Concerned owner

[Vipera Berus]

Hi all.

Am somewhat concerned as my BP hasn't been eating much lately. I thought it might be excessive handling so I left him alone for a week and just got him out again today only to find he had developed red spots on his belly.

I have been able to maintain temperatures of 30 degree Celsius hotspot and 27 degree cool side. Up to late November / early December he was eating fine, since which he has barely eaten. He is approximately 3 years old and hovering at between 1kg and 1.1kg weight at approximately 3ft long. I had him sexed by a specialist vet about a year ago as a male despite being sold him as a her. I have kept his vivarium with plenty of clutter all over the floor and have three hides that he can just about still squeeze under in three areas of his vivarium. He has been on reptichip and has cork hides two of which are flattish panels on each end of the vivarium and the third is a cork bark tunnel that stretches from the hot to the cold side. He has been mostly hovering within 50grams of 1.1Kg for over two months now. I last cleaned his viarium about a month or two ago and have been adding water for humidity maybe a little too much lately since I just scraped the chips off the bottom to find a puddle of water at the bottom of the chips. Ive now cleared the chips out and put paper towel in just in case. He also seems to be shedding as his eyes are cloudy and has an almost perfect replication of his normal shedding process.

Here are some photos snapped with my iPhone of the worst section of the spots which appear to be around and under the scales this is roughly in his middle. Any advice would be appreciated

[MD_Pythons]

Are you sure that isn't some substrate that got under his scales?

[Lirenn]

The brown bits look like scale coloration to me when I zoom in. Pink tummy can mean going into shed soon.

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[CALM Pythons]

Cant be sure about the coloring but 2 months not cleaning a enclosure is breeding bacteria when you have humidity & wood and possible piss... Looks kinda like its between scales on some. Im no vet and can only see so much. Hopefully it isn't a bacteria under the scales (scale rot) since you found water under the Chips.
Its good you put the paper towel down so keep a eye on it and maybe shedding being close is the cause for not eating. Mine go off for 3 weeks until process is finished.


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[Vipera Berus]

I've been keeping an eye on him and so far every patch has vanished after 24 hours although it seems to be stabilising somewhat. Taking him to an exotic vet in about 8 hours just in case though as I haven't been able to get a day off till then.

[Sunnieskys]

Keep us posted!

[Vipera Berus]

It seems that my royal has a slight infection of some sort. The vet prescribed a two week course of antibiotics so with any luck it will be sorted by then.

[CloudtheBoa]

It looks like he's going into shed, and the ReptiChip may have stained his belly (where the brownish spots are), I hear ReptiChip (or Grow!t, or both) stain easily in damp conditions. Doesn't look like an infection to me, though. As far as the dark black spots, it's possible it's just substrate, I see that occasionally in my snakes on EcoEarth, but it usually gets cleaned out on its own. Considering they went away on their own, I'm willing to bet that's what happened here.

[KevinK]

Hi all.

I last cleaned his viarium about a month or two ago and have been adding water for humidity maybe a little too much lately since I just scraped the chips off the bottom to find a puddle of water at the bottom of the chips.

It's hard to tell by the single picture but if you have a puddle of water under your substrate this COULD be the start of some minor scale rot....I'd be willing to be that's what you're dealing with considering the standing water. You should be actively monitoring your humidity. If you have standing water in your enclosure that probably means your humidity levels are off the charts, which is not a good thing. As CALM says....it's also a recipe for bacteria. Warm conditions + standing, stagnant water = every bacteria known to man

It helps us greatly to post temps in Fahrenheit however as most of us are from the US and would prefer not to have to go back to Google for a conversion.

[CALM Pythons]

Threads updated.. Its a infection and he's is on Antibiotics. Its a couple replies above.


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