Rescue situation, newer keeper

[GuardianHunter]

Hi everyone. So, we took in this 5 year old boy from someone I knew and he’s in a bad way. He struggles with wobble and has some other issues right now.


We are already treating him for lots and lots of mites with reptile spray and a bath, but I need to know what this is. I was assuming it was scale rot and so I went ahead and treated it with anti microbial spray and neosporin.


He doesn’t have any fluid coming from his mouth and nose, but I think I see retained eye caps or he’s dehydrated.


I’m open to help. He’s small for a 5 year old snake, and we need to get his backside fixed.


Thanks all. I hope you can help me help this sweet fellow.

[Armiyana]

Be careful with Neosporin, it can actually be harder on snakes but works well for lizards. Also make sure it's the type without pain killers as the pain killer can be toxic.

There's definitely some sore of damage there and I can't tell you why. His belly looks like nice and white, are there red open sores or streaks near the back problem? My concern would be a possible systemic infection that will need antibiotics.


I would consider giving him a comfortable warm bath. Consider using some betadine or chlorhexidine. I like to soak them in the warm water for a bit before soaking them in the diluted medicine to make sure they don't drink it.

Silver sulfa can sometimes be found otc and works great on wounds for snakes instead of Neosporin. Neosporin has oil that can damage the scales.

If he is a rescue and has issues with parasites and wobble I would consider a thorough vet check to make sure you aren't accidentally giving any medications that can stress him out or make him feel worse. He can be dehydrated and anemic from mites or sometimes mites can also spread disease

As far as size... He actually doesn't look too bad. Males do tend to stay smaller and he doesn't see too underweight? Just a gross living environment... With bugs and either dirty bedding, hazardous furniture or a burn to explain the back injury.

[Bogertophis]

Vetericyn brand water-based ointment for reptile use is an option- available in some pet stores & online- for any wound care. (Better for snake skin than petroleum-jelly based Neosporin.) I was also thinking his back looks like it could be a burn- how was his former enclosure heated? If its a burn, use that "silver sulfadiazine" cream (aka "Silvadene")- that's the best thing for healing burns.

Hopefully the "wobble" is genetic in origin & not a symptom of illness. In case you need to find a vet: https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661

As you probably know, the mites can kill this or any snake- keep on those until you're sure they're gone. Besides that, they're thought to carry diseases.

The soaks to help get rid of mites should help with his hydration too, but if old eye-caps don't remove easily after a while, get vet help- eyes are delicate, it's hard to see what's really going on, & well-meaning people have accidentally blinded their snakes with aggressive eye-cap removal. That's not the most important thing to work on first anyway- getting rid of mites, & taking care of any injuries or infections, along with overall hydration & getting him to eat will help his overall health including his eye-caps.

[GuardianHunter]

Be careful with Neosporin, it can actually be harder on snakes but works well for lizards. Also make sure it's the type without pain killers as the pain killer can be toxic.

There's definitely some sore of damage there and I can't tell you why. His belly looks like nice and white, are there red open sores or streaks near the back problem? My concern would be a possible systemic infection that will need antibiotics.


I would consider giving him a comfortable warm bath. Consider using some betadine or chlorhexidine. I like to soak them in the warm water for a bit before soaking them in the diluted medicine to make sure they don't drink it.

Silver sulfa can sometimes be found otc and works great on wounds for snakes instead of Neosporin. Neosporin has oil that can damage the scales.

If he is a rescue and has issues with parasites and wobble I would consider a thorough vet check to make sure you aren't accidentally giving any medications that can stress him out or make him feel worse. He can be dehydrated and anemic from mites or sometimes mites can also spread disease

As far as size... He actually doesn't look too bad. Males do tend to stay smaller and he doesn't see too underweight? Just a gross living environment... With bugs and either dirty bedding, hazardous furniture or a burn to explain the back injury.

So, regarding his back it’s really scaly with a few raised areas. The first thing I asked was if there was a heat lamp, because I was immediately thinking maybe a burn. But they didn’t have a heat lamp. So then I thought maybe he was scratching mites? But I couldn’t tell if there was some blistering. I didn’t see any red streaks, it’s mostly just crusty and rusty colored. But yes his belly looks ok. We soaked him for about 30 min today in some warm water, and I may again tomorrow as well. It was a lot of mites. But no— I don’t see any red weeping wounds. Noted on neosporin—I’ll lay off. I knew I had read on here where it was used but I didn’t known the controversy.

maybe my expectation of how large he should be and what he is are off. He’s about 2.5 feet and was kept in a 10 g his whole life. Right now I have him in a 20 long with a humid hide temporarily which isn’t ideal obviously, but I can clean it and monitor him easily. I’m going to set him up in a tub setup. He’s not too thin though. He’s just…stubby?

