Ball Python rescue and vet screwd me over

Hello everyone, I am new to being a ball python owner, I did about a year of research and saving before purchasing my little guy off off kijiji from a family that did not want him he came to me with RI and scaring galor which have cleared up but as well as that he had a bad shed and even though i soaked him the tail bits must have not come of properly and the result was bleeding,then scaring then scabbing i think ( trying to post photos not sure how), the vet gave me flamazine which actually made it worse and is not making individual scales slough off, ( the vet in general was rude, manhandled my snake when it wasn't necicairy and spent less then 15 minutes looking at him before prescribing flamazine ) after research i found out that one of the elements in flamazine ( Silver Sulfadiazine ) causes slower healing periods, not to mention the sloughing of scales. anyway now i have this what i think is a scab, a very active python (eating and putting on weight ) and a months worth of flamazine treatment that has caused the injury to expand. any ideas?


( please pardon any spelling errors I have very major dyslexia )
also if anyone knows how to post photos please tell me i would love to show whats going on to get better answers ! thank you for everyones time !

temp 25 celcius in cold spot 31- 35 during the day hot spot 25-26 hot spot at night
paper towl bedding, spot cleaned and chaned after every poop as well as full change and wash after shed ( 1:1 vinigar watter) climb tree, 2 hides, watter changed every day, eating well medium rats.

We really do need pictures for this one.

Retained shed can cause necrosis if it gets too tight all round the tail. :(

You knew of the health issues but paid for the ball? The family should have given you the snake. I'm sure the vet bills are already much more than a healthy ball would have been from a nice dealer. I love animals but you can not save them all. Its great your willing to help the snake but I would have never paid anything for it.

As for your complaint about manhandling. When trying to give a snake an examine you have to take control of something that is usually in no way willing to do what you want or need done so it can appear rough but its usually quite necessary. Ever tried giving a green tree python an injection? Not easy! You have to take control.

Odd. Silver sulfadiazine is miracle goo for my reptiles. Used it on my blind ratsnake that had massive wounds from rat bites all over, snakes with nose rubs, and my corn who ripped his skin escaping out his tank. All the wounds healed really quick and there were no scales sloughed off.

Also, palpating can look like manhandling when you are attempting to identify organs in an animal as muscular and mobile as a snake.

My first thoughts on the area getting worse are how are you keeping this animal?
What are you using for bedding and heat?

KMG nope the owners lied they said the python was in perfect health... but when he got to me...

dr del i took soe however cant figure out how to post, i would love instructions i am new to the forum

Spiritserpents
http://ball-pythons.net/forums/image...S6na8FjHBk.png


you would think so right ? however the stuff has caused the thing to get a bit better at first and then alot worse, including bleeding around the infected area etc wich scared me half to death the first time i saw it because its just below his vent

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Originally Posted by PitOnTheProwl

My first thoughts on the area getting worse are how are you keeping this animal?
What are you using for bedding and heat?

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he is kept on dry paper towl, that is spot cleaned and spot changed as soon as there is poop or urate, and ofcourse a change and wash of cage at least once a month, usaly more because it a) can get stinky after he poops, b)he sheds alot like once or twice a month at least and i change after evry shed. the heat is 30 -35 in the hot spot ( celcius ) in the day and at night its lowerd to 24-25 (celcius) wich is also the temp of his day time cool spot, his hide is always cleaned during the tank wash and he is kept in an all living things 40gal tank :) also the watter dish is changed every day.

by manhandled i mean she did not palpitate ( my mother is a student midwife she taught me how to palpitate humans and feel for organs so i asume the method of gentle feeling for along the body is the same ) she grabed him behind the head ( he wasent even squirming to start with ) draged him up voilently turnd him over looked at this belly, dident feel anything just looked, then took a look at his tale wich at the time was only the tip now it got bigger and there are lesions leading up to the vent. and said its not scale rot no one knows if it will gt better put some of this on to make sure, i say how long for she goes two weeks, in two weeks or so i call back say its gotten worse she goes oh just use up the entire thing or till the lesions go away. and i belived it and followed throuhg vets instructions twice a day flamazine for a month or so and ya results. NATA in fact worse ! the only thing she did right is the way she gently opend his mouth i should add, and as well i spoke to some other reptile owners and x owners in my area acording to them this place has a history of badly treating reptiles including animals that should not have died dying in thier care, (impaction and such that could be solved with proper care and treatment from whati gather ) ofcourse im no expert i may be wrong. opinions ?

Norbert if you'd like I can host the pictures for you, just let me know and I'll PM you my e-mail address

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Originally Posted by norbert

KMG nope the owners lied they said the python was in perfect health... but when he got to me...

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That is to bad. Some people suck.

I got my gtp in a similar situation. He is in perfect health now. I tried to recover some of my vets bills from the guy I bought him from but he wouldn't even talk to me and instead let his wife deal with me and she just played dumb.

