Quote Originally Posted by Armiyana View Post
Be careful with Neosporin, it can actually be harder on snakes but works well for lizards. Also make sure it's the type without pain killers as the pain killer can be toxic.

There's definitely some sore of damage there and I can't tell you why. His belly looks like nice and white, are there red open sores or streaks near the back problem? My concern would be a possible systemic infection that will need antibiotics.


I would consider giving him a comfortable warm bath. Consider using some betadine or chlorhexidine. I like to soak them in the warm water for a bit before soaking them in the diluted medicine to make sure they don't drink it.

Silver sulfa can sometimes be found otc and works great on wounds for snakes instead of Neosporin. Neosporin has oil that can damage the scales.

If he is a rescue and has issues with parasites and wobble I would consider a thorough vet check to make sure you aren't accidentally giving any medications that can stress him out or make him feel worse. He can be dehydrated and anemic from mites or sometimes mites can also spread disease

As far as size... He actually doesn't look too bad. Males do tend to stay smaller and he doesn't see too underweight? Just a gross living environment... With bugs and either dirty bedding, hazardous furniture or a burn to explain the back injury.
So, regarding his back it’s really scaly with a few raised areas. The first thing I asked was if there was a heat lamp, because I was immediately thinking maybe a burn. But they didn’t have a heat lamp. So then I thought maybe he was scratching mites? But I couldn’t tell if there was some blistering. I didn’t see any red streaks, it’s mostly just crusty and rusty colored. But yes his belly looks ok. We soaked him for about 30 min today in some warm water, and I may again tomorrow as well. It was a lot of mites. But no— I don’t see any red weeping wounds. Noted on neosporin—I’ll lay off. I knew I had read on here where it was used but I didn’t known the controversy.

maybe my expectation of how large he should be and what he is are off. He’s about 2.5 feet and was kept in a 10 g his whole life. Right now I have him in a 20 long with a humid hide temporarily which isn’t ideal obviously, but I can clean it and monitor him easily. I’m going to set him up in a tub setup. He’s not too thin though. He’s just…stubby?