HELP>>very sick snake>> scale rot? PLEASE READ.

[Tigerlilly]

*i use a small zoo med pad, and didnt have temperature gauges until a couple days ago. Sooooooooooooooo soooooooooooo sorry for missing some of your questions.
* and as for the whole saving the mouse for later thing... I work in the restaurant industry. YOU DONT GET BREAKS. Period. Customers dont wait. Too many times have i had to buy mouse traps at 2am to catch all the mice that had eaten thru the cardboard boxes they were in and climbed up in my dash board. At one point, i had 5 mice loose in my car.
* and i'm not ignoring your suggestion! your suggestion is pointless because i already said i had been looking for a vet!!! i even called a 24 hour clinic but they said i needed someone who dealt with reptiles. Now tomorrow i will be at work from 10:00-4:30 and then back from 5:30- 1:30am. Sound like i'm able to take my snake to the vet? No. THATS why i posted. I wanted to know if there is any way to help him before i get him to the vet. I had assumed that i was doing something majorly wrong with the neosporin and hoping someone could could help me. So far, all you have done is interrogate me. thank you, SO MUCH for all the help.

[eatgoodfood]

Well there is no reason to be rude, but there is no point in treating your snake if you are continually doing damage from an inproper/unregulated environment, hence the questions. From the sounds of it, you have NO time for an animal at all, maybe you should think about that, and consider re-homing. As the poster previous to you suggested buy a critter keeper, that way you are not keeping mice in a cardboard box resulting in them chewing through it and getting loose in your car. And please stop leaving your snake in the car and dragging it to work, that is not healthy, the humidity and heat are not correct, you will not have a hot spot of 90degrees or so in your car, you snake cannot properly thermally regulate(i could go on and on about everything wrong with that). I would suggest you find a friend, family member or someone who can take the snake to the vet while you are at work. If not, for the time being you can give him a bath in a betadine solution to help disinfect the wounds. Keep the cage as clean as dry as you can, have someone goto your house once or twice a day while your at work and change the papertowel for you.

[wwmjkd]

and for the love of god, stop using neosporin, name brand or otherwise. that is likely the immediate cause of the softening scales.

[Skiploder]

and for the love of god, stop using neosporin, name brand or otherwise. that is likely the immediate cause of the softening scales.

This is 100% correct.

Neosporin and other mineral oil based treatments will cause the softening and sloughing of scales.

A proper vet with prescribe a topical antibiotic like silver sulfadiazine which is very effective in treating scale rot. However, that snake needs a sterile environment and it needs to not be taken for rides in the car - it needs to be stress free and warm.

[DooLittle]

Wow, so many things wrong in the original post, where to start... I think most issues have been touched on. That belly looks either pink pre shed, or burnt. And if you say he just shed and have an unregulated heat pad, that would probably make that burnt. If he is sitting in his water dish, it is probably because he is too hot (Either that or has mites). Don't take his water away, he needs to drink. Ball pythons get stressed very easily. Please stop dragging him around to work with you, and stop feeding him in a box. Feed him in his tank. As far as getting a rodent, I have a critter keeper used to get them on my lunch, and they never got loose. You need to get a thermostat, and you need to get that snake to the vet. Here is a vet in the Seattle area 425-486-9000. We can't help you if we don't know for sure what's wrong. Different treatment for different ailments. Stop using the neosporin though, it is not good for scales. It will soften them, and they will fall off, as you are seeing. But it sounds like you really don't have the time for a pet snake right now.

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[Michelle1221]

I got curious when we were setting up the baby bee's 16 quart tub. I got the smaller UTH for his tub and hooked it up without a thermostat and put the temp probe in the tub on the plastic. That small UTH got up to 110 before we unplugged it.

I hope you find a vet soon for your snake and he heals quickly. I'm sorry if you feel interrogated but most issues can be tracked to husbandry and the people here care-healing him is just half of it. You need to make sure his environment fulfills his needs.

[Kaorte]

There is a reason why no one suggests leaving your baby or dog, or any other animal in a car for any length of time. It is very dangerous!!

All of the other suggestions are very good. If you don't have time for the vet, maybe you can call them up, tell them your predicament and they might sell you the correct antibiotic ointment ans let you pick it up on your break.

Get a critter keeper for the mice. Problem solved.

Stop trying to feed that snake pinky mice, those are too small even for a hatchling.

