Chemical Burn: Help!

My ball python has a bad chemical burn on her stomach.. i've been putting burn ointment on it every day, and it seems to be drying up a little, but is there anything else i should be doing? i can tell it hurts when i touch her on the burn and i feel so awful. What should i do??? :confused:

Chemical?

How did she come in contact with Chemicals?

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Originally Posted by LadyOhh

Chemical?

How did she come in contact with Chemicals?

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Same question. Take her to the vet if you haven't already.

I cleaned her tank out with the wrong stuff, like a dummy. I already know i messed up, i just need to know how to fix it.

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Originally Posted by azak323

I cleaned her tank out with the wrong stuff, like a dummy. I already know i messed up, i just need to know how to fix it.

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Thats O.K were not here to make you feel bad. Your best bet is a vet visit, honestly. They can perscribe the proper ointment and let you know if you need antibiotics.

Since there's no way for us to know what this "wrong stuff" is or if it's absorbable into her body or how toxic it is to your snake, I'd suggest a very quick call to your herp vet.

I'm going to get her scheduled tomorrow. I was going to let her just ride it out, like i would with a small mouse bite or something, but it has gotten way worse then i ever thought it would. thanks for the input!

ps. -- i used clorox wipes. :dies:

No problem. For now keep her belly on white paper towel, and keep her dry. I don't know what kind of burn ointment you are using but a triple-antibiotic like neosporin (with no pain-killers in it) may help a bit. Keep us up-dated on what the vet says.

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Originally Posted by azak323

ps. -- i used clorox wipes. :dies:

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Sometimes our brains dont work as well as they should. I picked up a bottle of windex and was about to spray the outside of my tank to get a nice clean shine, and was horrified at myself and dropped the bottle. Your only human.

Hmmm....I use clorox wipes all the time, I just spary it with water and wipe it down after. Never had a problem with it.

Hope your baby heals up quickly.

Could you get a picture of it?

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Originally Posted by FloridaHogs

Hmmm....I use clorox wipes all the time, I just spary it with water and wipe it down after. Never had a problem with it.

Hope your baby heals up quickly.

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I do the same thing no problems here. Maybe its scale rot not a burn. Need pics and we can let you know.

I have used a diluted bleach solution to disenfect his bowl, hides and such but I always rinse with water afterwards

haha well missi, im glad i'm not the only one who does silly things... at least you stopped yourself before the worst happened! .. unlike me. haha. i feel so so awful :(

well, i just looked up some pictures of scale rot, and i don't think it was the clorox wipes anymore! scale rot is from the heating pad being too hot, right?

No, that would be a burn. If you have an under tank heater, you NEED to be regulating the temp with at bare minimum, a dimmer. You can pick up a table top lamp dimmer for about $10 at Walmart or Home Depot or similar stores. I would agree that a vet visit might be in order if the burn is that bad...

EDIT: Scale rot is (from what I have read) caused by too much moisture and bacteria in the substrate...

Scale rot is an infection that gets under/into the scale and they turn yellowish and begin to die. I just got my little pastel back up to 100% health after his battle with scale rot. I hope you figure it out. U need to make sure your little one gets to see a vet soon. It may be nothing serious and just take some ointment or i may be and you might have to take some more drastic measures.

y'all have been such a big help. trog, what did you do to get your baby back to health? i have a pastel too, and he's also starting to turn pinkish on his underside with a few small sores. They're both going to see mr. vet tomorrow, so hopefully good things will come. can scale rot kill a snake?

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Originally Posted by azak323

y'all have been such a big help. trog, what did you do to get your baby back to health? i have a pastel too, and he's also starting to turn pinkish on his underside with a few small sores. They're both going to see mr. vet tomorrow, so hopefully good things will come. can scale rot kill a snake?

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If it's taken care of by a responsible owner then no, but if it were left alone it could cause serious internal and external infections that could end in the death of the snake. The vet will probably prescribe an antibiotic and it should clear up pretty quickly, usually after a shed it's gone.

any suggestions on some things i can do in the mean time until i get her to the vet?

Switch your substrate to paper towel, clean the area with some betadine and apply a triple antibiotic ointment (WITHOUT pain killer)

What is your humidity and how do you measure it?

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Originally Posted by azak323

any suggestions on some things i can do in the mean time until i get her to the vet?

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Take out all the hides, water dish and any fake plants ect and clean everything with warm soap and water. Clean the tank and remove any substrate you have in there now and replace it with 2-3 layers of paper towels. Keep the enclosure dry, belly rot is caused by excess moisture on the ground so keeping it dry is critical. Since your going to the vet tomorrow nothing else really needs to be done.

