Scale rot and possible other problems.

[dr del]

Hi,

That looks like raw flesh.

I'd triple check the flexwat for hot spots and make sure to keep the paper towel dry until you get him to the vets.

Ask the vet about payment plans - he might be willing to do somehting to help you out.

What else do you normally have in the tub with him?


dr del

[ShelbyCraig]

I'm working right now to get a way to get to the vet, my gf's mom is a nurse so she can get me the beta...so now the only problem im going to have is getting to the vet, normally it wouldn't be a problem, ive took snakes to the vet before but im a little down on my luck recently.

[decensored]

that's really sad! i hope everything works out for you! keep us updated?

[ShelbyCraig]

Do i need to keep him away from my other snakes? They're all in a rack right now...

[DellaF]

I to would ask the vet about a payment plan. Hope you find a ride soon.

[shadow120]

Do i need to keep him away from my other snakes? They're all in a rack right now...

i would you should quarantine all new snakes

[shelliebear]

It looks like raw skin, which I'm not sure if scale rot would cause or not. I don't think if it was that localized of scale rot that it would cause the skin to peel off anyway...
Looks like a burn or some other kind of trauma. Anything sharp or any tape in his enclosure?
Get him to a vet if/when you can.

[Skiploder]

That does look like scale rot. He should be seen by a vet. That's one of the very unfortunate parts about having exotics. You should always always be prepared to have to spend the money to take them in whenever necessary.
You also unfortunately made a very common mistake. You used neosproin regularly on a reptile. Neo is not made for anything with scales. Especially to treat a fungus or skin infection. I never recommend putting anything oil based on any animals with scales. It softens the scales only promoting infection and as you see it causes the scales to flake off. I would stop that immediately.
My second peice of advice is to immediately bleach his enclosure out to disinfect it. Use paper towels and you will need to keep his cage compleatly disinfected for as long as this takes to heal. It will need to be hospital clean. Many people use 2 different enclosures that they can switch into daily and bleach out the used one.
Thirdly, get betadyne and wash him in this daily. You can either put it right on the sores. Or create a beta bath. Water temp 88.f and put the beta in the bath until the water is tea colored. For him though I would recommend daily treating the sores with the straight betadyne daily and every other day give him a soak in the bath. Doesn't need to be for long maybe 5 min and then after the bath put the straight beta on the sores.
The most important part is to never put the neo on him again. And to keep that enclosure sterile.

Neosproin doesn't work for them like it does for us. You never ever want to keep applying it to an animal with scales. It does nothing good. I never use neo at all with any of mine for anything. For minor bite wounds or scratches I just apply betadyne and watch it. You should always keep a supply of betadyne handy.

I'll add again that he should be seen by a vet. These things can escalate to be more serious than it already is. In the meantime you can follow those earlier steps and it should help prevent it from getting worse.


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Bolded, italicized and repeated for TRUTH. The rest of the info is also spot on.

Silver Sulfdiazine is the silver bullet. You can only get it from your vet. That is your cue to make an appointment today.

[ShelbyCraig]

When i first noticed it, everywhere i looked on the internet said to use neo...

[Homegrownscales]

Oh yes I understand how you came about that info and it is a VERY common misconception. Neo is in essence fine for the minor bite wound or teeny scratch. Dabbed on once and not repeated. (Although I'll reiterate that I don't use anything oil based on my reptiles) I'm guessing that this was repeated a few times and sloughed on. Which is not what to do even once for scale rot. You pretty much trapped the nasty fungus or bacteria on him and then oiled up his scales so they were nice and soft and more prone to more infection. (Think of oiling leather boots to keeps them from cracking) The flaking is what happens when oil is introduce to their scales it again softens them and they fall off.
There are two main causes for scales rot. One is a fungus and the other is a bacterial infection. This is why he should be seen by a vet. But your worst enemy is wetness, and bacteria. So keep him dry. Toss the neo in the trash. Even for a minor bite betadyne not only will do the trick but you won't have this problem.
Keep his enclosure dry and hospital clean and clean those sores with the beta until you get him to the vet. The vet will determine whether he may need abos and Give you the silver sulfadizine cream and tell you to keep on keeping on.




Check out what's new on my website... www.Homegrownscales.com