[GuardianHunter]

Vetericyn brand water-based ointment for reptile use is an option- available in some pet stores & online- for any wound care. (Better for snake skin than petroleum-jelly based Neosporin.) I was also thinking his back looks like it could be a burn- how was his former enclosure heated? If its a burn, use that "silver sulfadiazine" cream (aka "Silvadene")- that's the best thing for healing burns.

Hopefully the "wobble" is genetic in origin & not a symptom of illness. In case you need to find a vet: https://arav.site-ym.com/search/custom.asp?id=3661

As you probably know, the mites can kill this or any snake- keep on those until you're sure they're gone. Besides that, they're thought to carry diseases.

The soaks to help get rid of mites should help with his hydration too, but if old eye-caps don't remove easily after a while, get vet help- eyes are delicate, it's hard to see what's really going on, & well-meaning people have accidentally blinded their snakes with aggressive eye-cap removal. That's not the most important thing to work on first anyway- getting rid of mites, & taking care of any injuries or infections, along with overall hydration & getting him to eat will help his overall health including his eye-caps.

so with the wobble, he is a spider cinnamon banana morph. If I’m not mistaking I think both spider and cinnamon can cause wobble, and according to the previous owner he came that way from the breeder. So hopefully any issues with that are strictly that spider morph.

as for previous living, he lived in a 10 gal for 5 years and then when the heat pad went out was housed with a female for a few months in a 40 until he came to us.

[GuardianHunter]

One thing: where do these things fall on the hierarchy? No handling, treatment, feeding.

the original plan was to leave him alone a couple weeks and get a few meals down him before handling him. But I feel like that sort of went out the door with the mites. His last meal was supposedly 2 weeks ago, so my thought was treat first, but didn’t know whether to offer food after a week of mite treatment.

I wanted him to acclimate but I feel like the other health concerns are more pressing and override typical protocol.

[Armiyana]

in his case, the health issues WLL take priority. You will need to handle him to get those soaks and treatments going. And cage cleanings! Clean the cage as often as you need too. Only paper towels and simple hides for now until the mites are gone. So don't worry as much on handling for the moment...but do keep it to a minimum. no handling outside of the soaks and applying the medication. His body condition overall looks pretty good, so I would wait at least a week to try feeding him. Get him healing before you try feeding him.

If he was eating small prey items before, don't try and feed him anything too large too quickly. You won't want him regurging on top of the other issues. If he's really fussy about food and is mostly healed? That will be when you go to the no handling mode to let him settle in and get less stress.

RE: wobble morphs, the spider gene can indeed be the cause of the wobble right now. Stress will make it worse. The downside is, parasites and infection can also make any snake wobble. Hopefully once he's settled in and healthy, it will be less noticeable. My 2 with spider won't noticeably wobble unless I really stress them out.
Champagne is the other gene that can cause wobble you may be thinking of. Cinnamon can cause kinking or duck billing on the face in the super form, but not known to cause wobble.

Re: size, it really just depends on the snake. Some males do stay more petite. My oldest male is a monster, larger than most females I've seen and weighs in at 2400 when he's not fasting. Another male I have is just a tad larger than yours looks at 3 years. BPs do tend to like smaller spaces sometimes so he may do well for life in a 20 gallon. You'll need to see how he reacts in a larger enclosure. If he seems stressed you can try adding more décor and hides in a larger enclosure, but that's when he's healthy and you know his habits and he's eating well.
One of my girls is a tub only snake (my older spider actually). She will perch up high in a striking pose and just strike at anything she sees moving. I can't keep her in a glass front enclosure. One will wander out and about and eat great in a glass front... another will only peek out of the hide when food day is coming. Each snake can have their own quirks.

[GuardianHunter]

Would vetericyn plus spray for poultry be ok to use on his back? It says on the back that it is safe for all animal species.I have that on hand in my hen first aid kit.

[Bogertophis]

Would vetericyn plus spray for poultry be ok to use on his back? It says on the back that it is safe for all animal species.

If you trust the labeling & are reading correctly, it should be- but I'm not seeing the label so leave me out of this decision. If any doubt, call your vet & ask, or call the company & ask- that's what I would personally do. I really prefer to use products labeled for reptile use, since cold blooded animals are often harmed by products (medications) designed for warm-blooded creatures that metabolize things very differently.

[GuardianHunter]

If you trust the labeling & are reading correctly, it should be- but I'm not seeing the label so leave me out of this decision. If any doubt, call your vet & ask, or call the company & ask- that's what I would personally do. I really prefer to use products labeled for reptile use, since cold blooded animals are often harmed by products (medications) designed for warm-blooded creatures that metabolize things very differently.

while waiting to see what other did, I checked the labels. Both vetericyn plus for poultry and for reptiles have identical concentrations of the active ingredients and the inactive ingredients are also the same. Just in case anyone is wondering.