I've got her on paper towel with a UV bulb at the moment, and i'm using ZooMed repti wound-healing aid. I keep her humidity at about 60-65% and i keep an eye on it with a humidity dial.

One quick suggestion is to get a cheap digital thermometer/hydrometer. The analog ones are terribly inaccurate. Almost everyone on this site uses a cheap one called Acu-rite. You can pick one up at Lowes or wal mart for like 12 bucks. Also, are you only using the light as your heat source??

ps -- would scale rot be an explanation for my snakes' not eating? they havent had any problems in the past but they seem to be eating fewer and farther between.. i'm so worried!

As annoying as this might get, could you list your entire set-up.
Hides, enclosure, lighting,ect.... In the words of a friend "a snake the doesn't eat is not a problem, it's a symptom"

sure thing! Normally, i keep her in a 20G (unless she's at my bf's place where we've got a 30L) on aspen bedding, rock water dish that holds about 15oz, one small fake plant, and a medium sized wooden hide. I have a small heating pad under the hide, and i use a 60W (75W if the house is cold) blue UV day bulb during the day and a 75W red infrared light at night time. ambient temp is usually around 80 degrees. I was trying to keep the humidity at around 60%-80% by misting the tank down a few times a day, but i'm wondering if this is what caused the scale rot by putting too much moisture in the aspen??

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Originally Posted by azak323

sure thing! Normally, i keep her in a 20G (unless she's at my bf's place where we've got a 30L) on aspen bedding, rock water dish that holds about 15oz, one small fake plant, and a medium sized wooden hide. I have a small heating pad under the hide, and i use a 60W (75W if the house is cold) blue UV day bulb during the day and a 75W red infrared light at night time. ambient temp is usually around 80 degrees. I was trying to keep the humidity at around 60%-80% by misting the tank down a few times a day, but i'm wondering if this is what caused the scale rot by putting too much moisture in the aspen??

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Read this: http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ad.php?t=56846 This is a sticky composed by Cass who painstakingly included everything she could think of to make it easier for those herp keepers choosing to keep their snakes in a tank. It is really helpful! :D
As for your set-up, moving the snake from enclosure to enclosure is very very stressful and I would advise against this. Also, you need 2 identical hides, one for the cool side and one for the hot side. :O
You never need 80% humidity; 50-55% is fine; I bump mine up a wee bit during a shed. ;)
Your heat source needs to be controlled by a thermostat or something that Missi was talking to you about. :)
I really again want to ask you how you feel about purchasing a reptile cage. I again mention this because you have not yet sunk a lot of expense into the enclosure. Purchasing from RBI (link was given by Argentra) would get you a cage made for reptiles and already wired for heat. You would still need to purchase a t'stat. :gj:
Anyway, these are my thoughts. Please do read all of the good info compiled by Cass and perhaps consider weighing it against a reptile cage! :P

Alright, unless you really need to move her back and forth from your house to your boyfriends, I would really suggest against it. Moving her from one home to another causes unnecessary stress and could be one of the reasons she's not eating. You should have TWO identical hides, one on the cool side and one on the warm side. The heat pad should be hooked into a thermostat to make sure it doesn't get too high. Do you have a digital thermometer with a probe to meaure the ground temp on the warm side? Humidity should be between 50% and 60% not 60% and 80%. Thats defiantly what caused the belly rot. Please do some research about proper husbandry, I suggest the care sheet on this forum. http://ball-pythons.net/modules.php?...warticle&id=59

Starmom I knew you would beat me to it! haha

I would say the refusal is a combination of health issue and husbandry

1# Keep your humidity at 50%-60%

2# Provide 2 tight identical hides (avoid log hides)

3# Provide gradient temps (measured with a DIGITAL thermometer), you need to provide 80-84 on the cool side and 90-94 on the warm side.

Note: BP do not need any UV they are nocturnal.

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Normally, i keep her in a 20G (unless she's at my bf's place where we've got a 30L)

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No sure why or how often your BP moves but this is definitely a good way to stress her and of course a stress BP will not eat!

Also how big is your BP? Providing adequate enclosure is very important (key word for a BP is SECURITY). Too big of an enclosure can be stressful.

Please go through this caresheet http://www.ball-pythons.net/modules....warticle&id=59.

A few tweaking will likely help your BP resume feeding, in the mean time limit your handling (Only do so when necessary) until you BP resume feeding.

thanks so much! cass's page was super helpful. I'm learning as i go, and all your input certainly helped. unfortunately, i dont have the funds for an intricate reptile cage, but i'm certaninly going to make some improvments on what i've got.

