Burn or Scale rot? Something else?

[Danielle(THM)]

I've experience what every herp owner fears, an injury to my much loved ball python. Bauhamat was going into shed, as I noticed with her pink belly, but it was only pink for the last 8 inches or so to her tail, the last 1/2 inch of her tail seemed to have a burn of some sort, so I made a vet appointment for Wed. (that's earliest time I could get her in.) Well she shed, but to my dismay, she only shed the portion that was pink, and I picked her up to look at her to find that between her belly scales was a bit of blood, as with her tail, this portion of her was also damp and her scales didn't have the shine or the hardness that a fresh shed would bring, instead it appeared moist. The next day the scales on her belly that appeared damp have all hardend, but taken on a brown or crusty appearance. When I first noticed I took her out of her cage and cleaned it, she's on paper towels, I also removed her log for fear of debris getting into her 'wounds' if that is what you would call them, but my question is, is there anything I can do until her vet appointment to help her out? She clearly doesn't want to move on the damaged portion on her belly, since she is constantly lifting to prevent it coming in contact with anything. She seems to be very uncomfortable, and I want to fix that until I get her to the vet on Wednesday. I'm not sure how she could've gotten burned, but her UTH wasn't plugged into a surge protector during an electrical storm the other night, would an electrical surge have caused it to heat up and burn her? And could someone post pictures of a thermal burn and scale rot? I'd like to know if it was either of these. Also, how would a snake get scale rot, like what is it caused by?

[xdeus]

I believe most scale rot is caused by too humid or unsanitary conditions. You could try putting some antibiotic ointment like Neosporin on the burn. BTW, was your UTH plugged directly into the wall, or do you have a thermostat/rheostat? If not, you may want to think about getting one. UTH's have been known to get extremely hot and even melt the material they're made out of. Even their normal operating temps can be very hot if the snake lays directly on the glass surface that it comes in contact with.

I hope everything turns out well!

[cassandra]

Oh, you poor thing...poor snakey!

I certainly am not the expert here, but I would guess Neosporin would be something to try help...

[SatanicIntention]

If you think this is a burn or scale rot(sounds more like a burn), place the animal on soft paper towels for substrate and medicate the area with a generic triple antibiotic ointment. If you have silvadene cream, use that, as it is a burn cream and will get things to heal faster than neosporin. Silvadene is only available through prescription and you can either get some at the veterinarian or through your own doctor via prescription called in to your local pharmacy.

Hope that helped

[Danielle(THM)]

Thanks for the advice guys, but I am still worried sick. I don't have any Silvadene laying around , but I put a thin layer of neosporin on her belly yesterday, just to disinfect, but her burned scales (I'm positive it's a burn) have begun to peel away, exposing more raw-looking flesh, I know this isn't good, and the vet visit couldn't come soon enough, but this is treatable right? I mean will she make a full recovery, or is there a chance that this could kill her?

[xdeus]

It depends on the extent of the burn and how strong/healthy your snake was before this happened. Infection is always a concern, but I've seen pictures of snakes with pretty bad burns pull through. Keep her in a warm, clean, unstressed environment until you can take her to your vet. Hopefully everything will work out.

[JLC]

There's always a chance of infection, but if you continue to treat with the antibiotics and keep her in a clean, sterile environment until she can get professional treatment, she has a very, very good chance at a full recovery.


Goldenburm posted a thread awhile back wtih some before/after pictures of a rescue he took in that had severe burns as well as other horrible neglect/abuse issues. That snake is making a remarkable recovery and proving just how hardy these pretties can be.

[rabernet]

This is one of my worst fears. I'm constantly checking the bellies of my "kids" whenever I get them out to make sure they are clean, healthy looking bellies. It's particularly hard when you're trying to maintain 92 degrees on top of aspen to give a few degree's flux when they decide to push all the aspen out of the way and lay directly on the bottom of the tub (measured at 95 degrees). I still worry, worry, worry! Don't want it to be too warm with no substrate (when they push it out of the way) but don't want it to cool on top of the substrate (when they decide to leave the substrate alone). Why can't they just cooperate?? LOL


One more day until your vet visit, right? Please keep us posted.

[Danielle(THM)]

Just one more day until the vet appointment. I've missed two days of school, and tomorrow will be three, just to stay home and keep an eye on her. I'll post again tomorrow to let you guys know how it went.

[Danielle(THM)]

Ok guys, sorry I didn't post eariler, but I'm a busy person . Anyways, snakey is going to be just fine! The vet cleaned up her burn for me, and it barely even appeared that she had a burn, just a little pink and sore looking, they also gave me silvadene for her. I couldn't stop laughing when he first suggested a way to keep the cream on her, buy non-lubricated condoms and cut the tip off, then tape the condom to itself it keep it snug-like on her, sound ridiculous but it totally works! Then after I told the vet about how I want to be a vet tech, he offered to let me shadow the only technician who will handle exotics, and I get to sit in on two surgeries in the morning , so freaking sweet!