Scale Rot ..help plz!@?

Hey all, I have a question, I will describe the situationand how it has gotten to where it is shortly, but my question is :
Has anyone ever used BetadineFirst Aid Solutions (Povidone Iodine Antiseptic solution) to treat their snakes scale rot?

Well I cant say I didn’t try to make it a family thing, and boy am I kicking myself for it now. I know I am going to take a beating, but here goes::please:

I have had my Spell for over a year now and got Hollow few months afterwards, initially Spell is my dream snake (BEL) and I got Hollow to eventually start my own clown project as he is Spider Het Clown. He has sense been with my little brother, which is where my issues arise. I was eventually going to take the snake back after he goes to the Army, it was just to let him get used to the responsibilities in hopes that he will take to the hobby as well. He “tried”, and has failed.

I set him up with everything he needed to take care of the animal, gave him all the 101 stuff, printed it out and all.. have kept in communications and done my own record keeping when he would bring the snake to the house and id go over there... for the last year I have checked on him and saw no signs of neglect. I have not checked on him in the past few months as I have been moving and dealing with school. I go over the other day to pick him up as Chris is away on summer vacation, and what do I see.

Dry ass coconut husk in a glass terrarium, old shed in the tank, old poop, and no water in his dish… it took the most of me to not chock his lil ass .. But I didn’t... I can’t he is away on vacation, but we are going to have a talk and he is going to have to pay for these medical bills as my snake, from my 12 hrs of research, has Scale Rot!!:O

It is a small portion of his bottom part of his tail, about 3” from his butt, there are about 4-6 scales belly scales that are dry and crusty. He has some left over shed from his previous shed and his belly is pink. I’m not sure about his record keeping as showing him how I keep my records with pen and paper on all stats of when, where, how much, eat, poop, shed.. ect.. No luck with this new generation as they are just plain lazy smfh...

To put you guys minds at ease, I got paid today and my snake will see a vet ASAP but its the weekend rn, so next week if possible, I will post pics of current situation and keep you guys updated with his progress.

So my questions would be:

1. How long does it take for scale rot to set in? Like what conditions would have to be there? i saw it said moist, but his tank was dry af!
2. Can this be due to low humidity, as the tank was dry, and he has left over shed on his nose? I read that it comes from not removing wastes and or allowing the substrate to hold too much water
3. How would you prevent scale rot? Is there a way to at least minimize the chances? i keep my other 2 snakes on the same stats on the same thermostat, and their hum - 50-60 always .. only when in shed do i pump it up

I believe I am doing everything right with my guys but now I am taking on a whole other project with this new issue and do not want it to spread or create a like situation for my other animals.
he is in a separate tube rn, all clean and new newspaper, water and i misted the whole tube, besides waiting on the doc visit, i just want to try to releive some of his discompfort

1. How can I treat this scale rot? :confusd:

I do believe the few dry, pale, brownish-white, flaky like scales on his belly is scale rot, his belly is pink and there is a bit of a dimple where the location is on his belly. It is hard to look at and know he is in pain and discomfort smfh! Believe me I am kicking myself for not taking him back sooner... I just told him if he wasn’t going to take care of the animal then he should’ve been gave him back to me… not when you see his belly looking weird and then you like “o you can go by and pick him up” while you out of town and I get there and he is sick… smfh .. He’s lucky he’s only 17 .. I’d give him the hardest body shot right in the chest!..

But none of my violence or OUR rage will help, or could be satisfied better than if I could bring my big guy back from this situation. If anyone has had issues with this before and could shed some light on this for me. I am on here frequently all the time reading diff stuff, but this one is really hurting me inside as i trusted this lil $h!t bird.... but its my fault for trusting his lil spoiled ass.. but Any assistance on this matter would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you guy’s sooo much... have a great weekend! :salute:
:bow:

Never dealt with scale rot. Not much advice to give. Most on here will ask for photos before giving advice. Best wishes.

Scale rot is normally from very high humidity/moist conditions for a long time .
The betadine will sort if it's that, put a few drops into a tub with an inch of water but don't let the snake drink it for a bout 20mins a couple of times a week, next shed most of it will disappear, if it's that it.
One of my little boas came with it and really wasnt happy at all when I first saw it ,she's fine like but was 2.5yrs ago

Is the snake on a regulated heat mate or a ceramic heat emitter(che) could be a burn,
If the heat mats not been regulated properly, try post some pics if you can, things show up worst on white snakes anyway


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Get a picture up if you can. The Army will fix your brother.

Yep, photo is needed. Sounds more like a burn than scale rot? Did your brother use a UTH?

Hooah!!

yes, but i doubt it was regulated ... meaning he took time to read the manual and set it up correctly after he switched enclosures..

i dont want to bash him too bad as i know he loves animals, so not intentinal, just careless smh :mad:

The pink belly sounds more like a burn to me. It is hard to tell without a photo.

I've had snakes with scale rot. But I have always used Betadine first aid ointment to treat it instead on the liquid. The ointment should be available over the counter at a good pharmacy.

A couple of weeks in a bad environment will be enough for infection.

A variety of opportunistic pathogens can cause scale rot. A moist, dirty cage encourages the pathogens until they can get established on the snake. A relatively dry, clean cage discourages those pathogens. Moist, clean cages and dry dirty cages encourage pathogens more than a clean, dry cage but less than a moist, dirty cage. Prevention mostly hinges on a good environment.

