Help help help help

[kinley]

My last post did something funny and I can't access it anymore so I've written it again with a little more info:

MY BALL PYTHON, Howard is not doing well. He was not well taken care of in the past. He is nearly two years old and around 2 feet long. He is constantly lethargic and has trouble swallowing his meals even though they are the right size (if not a little small) for him. He strikes at me more often than my other snake and is very sensitive to touch. He is always hiding. Within the last two days I have noticed an outbreak of redness spreading over him. It began with just one spot which I thought was a sore so I began treating it with neosporin. I've literally WATCHED as his body has become red. This is the first spot:

Supposedly he hasn't shed in 6 months and was being fed once a month. His water wasn't filled when it needed to be and he went weeks without it sometimes. His skin is very dry and wrinkly, I've began soaking him some to help and I've kept his water full.

Here are more pictures of the redness:


As you can see, it's pretty intense. I've checked for mites, and he doesn't have them. The only thing I can think of at this point is scale rot, but I can't even tell because all the images I find when I look it up are if much more advanced stages of the problem. Also, as he is very thin, is it a bad idea to power feed him during this time to fatten him up a bit??


Can anybody help me?! I don't want to lose my new friend. I love him to death and am willing to do whatever needs to be done to save him.

Here are a few more pictures:


Ps, my hands have henna, I'm not just filthy.

[Daigga]

I'll just repost what I did earlier

What's his setup like? Can he get up close to a heat lamp, or does he have a heat pad not regulated by a thermostat? Is there something abrasive somewhere in his enclosure? Any tape on the inside of his enclosure? Pictures of how you have him will help shed some light here. I was under the impression that scale rot usually occurred mostly on the belly, since it's basically caused by constantly sitting in soaked substrate. Looks more like burns to me?

Would not powerfeed. Has he been eating while he's had these marks?

[lorrainesmom]

You said he had trouble eating, what kind of feeding schedule do you have him on, and when did he last eat? What temps do you have in the enclosure? Is it possible the little guy is also dehydrated?

[kinley]

This is his set up. It stays at about 85 on the warm side and 73 on the cool side. He has lots of foliage so he can hide in either side. The humidity is at ~50% constantly. It is a 20 gallon tank. He can reach where the lamp is if he stretches but I don't see the possibility of the lamp burning him along his whole body. I do agree, it looks like burns though. There is no other heat source, just the lamp.

[Albert Clark]

I would take him to a herp vet. He looks very malnourished to be 2 yrs old!? Those lesions could be a sign of a nutritional disease. To only be fed once a month borders on cruelty. Underweight and malnourished is a recipe for disaster. He could be septic with a blood disease as well. He definitely needs a vet work up. At least to rule out a couple of things. Good luck.

[kinley]

Also, I spot clean the enclosure weekly and completely wash it monthly.

[Daigga]

I totally missed the part where you said he was 2 years old. Sweet baby jesus, that guy looks smaller than all of my 2014s. Even a severely malnurished two year old should be significantly larger than that. Are you positive on the age?

I second the herp vet idea. The setup doesn't look like anything inside it would have caused those marks, so a vet would probably know best.

[kinley]

You said he had trouble eating, what kind of feeding schedule do you have him on, and when did he last eat? What temps do you have in the enclosure? Is it possible the little guy is also dehydrated?

I feed him once a week. He last ate exactly one week ago. Today I was to feed him again, BUT I haven't wanted to because this redness just began appearing. Wasn't sure if feeding could be harmful so I decided I would wait to see if anybody had advice. I think he is definitely bordering dehydration, he is quite dry and wrinkly. I've been soaking him in a pedialyte/water solution to get some electrolytes into his body. He doesn't seem to want to drink much.

[GoingPostal]

How are you measuring temps? Do you have a temp gun? I would call around and get him a vet visit.


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[kinley]

I totally missed the part where you said he was 2 years old. Sweet baby jesus, that guy looks smaller than all of my 2014s. Even a severely malnurished two year old should be significantly larger than that. Are you positive on the age?

I second the herp vet idea. The setup doesn't look like anything inside it would have caused those marks, so a vet would probably know best.

I'm positive. He hatched on July 22, 2013.