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but i'm certaninly going to make some improvments on what i've got

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. You can use something as simple as a plastic tub of course depending on the side of your BP size will vary, good hides are pretty cheap as well again it depends on the size of your BP http://www.ball-pythons.net/forums/s...ighlight=hides

Digital Thermometer/Hygrometer like this http://i127.photobucket.com/albums/p...Acu-Rite_T.jpg will only cost $12 at Walmart.

i've been feeding my BPs in a separate tank.. should i discontinue this? i heard feeding them in their living quarters spurs aggression..

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Originally Posted by azak323

i've been feeding my BPs in a separate tank.. should i discontinue this? i heard feeding them in their living quarters spurs aggression..

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This is a myth.

Removing a snake from it's enclosure to feed him can be stressful enough to lead to a refusal, also once in feeding mode there are more risks for you to get tag especially when placing your BP back in it's enclosure.

Didn't have time to read every single reply so if someone has already mentioned this, sorry.

I know it seems to have not been a chemical burn after all and is looking more like a heat burn or scale rot, but thought I should remind people that it is NOT a good idea to put any kind of burn ointments on a chemical burn without direction from your vet due to possibility of a caustic reaction between the ointment and the chemical. Usually this can be avoided by throughly cleaning the area in question with water, but you can never be too safe.

You asked what you could do in the meantime before your snakes see a vet - IMHO, turn off the under the tank heaters. If it is caused by a burn, the last thing you want is for it to get worse.

Good luck!

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Originally Posted by giaach

Starmom I knew you would beat me to it! haha

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Great minds think alike ;)

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Originally Posted by bsd13

Didn't have time to read every single reply so if someone has already mentioned this, sorry.

I know it seems to have not been a chemical burn after all and is looking more like a heat burn or scale rot, but thought I should remind people that it is NOT a good idea to put any kind of burn ointments on a chemical burn without direction from your vet due to possibility of a caustic reaction between the ointment and the chemical. Usually this can be avoided by throughly cleaning the area in question with water, but you can never be too safe.

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Agree, except this is not a chemical burn, and both snakes have the same problem. It can be scale rot or a thermal burn (humidity is really high and apparently the OP does not mention the use of a T-Stat)

Clorox wipes do not contain anything that could chemically burn anything!

hey girl how are the snakies doing? hope they are well!!!

Agreed with all of the above. You have not mentioned, and I must ask. Are you keeping these snakes in the same enclosure?

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Originally Posted by littleindiangirl

Agreed with all of the above. You have not mentioned, and I must ask. Are you keeping these snakes in the same enclosure?

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I was just going to ask this.

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Originally Posted by Deborah

Agree, except this is not a chemical burn, and both snakes have the same problem. It can be scale rot or a thermal burn (humidity is really high and apparently the OP does not mention the use of a T-Stat)

Clorox wipes do not contain anything that could chemically burn anything!

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Deborah is definitely right. Because you have been misting the aspen so often I'm leaning toward scale rot. Remember that high humidity does not equal wet bedding. Nearly every species of snakes including bps need to have a fairly dry environment to maintain skin health.

Your snake needs to be on an antibiotic to help it in the healing process, so the vet visit is imperative. Other then that, you just need to make husbandry adjustments according to the care sheets posted earlier.

Justin

Yes they normally do stay in the same enclosure, but i'm guessing this is wrong as well? Both snakes are going to the vet today.

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Originally Posted by azak323

Yes they normally do stay in the same enclosure, but i'm guessing this is wrong as well? Both snakes are going to the vet today.

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Yeah, they should be separated. What's their weight? You would be better off just buying two smaller tubs. If you're tight on cash, pick up a lamp dimmer from Lowes for $10.

On another note, your two Shepherds are gorgeous!

Thank you so much :) I wish i could take care of my snakes as well as i take care of them! i'm trying. :oops:

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Originally Posted by azak323

Thank you so much :) I wish i could take care of my snakes as well as i take care of them! i'm trying. :oops:

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That's good news! Even though you've run into trouble, the fact that you're taking constructive criticism and are trying puts you way out in front of most inexperienced pet owners!!!

GL

Justin

Thank you! it's good to have some encouragement. All the input from everyone really helps, but it gets a little tough after 5 pages of everything i'm doing wrong! I absolutely love my snakes and i am so upset that my ignorance has ended up affecting them. It has brought me to tears more than once! That's the reason i came here.

What happen in the Vet visit?