Hi All,

Wish I joined this forum earlier. Anyway. I have a male ball python that I'm treating for a bad case of scale rot.

I had been busy moving and neglected my husbandry. When the time came to move (Jeff) I noticed he had a nasty red rash. This was memorial day. I called the animal hospital on memorial day and brought him in the next day.

The Dr. prescribed SSD cream and an antibiotic IM injection every 72 hours. He had eaten a small rat two weeks before memorial day and has not eaten since. I have to handle him a lot to give him regular baths, apply cream, and injections.

During his second visit (4th of July weekend). The doctor noted that he lost 10 grams and recommended I force feed him if he did not eat after his next shed. After some research I realized that force feeding by someone inexperienced can do more harm than good. That being said he still has not eaten. He's opaque now and seems to be healing nicely, but he's looking thin.

I'm waiting for him to shed to try feeding one more time. I plan on calling the vet before his next visit (next week) to inform him on the situation and ask if he can perform the force feeding if necessary.

All that being said. I was wondering if anyone else had this issue while treating a snake with IM injections and lots of handling.

I feel terrible about this whole situation and I'm doing all I can do have him heal up, but I'm worried about him fasting, going on almost 3 months now (I know this happens, but I'm convinced it's do to the scale rot treatment).

Thanks for listening - Luca.

PS- He's kept in a sterlite tub, with a UTH set to 87 degrees on the hot side. The cool side stays in the upper 70's and humidity is between 60-70% now that he's opaque. I kept the hot side on the lower scale due to the scale rot/burn.