Thoughts on veterinary estimate for belly rot treatment

[Sita]

As someone who works for an exotics vet, the bloodwork seems unnecessary, unless your snake is acting unusual. If they refuse to treat without bloodwork, only do the CBC. That will tell them whether or not the rot/burn has gone systemic (which would indicate how aggressive of treatment is needed), if the snake is anemic, and can even give a clue as to whether or not there are internal parasites.

Depending on the severity of the rot/burn, a culture may or may not be needed. Many times with those type of skin issues, we would start treatment, and if there was no improvement after about 2 weeks, then we would do a culture. Most of the time, it would clear up without needing the culture.

The silver sulfa cream will help either condition, so that's fine. But either way, they should be giving injectable medication, preferably Fortaz (ceftazidime). Fortaz does better for skin related issues in general, while Baytril (enrofloxacin) is more for respiratory problems. There's only so much that can be done from the outside, due to the repellant nature of scales, so an internal antibiotic is typically used. If they try to send you home with an oral med, find another vet. Snakes don't metabolize oral meds the same way, so they can be near useless.

Iodine soaks are good, another option is chlorhexadine soaks. Diluted to a very light blue color, twice a day soaks for about 10 minutes each, can really help skin issues.

Lastly, you'll definitely want to switch to either paper towels or newspaper, and clean out the cage throughly every 3-4 days, or if s/he goes to the bathroom.

How were the temps measured at 82? And was this the entire cage or the hot spot from a heat mat?