Extremely worried!!!

[habbott]

Hello everyone, I have a fairly newly acquired piebald male. Got him about 3 months ago. He came to me with mites, I treated him first with mineral oil, and then they came back so I used nix (properly diluted etc). I treated all of my snakes and they all are fine, but my pied has been going downhill. There is no apparent reason for this, he is housed properly, and all the others are perfectly healthy. His scales are oddly colored, and I don't know if he's shedding weird or what, but he's actively losing weight and has not eaten in at least 3 months. There is no herp vet here and I have no idea what is happening. Any input would be greatly appreciated. I would have had him at the vet by now, but they are not very knowledgeable. I'm hoping someone on here who has pieds can tell me if there is any major issue here. Thanks!

[jclaiborne]

Are you sure he still doesn't have mites? Other than treating with NIX what did you do? Did you put him on papertowels and get rid of all your substrate, bake any wood decorations, scrub the enclosure, etc?

[habbott]

[habbott]

No mites as far as I can tell, I check them all daily for the past 3 weeks. They JUST came off paper towel two days ago, but this issue has been going on since about a month ago. All decor was sanitized/baked, substrate frozen for several days. bins/tanks bleached/rinsed etc. Same process I've always used to treat mites, never had any issues. He's active when he's out, but very headshy. His scales feel strange to me, almost soft..instead of smooth. If that makes sense.

[Reptile Frenzy]

Are u worried about the brown on him? I would say the bedding is stainging him just like it does to albinos. Soft scales never heard of that. I would continue to try to feed him. What was he eating and what are you trying now?

[OsirisRa32]

Where is here exactly?

I doubt this is an issue just b/c hes a pied...sounds like an underlying infection or parasite maybe? (have no clue what could cause scales to go soft)...but more info might be helpful...how is he housed? do you have other snakes or pets? what is the actual weight loss per week or per month? Have you been regularly weighing him?

[kylearmbar]

I have heard of " soft scales" after use of mineral oils/ olive oil and such to help with mites. In extreme cases some scales have flaked off, but as far as I know is not all that harmful and should fix itself within a shed or two. If im wrong someone with more experience plz chime in.

[OsirisRa32]

actually you are spot on...mineral oil does causes softened scales in snakes...there are some other BP related threads waaaaay back in the thread count about it where ppl are telling ppl with mites to never use it b/c of the softening of the scales it causes.

[Kat_Dog]

Yep, mineral oil is a petroleum product, which causes the scales to turn to mush. Anything with mineral oil, petroleum jelly(Vaseline) or petrolatum will cause the scales to soften.

That's probably why his scales are soft.

I would put him back on paper towels and send a stool sample in for parasite testing.

[Slim]

x3 Mineral oil will destroy their scales.