Scale rot or burn? Help please

[zalewitz]

Hello, so I've had my male 1 1/2 year old mojave on 2 uth's in a glass aquarium, but I've kept the temps relatively low via 2 thermostats and have monitored it via an electronic thermometer. The substrate I use is brown paper towels. The temp is 85 on hot end 78 on cool end.

he hadn't really eaten much this winter, fasted for most of it occasionally taking a rat every two weeks or so (in the fall he was eating every 5 days), he also shed around Christmas twice in a month. I noticed his stomach turning pink about a month ago and chalked it up to him getting ready to shed, but it was especially pink. He finally shed around 2 weeks ago and had a very bad shed despite the humidity being quite high (80ish), and I had to soak him to get the pieces off. His stomach remained pink and a few days later I realized it was turning brown. I'm very concerned, can't tell if it's scale rot or a burn, like I said his uth's are both regulated and kept on the low side.

One thing is his water bottle is a plastic Tupperware container, and he's taken to knocking it over. I'm starting to think its scale rot since there's been times where he's spilled his water while roaming around.

i bought some betadine and antibiotic ointment today, haven't rinsed him in betadine but I applied some ointment about 20 minutes ago, he did not like it when I was applying it.

can anyone tell me whether this is most likely burns or rot? Does it look serious? And what should i do for him?

Thsnks for the help



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Here's a pic

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http://imgur.com/eqUy3BY

[Kiryu]

I would guess its scale rot...but I'm no expert, I'm dealing with a similar thing right now with a hatchling I bought from petco. Burn or rot I think the treatments are similar. You'll want to get opinions from some more experienced people than myself, but thats what I think. Good luck, looks like you caught it fairly early. Just remember if it gets worse, take it to a vet. Might need stronger meds or something else might be wrong.

[zalewitz]

I just noticed his eye caps are cloudy again, he just shed like a month ago and only ate once since then. Somethings going on I need some help please.

[Kibbleswhites]

Looks like a burn to me. It will look much worse after he sheds. I would say, yes serious. Go to a vet please.

[zalewitz]

Thanks for the tip. I purchased him a better water bowl so he won't tip the one he had and I gave him a diluted betadine rinse. The betadine was diluted to about the color of iced tea. He tried drinking some but I stopped him when I noticed it. I put some neosporin minus the painkiller on his belly and right after putting him back in his cage he started soaking in his bowl, i think to try to rinse off the neosporin. Sneaky.

im going to bring him to a vet next week and see what's going on. I'm definitely worried but I'll see what the vet says.

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How can I go about determining what caused the burn, both sides are on thermostats but I can't tell which one burned him. They are both different brands. I'm going to purchase a temp gun.

[Kibbleswhites]

Why does he have heat on both sides? What type of thermostats? I would plug in only one side into one thermostat then plug that thermostat into the second one as back up? Either that or unplug them both and keep the room above 70 F. A ball has to sit in disgusting wet substrate for quite some time to get scale rot so I doubt a spilled water dish once in a while alone would do it. Mine spill water a lot, sit in wet tubs for a couple of days while breeding (they usually will empty out before copulation), etc. and I have never had a single issue with rot of any kind. I would think it is a burn caused by a malfunction in one of your heat sources thermostats. Soaking in water may be because he is way to hot.

[zalewitz]

I thought 2 heat pads was the way to go. I unplugged the one under the house he doesn't usually like to chill in and plugged the thermostat under his main house into the one that was under that one as a backup. I'll see Where the temp turns out. I have both probes in his enclosure in his hide over the heat pad.

The two thermostats are a reptitherm 500r and a zilla. I gave him neosporin again.

the air temp in his enclosure is about 80 degrees, but that's over his paper towells. The probes are over his paper towells. Should i do this different? Thanks for the advice

[Kibbleswhites]

The thermostat probe needs to be outside of the enclosure between the heat pad and the bottom of the tank/tub. The snake may have moved the probe causing the temp to go way high.

[Kiryu]

Snakes need to be able to regulate their temperature, if both sides are warm he won't be able to cool his body temp if he gets too hot. You'll need to know accurate temps as well. Most thermostats can be off by a couple of degrees as well and if one fails it won't regulate the temp and can cause burns. I'd suggest getting a temp gun, as well as moving the probe(as someone else said) and only hooking up heat on ONE side. Putting hides on both sides is fine if the enclosure is large enough.

[zalewitz]

Thanks guys. He shed and it was actually a good shed, I kept the humidity up for him. This is what he looks like now. There's still some pink that looks like scarring, I'm hoping that it will go away soon. Not sure if the vet is necessary at this point, seems to be getting better with the betadine soaks and neosporin. What do you guys think? Any idea of he should start eating soon?

I'm going to move the probe to in between the tank and the heat pad and see if that helps.


http://imgur.com/0scjY4j