Help, I think my snake is burning herself!??

[MinoBeri]

I recently picked up my ball python after being gone for a week, and I noticed that her belly looked brown and the scales had wrinkled and dried. I took her to see a snake expert at a local store, and he said it looked like a burn. I started treating it with Vetericyn 2-3 times a day, and switched her from a mat to forest floor cypress mulch bedding to give more of a buffer between her and her heating pad, and it seemed to be helping for a few days, but now I have noticed that more of her "healthy" scales have been getting a pink color in the last couple days? I'm planning on a vet visit in the next couple days but I don't know what top do in the mean time....I don't want my baby to be in pain or worse

[dylan815]

First off, do you have a thermostat hooked up to the heat source? This could be why your snake got burned. Maybe you could post some pics of the burn?!


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[dylan815]

The slight pink might be because your snakes going to shed very soon....


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[MinoBeri]

Buying a thermostat is no easy feat for me, as i need to fight with my dad to buy anything for my snake's habitat- but I'm trying to push to get one within the week. Here is a pictue of what her scales looked like when I first discovered the problem

[MinoBeri]

Here is a picture of her burn the day I discovered the problem.

[MinoBeri]

Also, she just went through a shed? I don't know if ball pythons can shed multiple times back to back (this is my first snake)

[Sunnieskys]

Unplug your uth right now if you don't have it regulated. Only use a heat bulb at this point. You must regulate your uth. It is. It an option. Unplug or get a thermostat. I would say a vet asap!

[Stewart_Reptiles]

Sadly this was completely preventable.

If you use a UTH you MUST have a thermostat to provide proper temperatures, which are part of proper husbandry and will also prevent burns.

Burns can become costly to treat as they can become infected not to mention painful for the animal.

buffer between her and her heating pad

BP will burrow therefore a "buffer is useless. Right now you MUST unplug this UTH IMMIDIATELY and replace the bedding with clean dry paper towel.

Buying a thermostat is no easy feat for me, as i need to fight with my dad to buy anything for my snake's habitat

Food for the thoughts, pet ownership comes with great responsibilities and the animal becomes a burden )financial or other), as a responsible owner you may have to face the fact that the animal may be better of with a new owner that can provide for it's needs.

[zina10]

Oh gosh, this hurts my heart !!!

The snake isn't burning itself. You are. I know that sounds harsh. But it is what it is.

Not having a thermostat is not an option. If you or your dad cannot or will not buy what is the very basic of need, then please just don't get the animal. It isn't fair to it, and yes, it is suffering from quite a bit of pain. That is a pretty bad burn.

You will now have to turn off the UTH, or risk deeper damage. The sad thing is, then it will probably get to cold. Also not ideal, but preferable to roasting that poor animal.

For its sake, buy everything needed FIRST, then the animal. If its not possible to do that, do not get that animal until you can.

There is simply nothing we can tell you and nothing you can do until you fix the husbandry and THEN also treat this poor animals wounds. Get the setup right, and then try to get some Silvadene creme. It works wonders on burns. You will need to keep the tank extremely clean, keep the snake on paper towels that are CLEAN at all times. The last thing you (or the snake) needs is infection.

There are some low cost thermostats that would work for now and would be better then nothing. Petstores, Amazon should carry them. I think they can be found in the twenty something dollar range.

[PythonBabes]

Wow, your snake basically got cooked, and is in a lot of pain already.

See if you can get a dimmer(I think from home depot??), I heard they're cheap, like $10 and will work until you can get a proper thermostat. Very short term solution and if your room temps fluctuate a lot it will have to be messed with quite a bit, but better than nothing?

And please if you can't properly care for the animal, financial wise, rehome it to someone who can!