Exact identification of the pathogen is often inpossible. Betadine is a shotgun treatment. I've used Betadine ointment daily, plus 5 minutes exposure to raw sunlight (UV) every day. This goes on till the snake sheds, and then for 2 days more. If not cured, continue treatment.

Good luck.

Ive dealt with it in the past and I used silver sulfadiazine you can buy it for pretty cheap on amazon. its for burns and helps with infection. Good luck.

It could also be a previously abcesses/infected bite wound and septicemia if he was feeding the snake live food...

Which in that case is a trip to the vet and antibiotics, not just topical ointment

IDK how to post onto the thread, but i did upload some pics of him from yesterday.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ronniex2

IDK how to post onto the thread, but i did upload some pics of him from yesterday.

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hi friend! where did you upload the pictures at? maybe i can help you post them here. :)

he used UTH .. the thermostat and actual temp and humid, all couldnt be varified as it was assumed by me that he had read my texts, and added water and mist daily as he had a glass tank and i told him about keeping the humidity up, especially during shed.. i have fogger i gave him dammm it ! but i digress... long story short all i did was remove him from the enclosure, and put him in a small rack i just built while my other guys are in my other room in their rack.

it should be with the new post for today .. i justuploaded them.. it’s a small area in question .. I see 1 split belly scale and the other 3-4 affected scales have that brownish idk.. stuff on it.. i tried to whipe it away with warm soapy water, it cleared the area up a lil, but i wasnt sure if it was scabbing i was wiping away or if it was nasty infections gup ... as I lookedover him again while i was trying to take the pics, he had no other realobvious issues. Even the stuck shed came off

all i did was put him in the tube, new paper towle, higher humidity, a regulated UTH.. i fed him, and he has been resting (besides the feed) sense thurdays night...
i got the tretment i mentioned before & i will start his "soaking" him for the 15-20 mins which was recomended to me by the other members and what i read will work for this type of treatment.

he has eaten a small frozen rat on saturday,

But as the previous member just mentioned.. heis a good striker for a Spider.. But my lil brother did feed him live, and iwas thinking .. Looking at it, if anyone thinks it may be a bite from the livefeedings? I doubt it but i am no expert. what do you guys think?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ronniex2

it should be with the new post for today .. i justuploaded them..

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i don't see a new post from you, but i did see you uploaded the images to your gallery.

i'll post them here so more people can see them and offer advice:
https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../1/scale_1.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../1/scale_2.jpg

https://ball-pythons.net/gallery/fil.../1/scale_3.jpg

Thanks soooo much buddy!! your soo cool for this.. i greatly apprciate the help
now hopefully someone can help me identify this issue :bow:

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Ronniex2

Thanks soooo much buddy!! your soo cool for this.. i greatly apprciate the help
now hopefully someone can help me identify this issue :bow:

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it's what i do, friend! :) i wish i could offer actual advice about your snake, but i've never dealt with something like that. i hope you get some help soon!

its all good, thanks again... but either way he will be taken care of :gj:

It does not look like a burn to me. That said, in the 40 years I have been messing with reptiles, knock on wood, I have not had a burn or scale rot. I have had to deal with a couple nasty infections caused by injury. In any case, I would treat it with betadine daily making sure that some of the liquid runs under the scales. If it doesn't improve after the next shed or it looks like it is getting worse, it is time for a vet trip.

The split scale does look a bit like a possible bite to me, but that whole area doesn't look bad at all. It looks to be in a good healing process already, just probably looked much worse before you cleaned it up.

I agree with the post above. Keep this little one clean, and a bit of betadine for now. It looks like it should shed out clean and look great, just maybe that little split can take a bit longer to heal over.
The belly looks like a healthy color from these images. Not like a burn or septicemia from what I see...

As said, unless it starts to looks worse, I would wait to see how we look after a shed.

What ever it was it's healing really well and will look loads better after next shed, as said a few dabs with the betadine solution won't hurt ,thats for sure
Looks like you was just in time

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Thanks again everyone for the replys, advice, andsuggestions.. this all helped in putting my mind at ease and in identifyingthis issue, I know we all want stress free, happy, healthy animals and I dohope to continue my up keep for my collection.
With that I am almost certain, after last night’s lilcleaning session; it is what you guys have entered as an over looked factor inmy head… the feeding of the animal. May be a scratch or bite even
I did the Wwater and just added a few drops, as Armiyanasaid, it was flaky, dry, and ugly in a dirty dry glass tank so I thought theworse, especially after looking at his belly and seeing the area with all thedirt on him, I’m like WTF! So even when I got him home and cleaned it up withthe warm soapy water, it looked better and after cleaning it again last night, Isaw more of the scabby type of brown stuff being removed and the ash is almostall gone, but I will keep up the cleaning util he sheds and well hope its allgone
So yes he ate onlylive last year of ownership, and I have noted that if this was scale rot it may have spread along his belly more or justnot so localized but again im jus reading stuff online.. his tank was really dry.. not damp like the most SR would need to grow.. but all in all I will notrule out anything as I have already purchased the products for the treatment ofSR and now will just be prepared if I do have an issue. But these issues will b far and in between ashe will be in my care moving forward and I have you guys if I run to if anotherissue occurs #thanks
He did take right to the F/T I offered him Saturday so Iwill not have to have this scare again, as I am hoping he keeps the idc attitudetowards the rats.. but thanks again homies.. I truly appreciate all your help .idk what I would do w/o yall…