As for the pics: create a free Photobucket account. Upload the photos. Copy and then Paste the IMG code into your post here. Then when you post it the IMG code magically displays the photo.

cheers mate, ya you know i refuse to let this animal come to more harm when he is on my watch i will do evrythign in my power andi mean evrything to get him into good shape, i love animals im not in it cus i want to be a breader, i have an anxiety disorder my snake is one of the few things that helps me over come it so ya know hes my bud i love him to death ! ( not littraly i rather love him to life at this point !!! )

thankyou to both KMG and Raisinjelly for helping me out with the pics i have managed to post them now i think here they are ! opinions idias ?

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/...ps924cb33e.jpg

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/...ps36d44c08.jpg

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/...ps3ef8fb57.jpg

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/...ps59601bd4.jpg

Between the blurriness and poor lighting and my tablet screen I'm not positive but it looks like the area is dead or dying. Like Dr Del said, necrosis.

Did the vet say anything about that possibility?

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Originally Posted by KMG

Between the blurriness and poor lighting and my tablet screen I'm not positive but it looks like the area is dead or dying. Like Dr Del said, necrosis.

Did the vet say anything about that possibility?

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no she faild to mention it the tip was like this or almost like this when i braught it to her tho... it may ahve had a bit more lifei n it she said NOTHING about even the posibilty of it, do u recon it may need surgical removing ?

I'm not 100% sure on that. I believe the dead part will end up falling off. I'm sure somebody else will know better. Just make sure to keep it clean and make sure the tank stays clean. Newspaper or paper towels would be the best choice for a substrate for the time being.

already on papertowls :) here are more photos i clean the tank ( spot clean ) evry day 2 times or more

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/...ps094e146c.jpg

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/...psddea471b.jpg

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/...psdea825ee.jpg

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/...ps1d887a9b.jpg

http://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/...pse1806462.jpghttp://i1382.photobucket.com/albums/...psa05d5ad1.jpg

Those are much better.

The area is much smaller than I thought it was in the first pics but the tip looks very dead to me. I do not believe you have much to fear. Another user in a foreign country had a much worse but similar situation occur and the snake was fine. If I remember correctly it even bred that same time period. You will just have a short tail ball python.

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Originally Posted by KMG

Those are much better.

The area is much smaller than I thought it was in the first pics but the tip looks very dead to me. I do not believe you have much to fear. Another user in a foreign country had a much worse but similar situation occur and the snake was fine. If I remember correctly it even bred that same time period. You will just have a short tail ball python.

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well thats good ! will the tail fall of then or that dead pice ?

I would find a good exotics vet to have it surgically removed. While it may just fall off on its own, the necrosis/infection could also spread up inside the snake's tail and become septic. At that point it becomes more difficult and expensive to treat.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

I would find a good exotics vet to have it surgically removed. While it may just fall off on its own, the necrosis/infection could also spread up inside the snake's tail and become septic. At that point it becomes more difficult and expensive to treat.

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do you know the aproximent cost or a surgery like this ? are we talking thousands or hundreds ?

It will not be thousands but I'm sure it will be more than a couple hundred. I would find a vet and get a quote.

It will vary by location. I would expect to pay $800-1200 here in the states, but my exotic vets are in the Washington DC metro area so they're not cheap.

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Originally Posted by bcr229

It will vary by location. I would expect to pay $800-1200 here in the states, but my exotic vets are in the Washington DC metro area so they're not cheap.

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i am in the gta ...

Welp i talked ot the hed of a ukrainin zoo ( reptile head that is for like 20 years ) and she has given me some advice. i wil let u know if it heals up the plus side is its not necrosis !

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Originally Posted by norbert

Welp i talked ot the hed of a ukrainin zoo ( reptile head that is for like 20 years ) and she has given me some advice. i wil let u know if it heals up the plus side is its not necrosis !

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So what is it?

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Originally Posted by KMG

So what is it?

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turns out it was just layers of stuck shed that did not want to come of lthe top layer was dead but the under was stil lalive it was esentaily abbout takign the dead stuff off ( yes that exposes the flesh and a tiney amount of bone i know it sounds cruel but i trust her ) then u let it a) dry up or b) it heals my ball is eating well i fed him right after he took the food so hopfully he will shed and heal up, should there be an infection a) use anti fungal or if it starts spreading up then it goes to amputation lets hope it wont get to that.

in any case its not dead it has a chance to re grow and i hope it will !

That's exactly what Dr Del said in the first post. The retained sheds cause the tip of the tail to die, necrosis. Its good that the tip has some life but leaving bone exposed does not sound promising to me. Snakes are not exactly the quickest healers and covering exposed bone seems like it will take a good amount of time. That said I say all this with only the images I'm imagining in my head.

You have any updated pics for us to see?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by KMG

That's exactly what Dr Del said in the first post. The retained sheds cause the tip of the tail to die, necrosis. Its good that the tip has some life but leaving bone exposed does not sound promising to me. Snakes are not exactly the quickest healers and covering exposed bone seems like it will take a good amount of time. That said I say all this with only the images I'm imagining in my head.

You have any updated pics for us to see?

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give me a few days he just ate after i took the skin off so i dont want to touch him.

If the bone is exposed your vet may want to prescribe injected antibiotics as that area will be easily infected, even if it isn't now.