that's why it's important to get him in there. Not to mention that we cannot diagnose over the Internet nor can we provide the silverdine cream that would be helpful in healing him.

2. Regulate your heatpad... So this doesnt keep happening or get worse. In my years of rescue work I've seen some nasty burns. That could have easily been prevented with a tstat. $30 shipped. Really to not have it you're asking for trouble.
3. Plastic critter keepers work wonders. I understand you are working alot. You could even buy mice in bulk on your day off and set up a ten gallon tank for the mice. Buy 5-10 at a time. I personally think you would find it easier to feed 1 small weaned rat but no matter what at least he's eating. I saw something about pink mice... That's like you eating a gummy bear a day. That's not going to work well I hope that's not the case. Don't take the offensive bc everyone is honestly just trying to help. Please keep us updated on his progress, see the vet and good luck.


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