Leave your snake at home. I assure you it likes the cage much more than being in a car. If you want an animal that likes the car, get a dog.

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[heathers*bps]

The reason we are asking you questions is to help figure out what is going on and why. We can't just look at a picture and KNOW without a doubt what the problem is without asking for some information first.

1: Stop using the neosporin. As it has been said before, oil based ointments soften their scales and turn them into mush. A batadine soak would be a better option.

2: Your heat pads NEED to be regulated with a thermostat. Those heat pads can reach temps of 130+ degrees and will burn and possibly kill your snakes. We have seen this more times than we would like around here.

3: Stop feeding your snake a pinky mouse/rat. From the pics I saw on your craigslist post, he can be easily taking small rats. Also, stop taking your snakes out of their enclosures to feed them. It is unnecessary stress ( especially for a ball python ) and will lead to unwanted bites.

4: Make the time to get your animal to the vet. If you can't make time for them because your work schedule is too hectic, then maybe its time to reevaluate your pet situation.

We are here to offer you advice. Weather you take it or not, is completely up to you. I hope your snake sees a vet and gets better soon.

- - - Updated - - -

Oh, and please leave a water bowl in the cage for the snake. Maybe place a smaller bowl in the enclosure that he can't get into.

And for craps sake, stop taking your snake places with you ( other than the vet )

[gruneaugen86]

* and as for the whole saving the mouse for later thing... I work in the restaurant industry. YOU DONT GET BREAKS. Period. Customers dont wait. Too many times have i had to buy mouse traps at 2am to catch all the mice that had eaten thru the cardboard boxes they were in and climbed up in my dash board. At one point, i had 5 mice loose in my car.

Would it be possible to switch your BP over to f/t instead of live? This would certainly help with your mouse problem. Also, I second Heather's suggestion that you start feeding your BP small rats, he definitely seems too big for mice.

I know you're really stressed out by your snake's problems, but I promise that everyone here has your snake's best interest in mind. I'm no expert, but I strongly suspect that not using a thermostat on your UTH has slightly burned your snake. This is a very easy mistake to make, especially if you bought everything from a pet store. Most pet store employees won't tell you that you need a thermostat for an UTH, and the directions with the UTHs themselves never seem to mention the need for a thermostat. It's a very common mistake, and easily corrected. The hydrofarm thermostat (http://www.amazon.com/Hydrofarm-Heat...arm+thermostat) is very affordable, if you can't afford a higher end thermostat like the Herpstat (http://spyderrobotics.com/). And since it sounds like you won't be able to make it to the vet for awhile, stop using the neosporin stuff (as mentioned by others) and switch to Betadine (which can be found at Walgreens or other pharmacies). Good luck, I hope your snake feels better soon!

ETA: I forgot to add - please stop trying to feed your BP for at least a week - he is likely very stressed out at the moment and trying to feed him is not going to help decrease that stress. He will be fine if he doesn't eat for awhile.

[rabernet]

*i use a small zoo med pad, and didnt have temperature gauges until a couple days ago. Sooooooooooooooo soooooooooooo sorry for missing some of your questions.
* and as for the whole saving the mouse for later thing... I work in the restaurant industry. YOU DONT GET BREAKS. Period. Customers dont wait. Too many times have i had to buy mouse traps at 2am to catch all the mice that had eaten thru the cardboard boxes they were in and climbed up in my dash board. At one point, i had 5 mice loose in my car.
* and i'm not ignoring your suggestion! your suggestion is pointless because i already said i had been looking for a vet!!! i even called a 24 hour clinic but they said i needed someone who dealt with reptiles. Now tomorrow i will be at work from 10:00-4:30 and then back from 5:30- 1:30am. Sound like i'm able to take my snake to the vet? No. THATS why i posted. I wanted to know if there is any way to help him before i get him to the vet. I had assumed that i was doing something majorly wrong with the neosporin and hoping someone could could help me. So far, all you have done is interrogate me. thank you, SO MUCH for all the help.

Well then... I see you are completely open to the advice you requested.

I'm sure that your customers would be pleased to know you've brought a snake and mice into the restaurant.

Buy a PLASTIC critter keeper for the mice. Of course they'll chew out of cardboard.

And you need a thermostat to control the temp of the heat pad. Without one, it will eventually kill your snake.


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